1st Big Race Day - Salford 5KM Run

Saturday: A sleepless night, I awoke to motivating text messages and emails :o) I sorted out the kids and organised my music playlist for the race, taking a pic of me before I left the house (looking rather serious). It was very windy today and rather cold, but no rain. I got to the park an hour in advance which I now know was far too early. I got my race number, supplied with safety pins, and was ready, with 50mins to go. The race route was on a big board and I was worried to see it was more undulating than I had been practicing, not a good feeling at all. The Under17 3km started before mine and watching them go got me excited for the first time. It felt strange being on my own, seeing others with friends or family or club groups. I walked around to keep warm, and to get the legs ready for the race. The nerves calmed as the atmosphere was friendly and I received many supportive texts. I lined up near the back, in accordance with advice for newbies from fetch.com, and was feeling very motivated and determined at that point. As the hooter honked, I set off faster than I expected, getting swept away with the crowd. I finished my race drink (lucozade isotonic) before the race since I was convinced I needed to focus on sticking to the correct race route, but this was a terrible mistake because only a few minutes into the race, I desperately needed the bathroom. This feeling stayed with me for the whole race. Also, within minutes of starting, the earphones were flying about in the wind and I didn’t want to waste valuable time fixing them so took them off, very disheartened to be unable to run to music I had so carefully chosen for the race. With the wind blowing against me and the route feeling painful, I struggled to enjoy myself. It felt good to temporarily overtake a runner who walk/ran the race and though she eventually raced ahead of me to the finish, I was determined not to walk at all. I guess it’s a personal thing, it meant a lot to me that I ran the whole race, even if it meant a slower time than a walk/run effort. Without music, it felt difficult to keep motivated, but managed to persevere with thoughts of my late cousin, who’s early passing led me to taking up running, and I am sure he was looking down on me, laughing his head off :o) Also, I felt inspired by my runner friend who has made remarkable progress in running, and thinking positive thoughts, in amongst the cursing, helped me get through it. Keeping an eye on the time, I thought I was on target for 34-36mins for most of the race but at one point, I realised I could possibly touch my magic a) target of 30mins, and what do you know, I get a stich! I pressed down on the pain, running whilst leaning to the opposite side of the stich (something I read somewhere on the running forum, I think) and slowed down. It became a huge struggle not to walk, I could see the finishing line, and somehow eventually got there. I was annoyed to see a photographer there, well, I can laugh now, but I am sure it will be the most unflattering photo imaginable! I was wheezing wildly, as I do after hard runs, and was handed a medal, much to my delight :o) I tried to keep walking but ended up collapsing onto the grass within minutes, I was dizzy and unable to take any more. The rest did me good, my head had been spinning. Once I was vaguely composed, I got up to collect my zipper from the tent and was disappointed to learn there were no drinks being handed out. A kind runner, typical of the crowd that came, offered to share a drink but I politely declined, slightly embarrassed at my under-preparation. I was fine though, I went off for a cool down walk, admired my medal and enjoyed the post-race high for the first time. My mobile recorded my time as 30mins 15secs, which had me beaming, I couldn’t believe I did so much better than expected. I had some pics taken at the finishing line (in a relaxed state) and more at home. I was later a little nervous about my actual time and was buzzing all over again to receive official confirmation that I came 142nd out of 150, and recorded 30mins 16secs :oD I was over the moon and spent my evening celebrating with my favourite drink (Irn Bru, hehe) and chocolates (Jaffa Cakes and Ferrero Rocher, classy, lol). Despite the pain and the problems, it was a fantastic day, my first race completed, and it felt brilliant. I had heard much about the post-race high and experienced it today, glowed and basked in it very selfishly and happily :o) Having reached such lows in confidence and been so nervous pre-race, I was overwhelmed to feel so delighted, I was beaming all evening. I learned a lot of valuable lessons from my first race, which is part of training for the Great Runs in May, and I’m proud, feeling like a ‘proper runner’ now. A day full of memories I’ll treasure always :o)