Eastleigh 10K

Roger's Profanisauras

Now that's something I might have swallowed and regurgitated this morning at about 9.30, only manners kept my mouth closed. It's Spring right? It should be all chicks, bunnies and daffodils, shouldn't it? For goodness sake, what's with all the white stuff, what's with the minus temperatures. Where's this Global Warming I keep hearing about (I do know that the Gulf Stream could make it colder for us in old Blighty). And so, donned in Lycra leggings, trainers that have seen far too many miles, an orange beany, fluorescent gloves and a rather fetching fluorescent T-Shirt (thank you B&Q) and the 'now' obligatory bright red lipstick (the red lipstick seemed like a fun thing to do for the Santa Run, and now I think it's fun for any race I do and will drag as many of my chums along to do the same with all other races) I was outside. And that ensemble is  not enough clothes to wear on a morning like this morning. And so I managed to refrain from spouting from Roger's Profanisauras as the excitement at the beginning of the race took over and I jumped excitedly in an effort to keep warm and warm up some muscles that were shortly going to get a beating.

In a strange way, just in my mind, 6.4 miles sounds longer than 10k.  I'm not sure why, it may because breaking the race down into little chunks of 1k at a time make it easier to get round, and also to see how far you're going tots up quickly (well, I say quickly!).

And soon the gun went off, the elite runners shot off (in case you were unsure, I wasn't at the front with the elite runners) and eventually I crossed the line where the first chip reading was taken and off the crowd went.  I was running on my own, which I'm perfectly comfortable with and was able to give myself some positive chat as I went round. Remind myself to relax, go with the flow like the sound of train meandering across the country side, lengthen my stride and enjoy myself.

There was The HILL which, after training with the Lordshill Road Runners last Monday was fine, I worked my arms and tried to push myself up a little faster and after the hill it was downhill and flat all the way. All the way around the route each k was marked and in no time at all I was over half way round and then mentally I'd already won.

My legs thought differently however. Their desire was to curl up with a good Sunday afternoon movie at about 5k was quite strong. The only difficulty being that there's no going back at this point, the sofa, a movie and a hot cup of tea were just mere pipe dreams at this point.

But round I continued, and then before I knew it the end was in sight and it was like a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. And I completed it, my legs didn't fall off, I didn't throw my toys out of  the pram, I didn't cry, I just ran and ran and ran, until I reached the finish. I did it in 1:15:44 and now I have something to beat for the next race and I can't wait.

For this afternoon though, I will engage with my sofa, a nice glass of red, a good movie and enjoy the endorphins that feel like a giant warm hug.

A big thank you to my running buddies who are always an inspiration and motivator. And a massive thanks to the Marshall's who must have been colder than liquid nitrogen.