I have just woken up after the first afternoon nap I can remember taking in years. I meant to have just a little lie down when I got out of the bath I took to unwind when I got back home, but ended up lying face down on my bed, naked, in a patch of lovely warm sunlight for 2 hours.
It was a difficult one today. The course was much hillier than I expected. I woke up to the rain at 6.30 to get ready, and it was still threatening rain all the way across town, and it was muddy as I entered the field in front of Temple Newsam House where Cancer Research UK had set up their stalls and the start/finish line. It didn't bode well.
Having got bus times from transportdirect.co.uk, I left the house just before 8am and then spent 20 minutes waiting for a bus that didn't come, which meant I missed the connecting bus to Temple Newsam. Luckily, I wasn't the only person heading in that direction, I got talking to 3 other women waiting at the bus stop (which was not where the website thought it was) and we all got there just in time for the warm up. By now the rain had stopped, and it was warm and quite humid - not my favourite running weather, in fact the sort of weather that stopped me running in Atlanta when I first thought I might try getting healthy.
The race organisers divided the 1000 women there into groups of Runners (those who would complete it in under an hour), Joggers (an hour upwards) and Walkers (those who had no intention whatsoever of breaking a sweat), and set us off with a gap of a minute or so between each group. I put myself into the joggers group, and watched as the runners shot out of the starting line. A minute or so later, the Joggers group were set off too, and although I'd walked downhill to reach the line, it somehow hadn't occurred to me that I would have to run uphill to get out of the field.
By the time I passed the 1k mark, I was already pissed off. Grass is much harder to run on than the roads and hard canal paths I've been training on, there's much more bounce and no hard push off, and it tires me out much quicker. The marker was just before the route took us around the perimeter of damp green playing fields for 3k. I found myself looking for short cuts, and having to tell myself that's not the point of a measured race.
As the 4k mark approached, shortly after giving up on defending my back sign against the strong crosswinds, I noticed I was running in front of a Mum and Daughter running together, and I'd been listening to their conversation. The little girl was only around 9, maybe 10 at the most, and she was shattered, and whinging that she wanted to stop, needed a drink, didn't like the wind, or the heat, or the puddles, this was stupid and why did she have to do it anyway? Poor old Mum did her best to cajole and explain, encourage, praise and generally talk her daughter round, and I felt simultaneously sorry for and really proud of them both, because even whilst she was complaining, the girl had not stopped running. They overtook me just before the 5k mark, after I'd turned to them after a particularly whiny bout and said "Listen sweetheart, you're keeping me going! I think you're amazing. Everyone else has legs twice as long as yours - you're running twice as far!" A few other people around us joined in the encouragement. I hope they finished well.
After the 5k mark is where it all went wrong. They took us out around the rough paths on the wider estate, and there was a hill that pretty much was all there was between 5 and 7k. It was slippy on the stones, and muddy off them. Since about the middle of last week I've discovered I've got a pull in my groin which starts playing up after 5 or 6k even on the flat, and it makes hills quite unpleasant. At the same time, my left foot starts to tighten up, becoming hard and tense. I spoke to my Dad about after last week's race and he thinks it's probably a balancing and protecting thing related to my shoulder injury. Even though my shoulder doesn't hurt when I'm running, I seem to be holding the whole of my left side slightly tense.
I could not do the hill. I walked, steadily hating the terrain, the weather, my foot, my groin and my lack of preparation for the route.
I ran again whenever there was a flat bit or a downhill, along with most of the people around me. Seeing a crowd of women toiling up a wet hill, then somehow, fishlike, without verbal communication, reacting like a shoal and all suddenly running again was surreal and beautiful. By the 9k mark, the marshall assured us there was only a tiny little bit more uphill and it was nothing like we'd already done, and despite a few exhausted strides of walking, I came across the finish line running, and was surprised to find that my time, even with roughly 2.5k of walking, was 1hr, 14mins and 44secs. This probably means that my running is not that much faster than my walking. I'm not sure how I feel about that!
I ran into the finishing paddock, collected my medal and goody bag and collapsed among the others, lying flat out on the wet grass. After a natter on the phone with my parents and a few stretches, I set off up the hill to walk out to the bus stop. But when I got to the top of the hill, I found to my surprise that I was crying, and took myself away from the crowd to go and sit in the amphitheatre. I can't say exactly why I was so overcome, more even than last week, but I had to wait for the unexpected tears to pass before being ready to walk again.
And as I made my way back through town on the bus, chatting with a couple of other runners and wearing my medal, I made the following resolutions for future runs:
- Do not do overtime, then go out and drink with the data team the night before a race (even if you do stick to shandy). And you can't get away with a midnight bedtime before a 6.30 get up.
- Research the course. Next time you intend to run a 10k route that involves slugging up killer hills, please have at least 2 weeks of hill training under your belt. And do at least some grass work!
- Sort out your foot/groin pull thing. Could be all compensation for the collar bone injury.
- Drink more water!
So that was run number 3 of my 5. I've got my eyes on 2 more, but I'm saying nothing until I've signed up for them.
In the meantime, having not really had the best run in the world today, knowing that I didn't enjoy the route and that I was totally unprepared for the hills, I was asked by a marshall on the way out if I'd do it all again.
The answer's yes. Somewhere around Temple Newsam's grounds is a pink backplate that says "I'm running for Sadie Legard", with a heart, blown off my back between 4 and 5k. There'll always be better reasons to run than reasons to stop.
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