The day had arrived....Tarpley 20
So the last few weeks have all been about today. Preparing and training to see if I could nail a 20 mile road race. When I say nail - I mean survive - get round - see the finish line while attempting to not be last.
Despite not having run in a road race his long before I was surprisingly not nervous. I knew that I would need to take this race steady and it certainly wasn't all about speed! Without the speed element I think it took a bit of pressure off me!
As always we left far too early to get to the race! Total misunderstanding between myself and Claire over how long it would take us to get there! Poor Jan and Caroline who had grabbed a lift with us had probably never turned up at a race with so much time to spare! Parking wouldn't have been an issue though - huge field to park in and really close to the starting venue. I have promised next time we will not leave so early......
With over an hour to wait for the race to start we thoroughly enjoyed tucking into some flapjacks kindly provided by Kerry via Jan. After having one of these before Great Bentley I was hoping the flapjacks had magical powers to speed me round todays course.
We also had lots of time to catch up with our fellow lifers. You will see from the photo above we were out in force today. Some people were doing the ten miles and some people the twenty - everyone equally as excited/nervous about the race ahead. With the sun shining down and the weather warming up it we looked like we were going to have a pleasant morning out on the roads.
While waiting at the start line someone asked me what pace I was aiming for!???
Well this was always going to be a tricky question to answer! As Mrs Inconsistent I have no real concept of how any run would go! If it was a good day.... then bring on the 9 minute miles and if it was a bad day ..... then it could be anything up to 10.30 minute miles. Quite a big window, but once finished I looked at my mile splits on STRAVA you will see my estimate was pretty much spot on! There is a whole range of paces between the two levels! This only points to one thing really - I need to get my training plan in order and actually train to sustain a pace throughout a race. Nice little objective for me over the next few months!
I had a little bit of help pacing today however as running buddy Claire had agreed to run with me. We both spent the first 10 miles constantly going ' uh oh' we are going to fast!
It was really hard to keep at a steady pace as the course was very undulating. The ups were slow and the downs were speedy! It was easy to run away with yourself on the down hills, but at the same time I was thankful for this time to recover! The hills in fact were not a biggest issue. I actually found the flat sections of the course harder as they were open to the elements. I believe around mile 8 I was begging for the hills to return as I was being blown over by the wind. There was nowhere to hide!
The biggest decision of the day stood around whether to take my hydration pack with me or not! After changing my mind a million times I opted to leave it at the baggage drop. For this I was soooooo grateful - mainly because I am lazy. On reflection having to lug that bag round 20 miles would have been exhausting. Plus there really wasn't any need. The water stops throughout the course were well planned out and I never felt dehydrated! I am sure it would have been a different case if we had been in a heat wave though.
The miles went lots quicker than I expected. We had to dig a bit deep between miles 11 and 15, but the above photo was taken around mile 14 and I appear to still be enjoying myself. Although it does look like I am the only person out on the course, I promise you there were a few people just in front and behind me.
The course went through some beautiful countryside and there was plenty to look at. It certainly kept my attention throughout the race! There were also some most gorgeous houses on the route. I think I spent the first section of the race house shopping and planning a life in the countryside.
I often think it would be fun to film the route while running as often you don't get to appreciate all of it while actually running! The distractions helped on route as I was nervous running such a distance without my ankle support. This was the first main event without it! I kept focussed on my surroundings, but also made sure I was not going to stack it and cause myself injury. Success though - I returned injury free and ankle all happy.
At mile 17 I split from Claire to finish the balance of the race. I decided to up the pace slightly and took on the challenge of whizzing to the finish line. This was harder than I expected, but I got to see lots of lifers on the way. This helped boost my spirits and also gave me some new faces to run with. It was lovely to see Andy, John and Ian all out on the route in the last few miles.
A fellow lifer kindly caught the above photo of me heading towards the finish line. I think the smile was one of relief as 300 meters before I nearly had a massive meltdown! I had floored the last few miles and with 300 meters to go I nearly gave up. Everything hurt, but a lovely Woodbridge Shuffler shouted some words of encouragement and I decided to try and finish strongly.
I was delighted to finish and despite not getting a medal (which is always a sad especially for such a big race) I was pleased with my finishers T-SHIRT. For some reason however I ordered a medium! It was huge on me, but will hopefully last a bit longer and not shrink in the wash!
All in all the race was a great experience. A great set up, a great course, tea and cakes available at the start and end and great supporters on the route. Now if only a medal had been included it would have scored a 10 out of 10. Ultimately I run for fun and bling.... so in this case I am glad I had lots of fun as it meant I was still buzzing despite no bling being included.
