RACE DAY!

So, today was race day. 

Did I do it? Yes I did. 

Was it fun? Yes.

Would I do it again? Yes.

Am I in lots of pain now? YES.

So it's been pretty quiet on the blog lately. The reason is simply that training came to a standstill. Just before Christmas I'd just about reached the 10k mark for the first time. Then family came to visit, then I had to travel south for work commitments, then I had 2 weeks off work with a horrendous virus, then the weather made a turn for the worse, work commitments ramped up... Basically life happened and before I knew it I'd had missed as many weeks of training as I'd put in.

Thoroughly demoralised and demotivated it was easy to put off getting back into training and I seriously considered dropping out the race a few times. Enough people convinced me not to though, so with a week until the race I made time to run once, just to see how dire things had become.

I fully expected my fitness and abilities to be back at square one. However, I was able to run 6k (slowly) without needing to stop for a breather or to walk. Remarkably, my lungs at least had retained their abilities to keep me going while running. My legs didn't complain at the time but caused a considerable amount  of misery over the next few days.

So, reassured that I hadn't returned to my former abysmal fitness levels, we got in the car and drove the 10 hours to Derby. I abandoned all hope of running the distance in under an hour and just hoped I would finish.

Well I did. Remarkably the work I put in over those first 12 weeks got me fit enough to do it, even though I had a long break from running after that. The atmosphere at the race was great. Loads of people cheering the participants. It was great running round my home town, and crossing the finish line was quite the moment. The goal was achieved. It was the first time since I'd started running that I'd run 10k with no breaks and no walking. I just ran it. As I suspected my final time was 01:09:13. I came roughly 3500th out of approximately 4000 runners. So, not an  amazing time but who cares? I crossed the finish line. 

I'm sure if I keep at it I can shave a little off that time.

Conclusions:

1) Anyone can go from zero to 10k if they follow a sensible training plan and give themselves plenty of time.

2) Extended breaks from running aren't the end of the world. You will be surprised how much of your fitness you retain.

Now, off for a lie down. God my legs are sore...