Gosh it's been hot! Very long post alert.
A couple weeks ago I was messaging with Mudita11 about meeting up for Parkrun when she mentioned the New Forest Marathon 10k.....and suggested I do it! By which time I was half way through the form to enter 🤣🤣🤣. Once entered I started to wonder who I thought was, what me? Running a race? An event with other running people? Hmm lots of doubts about this.
A week later talking to @Happyhays, I explained I'd booked a hotel for the Saturday night and suggested she come too! Before I knew it she had signed up for the 5k, her C25k graduation run.
Anyway to cut a long story short and get to the race, we drove to the New Forest on Saturday, had a lovely swim in the hotel pool and went out for a very enjoyable dinner.
We settled really early, me to read and Hayley to watch a bit of TV.
Sleep came and then went away again, but that's life.
This morning our alarms went off at 7.30am and we got ourselves ready, it took a little longer than expected but we were off in plenty of time, traffic was heavy but we did ok.
First race, lots of butterflies, knowing that I can run/walk 10k in under 2 hours, but what if I can't? I know it's about my limit but what if it's too much? You know, the usual stuff going round in our heads.
We met up with Mudita11 Dexy5 UpTheStanley and a short while after linda9389 caught up with us. Introductions, chat, and before we knew it our time to warm up had arrived.
I took myself towards the back, did jogging on the spot, squats, lunges, side thingys And then it was time for the off .
The lack of sleep and lack of food was noticeable, the rain came down, refreshing after all the hot weather we'd had. Through the forest we went, I caught up with a lady who was walking briskly, we had a chat, she said she probably wouldn't be able to keep up that pace, she did, she later overtook me and after another chat she went on .
I caught up with a young lady run/walking, she was walking faster than me but I caught her up when we both ran. 😁 we chatted a bit and we agreed that it was hard work. We could see the back of the pack and for a while we were catching them up....don't know where they went but they disappeared round a corner never to be seen again.
There was an ambulance picking up a guy at the 5k point, hope he's ok.
The young lady and I passed each other several times with words of encouragement until about 8k and I could no longer catch her up when running.
Most of the run was woodland with gravelly paths and puddles. Then I arrived at a road, oh bliss, ran and felt great. The Marathoners passed me on that road and several patted me iyn the shoulder and said things like, well done, and, keep going.
I was tiring fast, regular sips of water and some jelly babies didn't seem to help much.
My headphones lost connection here and never found it again but I wasn't really listening anyway.
More road, this time the Half Marathoners ran past, lots more encouragement and I couldn't keep up with them either, but I was nearing the end, hot, wet, tired but happy.
My first race done, I wasn't last but not far off, I was the slowest in my age group which was a little disappointing but someone has to be. I've made my plan for next year 🤣🤣🤣
I ended the run tired and dehydrated, I didn't feel great, sips of water weren't helping, the half banana I managed to eat didn't help, Happyhays agreed to drive home, I opened a packet of crisps I really didn't want but after forcing 3 down I felt loads better, ate the packet, finished the banana then some chocolate and we chatted about our great weekend and both our first race and the wonderful VRB's we met up with today .
Run happy or rest well, and remember, sleep, hydration and a bit of salt make a huge difference.
I forgot to say, UpTheStanley wore his hat and ran very fast, I need a hat like that,.
New Forest Half Marathon. Got the T shirt.