Totton Running Club has been going for 40 years and wanted to mark this anniversary by holding an inaugural 10k race, open to a max of 300 runners. Totton itself is an unremarkable suburb of Southampton but it is close to lovely countryside and the New Forest. The route chosen for the 10k was gorgeously rural.
I arrived around 8am and the car park (a field next to the Scout hut) was almost full! As the 9am start approached we were led to the start. The list of entrants (279 of us in the end) had been published earlier and I noticed that the majority of runners belonged to running clubs and there were lots of club vests being worn. Help!! So I took my place well at the back 🤣.
The route was twice around beautiful countryside and it was rather hilly. We ran past a couple of pubs, fields full of cows, along some single-track roads. It really was a beautiful route and the sun was shining the whole time. Plenty of lovely encouraging marshals en route and a drink station. I had taken my usual stash of sweets and snacks to keep me going so I was happy.
I was on about 4.5 km when the faster runners started to lap me 🤣. My speed has taken a nose dive since I had Covid in the summer but with this cohort of runners I was just hoping to not be last! And the surroundings were beautiful so I was just glad to be there.
The results showed that my time was 1:07:37 and I was 215 out of 239 finishers. Back at the Scout hut the scouts were doing a roaring trade in bacon rolls and tea/coffee.
The running club announced that they may well hold the race again next year as it went so well and if it does I will definitely enter again.
Written by
Mudita11
Half Marathon
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What a lovely day Mudita! Well done. I've been there - a small field of runners and you realise they all have running club affiliations 🙈 You can only marvel at the pace some of these race leaders go at!!!
Wanting to do it again says it all. Maybe they'll be brave enough to open it up to more entries now they've got an inaugural event under their belts.
Well done Mudita, great time (especially as it was a hilly route ). Sounds lovely. I've been doing some local little events too (so long as there is a medal I'm in!!) and am use to the main pack disappearing up the road with in the first few minutes. I focus on doing my best to not be last, enjoying scenery and the lovely marshals who are always so encouraging. Glad you had fun.
I was looking at local events yesterday and there was one I quite fancied but then I saw it didn't offer any medal and I was so disappointed 🙁 I mean, what’s the point if there is no medal at the end? 🤣
I’m with you on that one. Even if it’s a wooden one (which I try to like because they are better for the planet ). But you can’t beat a nice shiny bit of bling to make it worth the effort!!
Medals don’t seem to be a thing in France. My running club friends get bottles of wine, food items or even a tomato plant !!
No medal? No medal? No med …….. 😳😱 Irishprincess , that’s plain ridiculous expecting someone to run a race without that wonderful incentive at the end.
I prefer hefty, but I’ll take anything. Even the tombstone lookalike from Severn Bridge a few years ago. It’s not attractive, but it went around my neck and I’d run 10k. Even the slightly odd jigsaw pieces that Relish - they’re cardboard! 🫨
Relish are now doing cardboard!!!! I haven’t done a relish race for years so I didn’t know that. They use to have fab medals. I’ve signed up to do one of their Christmas ones and the medal is a snow globe. I can’t imagine that being cardboard…🤔
Yes! They’re those jigsaw pieces which all fit together if you do all the races in a particular series. I have 3 single ones (2 x Cheddar 10k and 1 x Twp Tunnels). Yes it’s bling …. but ….
I sometimes think about joining a running club but they seem to mostly run in the evening. I prefer to run first thing, before work. Maybe when I retire! X
I joined a running club several years ago and it was fab, very friendly and lots of groups for various paces. But they ran in the evening and I struggled with the time and then I turned my ankle on a kerb in the dark 🙄 But I realised that I just didn't like running with others and much preferred my own company so I stopped going. One good thing to come out of it though is that I made a new friend there and we now meet up regularly (for lunch, not to run!)
Running clubs aren’t for everyone and it depends on the club too. The first one I joined was so unfriendly and serious that I went once and never returned. If you do decide to join one, then shop around 🙂
I was a member of our local running club for a few months Mudita11 , and much as it was friendly, I simply didn’t enjoy running in the evening at all. I was also one of the slowest, which didn’t matter at all as everyone was encouraging, but it would have been nice to have a few more mere fellow trotters. I wasn’t interested in trying to better my speed either, so it wasn’t an incentive for me!
They take a while to work their magic, but hills definitely make you much stronger. A valuable contribution to your recovery.
Maybe the small field was a deliberate attempt not to upset the locals (the full “car park” may tell a story). It sounds like a beautiful place to run with a perfect ending; bacon rolls after a tough run 😋.
Lovely surroundings, a good work out and a good time given the terrain and your brush with Covid-19. Sounds like you found exactly what you needed. Perfect day 🙂
What a fabulous day you had Mudita11 ! Huge congratulations, and you certainly earned that bacon roll and gorgeous medal. 😍
I’ve never regained my pre covid “speed”. My post viral fatigue did away with that (I had it for weeks and weeks) and I’m a good number of minutes slower over all distances. I’ve embraced it though! 😂
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Mud glorious mud! Widnes Chris Lam 5 mile trail race. 