Ten Halves in 2010

So I've done it! I've completed my personal challenge and run 10 half marathons in 2010; all for Scope! Scope have been brilliant along the way, sending me good luck cards and congratulations certificates and even post race massages and snacks! It's been a tremendous journey from my first half of the year; the Roding Valley Half where I ran 2:10:38, to my longest; the Reading Half where I had the ligament injury that kept me away from the London Marathon, to my PB, which I achieved at the Royal Parks Foundation Half in Hyde Park just days before my 30th birthday! I was really hoping to get a sub 2:00 time, but I pushed as hard as I could and came out with 2:01:39; shaving nearly SIX minutes of my previous PB! So that was none too shabby!

Before this year I had only run one half marathon; Run To The Beat in September 2009, and that was purely by chance! It had never been my intention to get into half marathons, just like it had never been my intention to get into running! In 2009 I had been working up to running 10k, and I had even entered a 10k race in Watford for the April with my bff, come the day though it was rainy and I hadn't done adequate training so it was an easy decision to give it a miss. I did still meet up with my friend later that day and her father-in-law made a comment that made me want to take my running more seriously. That year was the first year I actually made a plan about what races I was going to run and set myself real workable goals in terms of finish times. I got a PB at the Women's 5k Challenge that year and went on to run the Bananaman 10k Chase in Willen Lake, my first 10k race and setting myself a PB of 53:53 that I am still yet to beat! It was this race that lead me to my first half marathon. Leukaemia Research as they were known then are the official charity of RTTB and they had extra places going for the race in just two weeks! As it was such short notice they didn't even want any money; they were just giving the places away and I could hardly say no! I had an 8k race the day before, which I completed and my plan for the day was just to enjoy the atmosphere and get around the course! Leukaemia Research were going for a world record for the number of people dressed as bananas before the race and I was eager to take part in that! I put on my banana suit and warmed up with my fellow bananas, had a photoshoot, signed the register and decided to run the whole 13.1miles wearing the suit! It was such a fantastic experience that I knew I just had to do it again! It's funny how you can be so afraid of something only to realise there's nothing to be scared of at all!

The idea to run 10 in 2010 came to me after my injury, I had just been using the 21.1km distance as preparation for the London Marathon. After my marathon dreams were smashed I wanted to think of a challenge I could do that would be worthy of the kind of support I would expect for the London Marathon. I wasn't particularly enjoying the 13.1 mile race, but I knew that I could recover and train an get back into it. It would be hard work, but not as much hard work as the marathon and if I could maintain that level of fitness for the whole year I knew it would have lots of other benefits for me. I decided to choose my runs carefully as running four halves in four weekends had caused my injury. I laid them out trying not to do two in two weekend, always giving myself a break in between to recover. I also had the London Triathlon in my diary so there was serious cross training to be done as well! It been a hectic year, I've had two respiratory infections that have kept me in bed for weeks and yet I've kept pushing for these halves. They've really kept me going!

Now 13.1 miles is my race; I own it. When I look for races I look for half marathons, there's the odd 10k, 10mile and 5k in my diary too, but 13.1 is where I live; that's me; it's got my name on it and it calls me Mommy! This is the distance that really pushes me, where I can prove something to myself; where I separate the girl from the woman; where I find my own. And to prove the point; I'm not happy with 2:01:39 as a PB I need to get sub 2:00 and as such I'm going to keep running half marathons until I hit a figure that I'm happy with. And yes all you runners out there know that this is just the start; once I hit my goal, I'll simply move the goal post and keep on running. So if you see me out there, come along and run with me; life is for the taking and I'm running with it!

Adidas Women's 5k Challenge

What an amazing day! This is my favourite race of the year; possibly because it's the first race I ever ran way back in 2007! This is where I caught the running bug; back then the race was sponsored by Lucozade and I made it through by running 3km twice a week and a half marathon wasn't even a pipe dream!

I always aim to do better than I did the previous year at this race and normally succeed by setting a new PB for the year. This year, however, I had already set a new 5k PB back in February at the Milton Keynes parkrun of 26:05. Whilst my ultimate goal for 2010 was to get a sub 25:00 5k, and I really wanted to do it at this race, I wasn't hopeful as my training had been lax and I was and am seriously stressed at the moment!

