From the very beginning of this journey I have had no illusions that this was ever going to be an easy ride. I knew that the training would get progressively harder as the runs got longer which meant, hopefully, that the shorter distances would get easier. And so it seemed until Yesterday. I’ll explain.
Yesterday I ran a 10k. Yesterday it rained hard all day. Yesterday it was really cold. Yesterday I hated running.
I’d booked the race on a warm sunny day forgetting that in November it rains a lot and is cold. As I walked up from the car park towards the main stand, the race was held at a horse race course, a 5k race came past me with a few people holding their running shoes as they ran. I spoke to a race Marshall who said that one part was so muddy people had been losing shoes. I had time before my race so decided to walk part of the course. I wish I hadn’t now. Parts of the course were under water but they were still running on it.
I’m not a fair weather runner by any means but this is my first winter I’ve run in and while I’ve experienced rain I’ve not had rain and cold together and I can usually dodge puddles as I run. When part of the course has become a lake then you have no choice but to plough through.
They got all the 10k runners out to the start line and we were off. The usual cavalry charge at the front from the speedy runners and the plodders at the back. Yesterday I was definitely a plodder. 100 metres later and my feet were totally soaked through as were my gloves and shirt. Only another hour to go I thought. 🙂 Course consisted of two laps of a very undulating route, no big hills just continual slopes it seemed like. As I came round to complete my first lap my time was good. Unfortunately it was good for a 5k for me and I knew that I would suffer for that. Even worse the guy who finished first overtook me with a few yards to spare. 31 minutes for a 10k in those conditions was incredible. His time not mine. Second lap, same as the first just a little bit worse. This is when the rain changed from just raining hard to really raining hard and the wind picked up. It was only later that I found out that one third of the field had pulled out at the 5k stage because of the conditions. I can not lie when I say that the last 3k were the hardest I have ever run. Wet feet, wet clothes, cold and miserable, getting slower and slower, knees hurting and starting to shiver it was all I could do to keep going. The Marshalls were brilliant, their encouragement was the difference between me finishing and just giving up. I do have to say that a finishing line has never looked so good before and 10 minutes later I was all changed and dry.
My knees still hurt and this morning was freezing so I did a small gym workout, I know part of it is age and fatigue but, and not for the first time, I’m looking forward in my training plan with trepidation. If this is how 10k affects me what will 20k or 30k or even 42.2k do? Will my body stand up to the abuse and will I ever be ready for a Marathon? The one positive point for me is that all my issues are physical, I seem to have conquered all my mental demons. 150 days to go.