BUPA London 10k

So folks, what did you do on your Bank Holiday Monday?

I ran my first ever 10k road race – that’s 6.2 miles for the imperial lovers amongst you. Yes, I took part in the BUPA London 10k, raising money for the Make A Wish Foundation – a huge thank you to those of you who sponsored me. And an even bigger thank you to those who sponsored me, followed the saga of the blood blisters and listened to me moaning. Thanks especially to Matt and Geoff.

I had very mixed emotions about this event. I did not do enough training for it – trying to prepare in 4-5 weeks, having done virtually no sport in years was not really going to be an easy task. And indeed it wasn’t – a bout of illness and some really shocking blisters on my feet took at least 10 days out of that training time. It was pretty obvious that I wasnt going to do it in a good time and with the furthest distance I managed to do leading up to it being a 6.5k, just finishing was going to be the main thing.

The race started in St James Park, backing onto Green Park. Myself and my lovely Matt got out of bed early this morning and took a nice stroll to Lewisham before getting the train to Charing Cross. We then opted to walk to the park, figuring it was a nice walk and it would be good for me to get my muscles moving.

I was completely shocked by the sheer number of runners and as they were talking about Mo Farrah and some of the celebrities (zelebrities) being elite runners in their own right, the panic really set it. Anyway, like a good girl, I ate my banana and drank half a bottle of water and talked crap to Matt whilst admiring the elephants. Pictures at a later date, but these elephants are dotted throughout London and we saw about 20 of them today. They are awesome.

The race started in several waves and being that I was in Green A (faster slow runners) we had some time to wait and ended up crossing over the line to start at around 10.20am. The race started along the embankment and it was slightly depressing hitting the 2k mark as you watched the elite runners fly past the 8k mark on the otherside of you – but hey, they had a head start .

I think I did set off slightly too quickly for my first two kilometres, but then I lost 5 minutes having to queue for the toilets just before I hit 3k. Crossed over 3k at about 21 minutes, but allowing 5 minutes for the toilet break and I was going too quickly, for me. Crossed through the water point, got my shoulder wrenched by a man who tripped on a plastic bottle someone thoughtfully discarded in the middle of the road (come on people, chuck them by the side of the road!) and carried on for another few hundred metres when my shin started to really hurt. I ignored it. Shin screamed louder. I ignored it some more and it started to really scream and it was just before 4k mark that I near enough burst into tears from the agony of shin splints. Slowed down to a walk at this point – not even a walk, but a slow walk. Crossed through 4k and tried to run again to get through it, but the pain was just getting worse. At this point, I did consider pulling out as it was agony. Eventually, I told myself to get to 5k and then visit the medical tent and see if I could ice it for a few minutes before going on my way.

As I hit 5k, there was a real feel of elation in the air as we’d hit halfway. I decided to ‘sod it’ and try to get to 6k. I plodded on in agony and then joy of joys, I hit a second wind around about Leadenhall Market. Leadenhall Market was my favourite part of the race – I know a lot of people suffered with the cobbles, but bizarrely they didn’t bother me as I figured the sooner I ran over them, the sooner they’d be gone.

7k mark and the next water station. I had my wits slightly more about me this time and danced over rogue bottles quite well. This was the part of the race I was worried about, as I had heard that there was a bit of a climb and it could get really tough with the wind being against you going back along the Embankment. Oddly enough, the ‘hill’ was fine. A lot of people slowed to a walk, but it was more of a slow incline and I managed to run up it and along quite happily. I think the few attempts at Belmont Hill in Lewisham helped here!

8k came and I felt real joy – the end being in site. Apparently one poor man collapsed at this point and was very unwell. Hopefully he is ok and has made a full recovery – I don’t care what you super-fit people say – running that far IS tough. It was at this point I ran out of steam a bit and felt a nasty stitch coming on. Tried to run through it, but really couldn’t, so walked a couple of minutes before picking up my feet again. Very much a run/walk action to 9k, but I wanted to finish the race well, even if the time was crap.

9k and I was burnt out, but thank you to the crowds, you were fantastic. Managed to plod (very, very slow running!) my way and then that lovely sign – ’400m to go!’ This was the point I picked up my feet and I charged. ’200m to go!’ saw me sprint. No exageration, the rest of my race may have been crap but I overtook a good 50-60 people in those last few metres and it felt great.

Time clocked in at around one hour and sixteen minutes according to my watch, which included that five minute wait for the toilets! Had that not happened, I would have managed it in nearly one hour ten.

I know this time is not good, but I feel proud of myself. I’ve never run that far before and I did it. I did it on not enough training and I survived. And oddly, my second 5 k was faster than my first!

Bring on the next one – I want to do it again! Bizarre to think that I’ll be doing a marathon in April.