I met up with my bff in the park before the race and we headed down to the start together. She had the bright idea of getting into the sub 25min section (for club runners, which I am lol). Something I probably wouldn't have done, even though that was what I was hoping, I was realistic and hoping to just do a sub 26min race; I would be happy with 25:xx! We didn't have a lot of time before the start and soon after we got into the pen they closed the gates and told newcomers to go to the back to run the race. I didn't get to warm up properly so just stretched and bounced around in the pen, my anxiety was enough of a warm up! My hero Jessica Ennis was on the podium and I was torn between taking a pic of her and getting my music started. When I checked my watch is was 10:59 so, sorry Jess, but the music won out and before I knew it the gun went off! I didn't even have a chance to say good luck to my bff before heading off with the crowd. Luckily we had already decided where to meet after the race before heading off to meet our other halves!


I didn't rush off as the gun went, but took my time walking to the line and making sure my watch matched exactly the start line. Setting off I decided not to distract myself by check my watch at every km marker. I needed to check that my watch matched up with the markers on the course, but not check my time. I know the course off by heart now and mapped out in my head the start with the 1st left bend then the part where you double back on yourself where, for the first time in four years I was fast to see the elites running ahead! After that you hit the first km and it's pretty much like any other course until you hit the police station towards the end with the little elevation which really takes it out of you if your not expecting it, but after you turn the corner the finish line is there and that is pretty much that! For the life of me I couldn't figure out if I was on track for my target time or not. I tried to pick someone out in the crowd to match on speed, but couldn't; there were a lot of club runners as expected and whilst I was maintaining speed with them I couldn't out run them and kind of fell in the middle to back of the pack. At the 3km I allowed myself a look at my watch; 15:01. At first I couldn't work out what that meant I was so shocked! But I was on target to get 25:00mins! I just needed to maintain my pace and hoped that my watch and the course continued to match at every marker! 


There were a few moments when I really didn't think I could keep the momentum up, but I kept my usual mantra in my head; just 10 mins and it will all be over, and if you don't collapse at the finish line, you're not running hard enough! As the finish line came in sight I checked the time; 24:xx; I was under 25mins! That really pushed me, I wanted to sprint to the finish, but as hard as I pushed I couldn't sprint, but I hope my speed picked up a little! As I crossed the finish line I pushed the stop button on my watch and felt it buzz. I didn't look at it, I just concentrated on the time on the clock, I didn't cross the line at the gun (the elites did), but it still read 24:25 as I crossed; I'd made it in under 25 minutes; I'd made it in under 24:30 and under 24:25! I was amazed! Luckily I did not collapse at the finish line, I started walking through the funnel and checked the time on my watch realising it hadn't stopped when I hit the button; the vibration I had felt was it clocking 5km, duh! I hit the button at 25:50 and  soon heard my bff calling my name. My bff managed 25:07 a PB for her too so it was a good day all round. We finished up with some time in the park chilling out, checking out the adidas tent and I even saw Jessica Ennis up close and was too star struck to speak to her!


My splits were:
1km - 4:35.56
2km - 4:57.15
3km - 5:06.29
4km - 4:59.34
5km - 4:39.45
Total for 5km: 24:17.79

NSPCC MK Half

There was a lot of build up to today. Getting ready last night I realised my usual race gear was in the wash basket, so I did a last minute wash and managed to get my gear out to dry before bed. Then realised I was planning to wear my Scope running gear to an NSPCC event. Deciding I didn't want to be politically incorrect I changed my outfit last minute and went for something that didn't advertise my charity! 

Best thing about today was meeting @Claire0, we've been chatting for ages on Twitter and it was nice to see the woman behind the wetsuit! lol. We met up before the race, put our bags in, and did the usual pre race stuff and warm up. I forgot my Lucozade in my bag so had to run back just before the start time, not sure if was a good or bad thing that I didn't get to start with Claire since she did 1:37!

