Treggy 7

The preparation for this race was awful. I seem to have lost my mojo and had only run just over 8 miles for the month of August.

I had 3 goals - PB over 7 miles, to finish and not to fall over. I completed all 3 targets without too much trouble. Despite wanting to vomit at some point.

Not a race I'd do in a hurry. But it was good. And I beat my club mate, which is always a bonus.

Tywardreath Trotter

Yesterday, saw me run the Tywardreath Trotter. This is a 7 mile multi terrain race based near St Austell.

I took my coach's advice of  starting off slowly and spent most of the race without seeing any runners at all.

We had to run near a river and run back the same way when we were coming back. Ran through that area with no problem, running back and fell over. I didn't want another DNF (did not finish) and didn't feel it was serious enough to pull out and thought it was just mud I had on my hands and knee.

Caught up with club mate; but got pipped near the end and just beaten by him.

Time (according to my watch) was 1:33:54. Not amazing; but it is the furthest distance I've run, ever.

I now have delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and a small bruise and cut on my knee where I fell over yesterday.

Next race is hopefully the Indian Queens Fun Run.

The British 10k

Warning - the following post is a rant.
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The organisation was awful. It took them until the 7th to tell us that some of us won;t be getting our race packs until late. Mine arrived on the Saturday before the race.

This meant I had to go and get a new number and pins.

The weather was awful - it was too hot to race. We were made to wait around for half an hour with no-one telling us what was going on or when we were going to start.

There were no toilet facilities and we weren't given any water before the race.

We received a medal; but no goody bag. We had to walk about a mile back to get our bag and medal. It was then another good mile before I could find a tube station.

Awful, awful race. I want to know what exactly my £50 went on.

Wouldn't recommend this one. Think I'll do the London 10,000 in May instead. Only £26, better organisation, a goody bag, toilets on route and we all knew roughly when we were going to start racing.

The weather

Urgh. What an awful week for training weather-wise. It's too hot, unless I want to get up at 5am, which at the moment, is so tempting.

No idea how I'm going to do my first half marathon in September if the weather carries on like this.

2 races, one finish

This week saw me take part in the Bude Lifeboat Run and the Sticker 5 mile Run. Usually, I may only run once or twice a month; but was talked into doing both by my coach.

Wednesday saw me do the Bude Lifeboat Run. Very difficult due to having a minor foot injury, which turned out to be a problem with my toenail being too long. Managed to do the run in just over 1:17. Not bad considering it was largely off road.

Yesterday, saw me do the Sticker 5 mile Run. I started off well, I thought. Apart from having some issues with my shoe being too tight. A marshal shouted "you only have 1 and a quarter miles to go". My response was to trip over. That was the end of my race.

On a slightly more positive note, Monday (club night) I was given a form for a Plymouth half marathon. Plymouth half marathon usually run towards the start of the year, is so expensive. (around £40) - this was only £11 and is held at the end of September. That's excellent for me - I want a half marathon (my first) for around September / October time.

Next race is likely to be the British 10k in London.

London 10,000

So, Monday saw me take part in the London 10,000. I have never run a race with this amount of people before.

First mistake was not hydrating enough over the weekend and drinking stupid amounts on Monday morning. I decided that going toilet before the race (and before the queues) would be sensible. Did that and needed the toilet again at the 3km mark.

The next 7km came around so quick! Had to stop part way through to stretch a few times.

My second mistake was deciding to start towards the back of the pen and having to run slowly and walk behind some really slow people.

We ran past a load of London landmarks, many of which I didn't recognise at all!

I now have a PB by a grand total of 2 seconds - 1:13:26. Pleasantly surprised - fastest time in training was nearer the 1:17 mark.

All in all, it was a brilliant day out. The crowds were fantastic and it was nice to be sprayed with water a few times along the route.

Planning on doing this one next year and have been talked into doing the British 10k in July. Will think about that.

Next plan is half marathon training. Looking at one for around September / October time.

Final week before 10k

So, it's the final week before my 10k. Not wanting to risk injury and feeling as though I'm ready for Monday's 10k, I decided to take it easy this week.

My plan was to do a 5k on the Thursday and spend the rest of the week relaxing and trying not to panic about Monday's race.