Warning, severely long post 😅
It’s been a long time coming but finally I’ve had my first proper street race in the U.K. 😃 The Brighton Marathon 10K.
I was all signed up and ready to go for the London Winter Run in 2020 but that got cancelled due to high winds and I was gutted 😢. Then lockdown happened of course and that was that no racing for me. I ran the virtual version of the Brighton 10k last year with my son Dan but this was a solo effort this year.
I had a bit of a hiccup in my training with my ankle, and lost the final 2 weeks, just as I was hitting a vein of really good form. 🙄 My physio said I should only run if it was important to me to do so, and to stop if the pain got bad. So that was a green light as far as I was concerned. 😂 I’m a bit stubborn/stupid when it comes to injuries. Still on the learning curve on that one. I am obeying his latest instructions so far mind. 😇
Anyway, I didn’t get much sleep on Saturday night as I was really excited as well as worried about my dodgy ankle and whether I’d made the right decision to run.
The 10k race was to start at a very silly 8.30(ish) and I had to be at the start for 8am, a 2.4 mile walk away, which I estimated would take about 50 minutes. There really was no other way to get there as my house is directly on the Marathon route so all the roads around were closed and no buses or taxis were allowed in. I quite liked the idea of walking anyway. A reasonable warmup.
I really dislike early mornings and I hate running in the morning even more, so I had that on my mind as I attempted to grab some sleep. Anyway, I woke up at 5am after a very poor sleep and that was that. Wide awake. So I got up made a double espresso and ate a few dates as I’d forgotten to get bananas. 🙄
There’s no bag drop at the start and it was quite chilly so I threw on an old pair of jeans and a t shirt, prepared to dump them when I got there. I didn’t need to worry in the end as there was a bag drop after all.
I headed out the door at 6.30 as I was a nervous wreck and made my way down the eerily quiet Madeira Drive lined with barriers and headed towards the start at Preston Park. There was a chill in the air and absolutely no one else in sight which surprised me as I thought there might be others on the way up. Even the village on the beach was practically deserted. I was glad I’d decided to wear the extra clothes as it was quite chilly.
As I approached the park there were more people heading to the race and the atmosphere was starting to build. 😃
Being one of the first to arrive has its advantages as I managed to secure a fresh and unused portaloo! 👍😃
I hung around in the strips of sunlight that were peeking through the trees in the park, and that helped to keep me warm as I dropped my clothes at the bag drop and hung around in the ever increasing crowd of eager runners.
Finally we were called through to the upper park and into our allotted starting corrals, where I met a lady running bare foot, and was amazed that she did this all the time. She just said she preferred it. Her toes had loads of plasters on so it was clearly not all plain sailing. Still she was in for a sub 50 time which was really impressive.
I entered myself into the 50-60 minute cohort at the check in but I jumped into the red sub-50 line at the last minute. This was the corral I’d originally opted for when I was targeting a sub 45 minute target, but today I just wanted to get started, and we seemed to be hanging around for an eternity.
It wasn’t long after that we got started and I remembered to start my Garmin as I shuffled over the line!
We were off and I was buzzing with excitement! I remembered to take it easy and it seemed really easy too. No pain at all, I was cruising at well below my original target pace but I already knew that sub 45 was not gonna happen. Everything felt great and I was chatting to folk around me but mostly they were running their own race and I realised that I ought to focus on my race a bit more. 😅 I saw my brother at the 3k point and gave him a high five as I passed. That was a real boost for me 😊😀
I remembered to take my one and only gel and it spurted down my leg but I managed to get a good mouthful out of it. It was really yummy!! I had really sticky hands but I clung on to the gel packet and sucked it dry.
As we passed 4K we went up this little evil steep hill that took the wind out of my sails a bit but thankfully it was only short.
I drifted past the 5k point feeling fine and shared a shout out with the DJ on the pier roundabout corner. There were large gaps around me now and I noticed a few had started struggling. You can see me here in one of the pictures having a laugh. It was to be the last laugh for sure and if I only knew what was coming I might have not laughed at all. 😅
As we headed west down the kings road I decided that I would try increasing the pace to 4.30 ish just to test my legs and it felt ok but the ankle was letting me know it was there. 😬
I don’t know if it was the increase in pace (most likely), the shock of seeing the first runners heading back to the finish line (gazelles for sure), or the headwind, or the slight uphill climb, or feeling my ankle, or all them, but I suddenly felt dreadful. Like my energy had evaporated. Legs of lead appeared from nowhere and I was suddenly over heating too. Sweat started pouring down my face and I could feel my shoulders tense up and my form disintegrated.
I felt decidedly worse for wear by the turn eastwards towards the finish, and seriously thought of quitting. You can see the pain in the picture. I slowed the pace right down and my stubbornness ensured I would not stop.
I was getting near to the finish line with only 1 km to go now and I was being passed by quite a few runners but I was just hanging on. I made it on to the finish straight where I gave it everything I had to stop this runner coming up behind me to take me on the line. I found my sprinting legs from somewhere and made it ahead of him. A small, but important victory for me. 😁 You can see this in the cutout picture! 💪
I claimed my medal and gulped down the water. I grabbed two bananas and an apple and headed straight to the beach.
I stopped my watch at 46.47 which I was really surprised to see. It’s a PB 😁 My chip time was 46.49.
I came 238/2174 runners and 10/79 in my age group.
I am really happy with that!! 😁 🎉
The best thing about the finish line is that it’s really close to my house so I was home and showered in no time, but not before I’d cooled off in the sea and had a nice cuppa tea.
I made it back to cheer on the marathon runners as they passed and remembered that our very own Roseabi was out there somewhere so I tracked her on the app, but she had already passed my house, so I headed to the finish line to cheer her over it! How she managed to look so calm and cool despite being punched by a bear and in that heat amazed me. Super run!
I had a fantastic weekend and I can’t wait to run the next one in April which I’ve signed up for already.
In the meantime I must take care of my ankle and follow a sensible training plan as well as the advice from my physio. Yeah, right, who am I kidding 😬🙄
Can’t wait. 😁😁😁
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