Coming into the race I really wanted to get a PB, my last PB was set in March at the other MK Half and well MK is my home so I should know the area! Setting off I felt quite good, the first mile was congested as the lane was narrow, but I was able to run on the embankment to get ahead of the slower runners. The course itself was deceiving, it started off on a gentle uphill gradient that wasn't really any bother, so I waited for it to level out... and I waited and I waited. I don't know why, but for some reason I had it in my head that this was meant to be a flat course... We went down redways, bridle paths (very smelly!), canal paths and even past a field of sheep! It was up, up, up, and hardly ever down at all! Not what I was expecting at all it's a wonder I got through!

Once I'd settled in to the race and found my pace I clocked a couple of runners that were running slightly faster than me and decided to try to keep up with them. There was one woman in particular who had long purple pants who was just in front and constantly checking her watch - obviously looking for a PB too! I got ahead of her, she got ahead of me, and we went on like that for the first six miles. After that I really couldn't keep up and thought I was going to loose it. There was one point where I was running so slowly I thought I was walking! I took a gel just after 6 miles and kept pushing through, I had no competition to guide me any more and I knew my speed was fading fast! I was checking my watch and kept telling myself that I needed to pick up the pace if I wanted to make that PB, but it didn't translate to my legs. I was trying to calculate my finish time, but my brain is foggy when I run and even though maths is my strong point sometimes you need to stop to think properly and that was not an option!

Reaching 10 miles was a blessing - the end was in sight, now I knew I could do it! My watch read 1:38 and I knew the last 5km would take me a maximum of 30min, my PB for 5km is 26mins so at a push I could still come in under 2:08! I told myself I'd just got out of bed to do a 5k run and I could hit 26mins on fresh legs. I put a mantra in my head; 5k Fresh Legs, 5k Fresh Legs! Staying focussed the pain in my legs eased and they did feel fresh, well for a bit anyway. I kept pushing through past 11miles, past 12... On the approach to 13 I saw the purple pants lady and thought about staying on her shoulder for a bit so she wouldn't have time to push past me, but the decided I needed to just keep going. I mean, if I could catch up with her she must be tired to have dropped her pace or I was just running that fast that I could still beat her anyway! So I ran past her and I don't know if she picked up my pace, but once she was out of sight I focussed on the finish line and pushed through to complete in 2:07:21!

Amazing, absolutely amazing! Only problem was I didn't have time to enjoy the moment I had to rush off to go to London for my little brother 18th birthday. All in all a great day, even though my legs ache and my nephew broke my medal! Gotta love kids!

Nike MK Half

Today started as a good day. I had my kit all out and prepared, I got my breakfast in nice and early, I even had a bit of a lie in (if you call 07:30 on a Sunday a lie in)! I also had a little helper with me, which may have caused me to be a bit distracted this morning... Two things went wrong; firstly I turned my Garmin on inside the Xscape building; it couldn't find satellites and when it asked if I was indoors, I pressed yes because, well, I was.... Then at the start line, my bags were kindly taken from me and doh! so was my sports drink! #fail & #fail again! It did occur to me as I waited at the start to restart my watch to check it had found satellites, but I was so worried about not having my sports drink that I, well, I just didn't! I had already read through the race instructions so I knew there was plenty of water on the course, I also had a energy gel in my pocket so I calmed myself down by rationally telling myself that that was enough to get me through; the first water station was at 3 miles & I regularly run 5km races without any nutrition or water. So, I set my watch off at the start outside Xscape and as we rounded the corner towards Child's Way, I check my time, don't know why but I did. I'd done 2:46 mins and it wasn't recording my distance OH NO!! Quick thinking (I still don't know how to operate the watch properly) I switched it off and on again, but to no avail. PANIC! Do I go without or keep trying? Well I keep trying of course! Restarted it again and it was gearing up ready to go, I'd passed the 1 mile point by this time so decided not to start it until the 2 mile marker, if you're a runner you'll understand why!


