Oh my....... I got so stressed about it. I wrote about how stressed I was here. And it was all I could think about . I worked myself up into such a state over a rubbish run that I did the week before and thought it was all over. Three days before the 10k I made myself go out and I did 5.5k in 35 minutes- which I was disappointed with as that was slower than the Race for Life (29 minutes anyone??) but I decided I would use the race as a benchmark- to see if I still liked running and to use some tips I read in Women's Running- namely pace myself - stamina vs speed. I was not going to set myself a time. I just wanted to finish.
So..... it was a beach run..... which I thought was along the prom (nice concrete surface) next to the beach. Not actually on the beach. Apparently a beach run is actually on the beach. And it turned out that the tide hadn't long gone out and the route had been changed slightly as some of it was still underwater..... There were not very many of us- probably about 50 people in total and some looked very professional and had good running kit and club t-shirts. This made me even more nervous and I had visions of being last in and everyone having to wait for me to finish.
The route was 1k out and back to the starting point and then a further 4k out and 4k back. My feet got wet and sandy immediately which was an experience ! After the first 1k then next 5k were into the wind. And it was windy. JGS and the dog came to cheer me on and they gave up walking as JGS said it was just too hard walking into the wind (and we are hardy walkers). I cannot describe how hard this was. It was so windy all I could hear was the whoosh of the wind in my ears like they were going to explode . The sand was whipping up a storm and blowing right into my eyes. It was intense and extreme and the last half of this first stretch was not fun. I was determined to keep going. The worst point was when I started to think 'I didn't sign up for this' after I had to walk for a minute or so as I could not actually see in front of me.
But, the moment we turned the checkpoint to run back something amazing happened. Running away from the wind meant the whooshing in my ears stopped. Immediately. It was like the whooshing never happened. There was silence. Just silence. Like someone had flicked a switch.
And then I felt like I was running again. And it felt good. And I came in at 1 hour and 5 minutes. And I am really pleased that as only about 20 people got in before me. I managed to stay in the middle for the whole race and I even overtook some people.
So it turns out that I do like running. I am so proud of myself for doing this. My second race. My first 10k. In extreme endurance conditions. 1 hour and 5 minutes. Well done me. I think I might be a runner. xx
ps- I have listed the 10k as an 'unexpected opportunity' because at the beginning of the year I had no idea this would happen. Definitely unexpected and weirdly an opportunity.
