Yesterday morning I made my way to London for the Bupa London 10,000. As I got to London I made my way down The Mall in search for the Championship Tent. I eventually found it and automatically felt like I didn’t belong in there. I took a seat between Beth Potter and Jo Pavey and to say I felt slightly out of my depth was an understatement. There was a splattering of GB and Commonwealth kit and a myriad of abs on display all over the tent and nervous anticipation in the air as the Bupa 10,000 which incorporated the British 10,000 Championships was little under an hour away.
As I sat in the tent wondering what the hell I was doing there I started to listen to some of the other girls saying how they weren’t going to PB or do well. To me this is a very silly thing to think just before a race. If you don’t think you are going to do well then you won’t! Get that negativity out of your head ladies and tell yourself and honestly believe that you are going to smash that race! Then you will…simple!
All the girls and guys began to leave the tent to start their warming up rituals. These included jogging, jumping, stretching, drills and strides. As everyone warmed up around each other you could see everyone sizing up their fellow competitors and wondering if they could beat them or not.
We finally got the call to go out to the start line and nervously headed over. The Bupa heart beat began beating through the speakers, which I am sure is designed to fill you with fear and after announcing the top girls and guys the count down was on and finally we are on our way to run 10,000m around the streets of London.
As soon as the gun went a fly flew straight to the back of my throat and I couldn’t unlodge him, so he was there for the journey around London. As we made our way around the streets we were greeted by wonderful bands and singers every kilometer. This certainly upped my spirits and gave me a little boost. I went through 5km a lot slower than normal so knew that this wasn’t going to be a great time so just got into the spirit of the race and enjoyed the atmosphere. The 9km marker loomed and it was now just a short dash to the finish. I was pretty happy to have crossed the finish line in 38 minutes, not a great time for me but all things considered I was pretty happy.
So the race was over and I began my journey home. As soon as I sat down on the train I realised just how much the race had taken out of me. Road racing hurts! I dozed off and woke up again as the train pulled away from my stop. I was so tired I didn’t really care that I had to take a little detour to the next station before coming all the way home again.
A few reasons why I didn’t do as well as I normally do:
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I had run 15miles the day before as I am currently preparing for Man V Horse so my legs were a tad tired.
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The pollen count in and around St James’ Park was horrendous and my eyes and nose were streaming the whole way round.
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I was a tad heavier than normal mainly due to over consumption of ice cream…but it just tastes sooo good!
If you are looking for a fun 10km to do that takes in some wonderful sites of London then definitely do the Bupa London 10,000 next year! Entries are open for 2016 now: www.london10000.co.uk