The rest of the race was pretty uneventful my time being 2 miles out kept messing with my head; maths and running is not a good combo! Coming up to 6 miles I could feel myself starting to lag, as I passed the 6 mile marker I decided it was time to try the energy gel. I really wasn't looking forward to it as the one I tried last week was disgusting. Surprisingly it was quite good, for an energy gel that is, and I finished every last gooey drop! At 7 miles I knew I couldn't get below 2hrs so I was just determined to get as close to it as I could. I was told by friends who test ran the course that there was a killer hill on the last mile, so I knew I had to save some energy for that, but where was it? I didn't see any killer hill! I mean the race itself was promoted as flat, but MK by nature isn't really flat if your running, walking or cycling the redways around town. They go under all the main roads so by nature there's a little up and down every so often; I would call the course mixed rather than flat. The only 'hill' I noticed towards the end was when we took a bridge over a road rather than under it; granted it was steep but it wasn't long and it wasn't hugely challenging. After two races straight uphill it was a blessing.


Today was a new PB, at 2:08:38, I came in exactly 2 mins quicker than last weeks half, but I wasn't happy with my time. I do think that had I had my sport drink with me that would have kept my energy levels up and kept me going longer and faster. As it was I got to the end of the race and didn't collapse in a heap and I do think I could have gone further if need be. Races that end like that, well you just were not working hard enough!


Next week Silverstone Half Marathon!

Roding Valley Half Marathon

So this is my first Half of the year and my first of 12 Half Marathons I hope to complete this year in aid of Scope. It's been a while since I've gone this distance and lets be honest here I'm not a distance runner. Never have been. In fact I'm not really a runner at all! I mean I did the 100m at school and even tried the 200m, but my thoughts at the time were simple; 100m is boring and well 200m is just twice as boring! Anyway, back in school my event was the hurdles, 110m I think they were in those days, and I loved it! I mean why would you want to run and just run? Where's the fun in that? But having hurdles to overcome, that is shear beauty; that seperates the men from boys! So, back to my point, I never thought distance running was for me, but as today proved, distance running is a challenge in itself. It's not a short, sharp blast of energy; it's a marriage of effort and endurance. You're not in and out in 14 secs (my 100m record) it's a lasting partnership between you and the road. Once you go for distances of 13.1 mile and beyond you're in for the long haul. 

So why have a rivetted on for so long? Simple. These were the thoughts going through my head when I started out on this race. Tortential rain, a nice sharp cold breeze, beautiful puddles of mud and undulating hills, what more could you want for a Sunday morning race that gets you out of bed at 05:00? You get my point? Needless to say I was exhuasted on the drive down and had numerous micro sleeps behind the wheel. Poor form I know, but what did wake me up is opening my eyes to find I was on course for a head on collision with an oncoming car. Nice! These are the points where I wish I drank coffee!

I arrived at 08:10, which gave me pleanty of time to get myself sorted before the race; loo and a quick change into gear that would keep me warm if not dry! The course started on the running track and once they called us out of the nice, warm, dry clubhouse, I did a quick loop and a half (excuse the pun) to warm up. From the information I got in the post I knew it was one short loop and two longer loops to make up the 13.1miles. I didn't clock that the one short loop was the warm up loop I'd just run i.e. 1.5 loops of the track; doh! The interesting bit was when we finished our track loops and due to flooding had to go through a small gap in the fence instead of feeding out through the main path. We went one by one and yes we had to stop and wait to go through! Everyone was quite jolly about it though and there were remarks like "No PBs today then!", speak for yourself! The first loop was quite uneventful; mostly uphill not enough down to mention and lots of crossing back on forth on the road. The marshalling was great at these times; they stopped traffic over a 100m section of road to allow floods of runners to cross without breaking their stride. There were some serious puddles at points and on the first loop I missed all of them, but on the second loop I lost my footing twice and drenched my right and then left foot in floods of muddy water, great! I coped well and my squelchy feet didn't bother me too much until mile 12 where I had to stop to adjust my shoes. My feet were slipping inside them and my toes were getting a bruising! The last 3.1 miles I desperately tried to pick up the pace; I wanted to come in around 2:10 and I had some ground to make up. I kept telling myself that it was only a 5k race and I needed to pull my finger out, but heck, I knew I was lying! The 200m miles to go sign was a godsend and then I really brought it home and overtook two plodding runners on the way as well. A good race all in all, now just need to see what I can do on the flat!

Rodding Valley Half 2:10:40. Next 13.1 miler? Next Sunday 07-03-10; Nike MK Half!