Survived

Oh man. I am tired. Yesterday Ben and me ran the New Forest 10 mile race. At 11.15am. In stupidly hot weather. It was tough.

Let’s roll it back a bit to Saturday. I did the 5km Parkrun in the morning as a shakeout run. I took it steady and used it just as a nice easy run the day before hell a tough long race. Annoyingly, it was hot and hard work – it did not feel like an easy run. I managed it in 22.49 which I was chuffed with, and amazingly I was third girl.

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Ben decided to marshal at the Parkrun instead

For the rest of the day we got the chores done and I persuaded Ben to spend a small fortune go to Halfords so we could sort our bikes out as they’ve both got punctures. I really want to balance things up a bit with the running and do some cycling the odd day in the week. It’s a half-formed plan at the moment so I’ll let you know how it goes later on.

Then my loving husband got to work.

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He complained a bit to start with but then he got into it. It was all manly and DIY-ish so he loved it.

Then we chilled for the rest of the day had started getting nervous about the race the next day. We prepared ourselves by having a nice ice bath…

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…and carbing it up with a good dinner.

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Good old pizza. Chicken, stupid amounts of veg, BBQ sauce. A tried-and-tested meal that never fails me pre-race day.

Early to bed and early to rise. Ben and me both felt so nervous. It was hot. We drank lots of water (and coffee, sshhh!) and ate a good breakfast of oatmeal. Then my dad showed up and we convoyed over to the New Forest.

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Over 800 people took part

It would have been a beautiful day for a BBQ, relaxing down the beach or in your garden with a glass of something chilled. Not running 10 miles.

I spent the best £5 I’ve ever spent on a 10 minute sports massage. It was so necessary. My IT band was tight. So tight it was almost agony when the lady dug deep on it. I now have bruises.

Then we lined up and three, two, one we were go, go go.

Mile one I took way too fast. I was optimistic and just enjoying the atmosphere and flow. But it was right in the sun. Mile two I was slowing down (the story of this race) but we were hitting some shade which was nice. Mile three was my first milestone to celebrate. I felt like I was properly into the race then. And we hit our first drinks stop. I threw two waters over myself and enjoyed the coolness. I had a water with me with an electrolyte table in it (Zero High Five if you’re interested) that I kept sipping slowly.

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Mile four I was feeling the heat. The water that had been cooling minutes earlier had evaporated so it was back to being hot. My time was consistently slowing. Mile five I hit a low point. The course was pretty flat but there were the occasional gradual inclines and they felt like mountains in the heat. I felt extremely hot, a bit sick and I was tempted to stop and walk. Luckily another drinks point appeared and I was squirted with a hose (I almost stopped and said “can I just stay here now in the foetal position?”). Mile six and I was pushing through, still slowing, but I had come back from my darkest hour and celebrated another milestone (firmly over half way). Just before mile seven there was a stone path for a good .2 of a mile. So hard to run over.

Mile eight and I celebrated another milestone in my eyes – you’re almost at mile nine and then you’re almost finished (make sense?). I saw a man walking and I helped push him back to a run with some encouragement and that felt great. He thanked me and pushed on.

Mile nine just couldn’t have come sooner. I stared a little mantra in my head, something like “less than a mile to go, la la la”. Yep madness was slowly creeping in. Then we were on the home-stretch. I saw the finish. I pushed the speed and finished!

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I pretty much dropped around 10 seconds per mile until the last mile – almost a perfect positive split. Whoops.

My official time was 1:18:24, fourteenth girl overall, fifth girl in my age category, 120th overall. I suppose it’s a PB as I’ve never run a 10 miles faster than 1:19 but I’ve never actually raced it. Considering the heat I’m over the moon with this time!

I then drank a gallon of water and queued up to be showered with a cold hose pipe. BLISS.

Ben and Anna

Ben came in a bit later (this was his first ever 10 mile and he was still recovering from an ankle injury).

NF10 medal

We got a lovely horse brass as our medal as well, which was a lovely touch.

On getting home I showered, ice bathed, devoured piles of food (and my body weight in watermelon) and then just relaxed. I couldn’t even be bothered to get dressed.

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Alfie’s like “Girl, that is not a good look!”

I was pooped. Still am.

What did you get yup to this weekend?

Did anyone run any races in the crazy heat?

What’s your best/favourite medal you’ve ever got from a race?

18 Replies to “Survived”

  1. I give you major credit for even picking a race that started at a 11:15. I don’t know how you did it, but congratulations on pushing through the heat & placing 5th in your age group. Proud of you girl!

  2. Are ice baths just as painful as I imagine them to be? Just thinking about slipping into one right now makes me tense up. Have you ever seen the movie Stick It? Love it… But, that’s not the point 😛 In the movie she is super sore from starting to train again and her face is priceless when she sits down into her bathtub full of ice. Oh gosh.

    1. Ice baths aren’t painful per se, but the initial getting in is a shock to the system. But once you’re in it’s just a bit chilly. I’ve never seen that movie, but I’m IMDB’ing!

  3. Well done- I was wondering how you would get on yesterday. I didn’t run the 10k in the end as I was coughing loads- we went on a walk on Saturday evening and I felt not good, so that showed me that running was not sensible.

    I have had some super hot runs though- on my training runs in the heat I am slower but in races I often seem to be quicker, maybe because I am more desperate to get to the end!

    1. Oh I’m sorry you didn’t make your race 🙁 That sucks!! But you’re being very sensible!
      Yeah honestly, the only thing keeping me running was the thought that I’d be finished quicker than walking haha.

  4. bahahaha LOVE that last photo!! That’s totally me after a soccer game. Im in yoga pants and a tank usually with no bra on lol I just lay on the couch and don’t move the rest of the day!

  5. Woah, respect for running in that heat! When I did run I used to do ok with heat (cause I was so much slimmer and was usually cold all the time anyway!) I always used to just crash after I did a race, love the compression socks for that!

  6. Well done on your run! I always thought that ice baths were for after running, or does it not matter wether it is before or after? You resting next weekend?

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