First Club Run ... Thumbs Down!!

First race with the club made me feel I had really let myself ... and everyone else down.

I had had a tummy upset throughout the day but had felt fine in myself and was really looking forward to the run. I was a bit nervous as it was my first run with the club – with any club - so I wanted to do well and I was meeting up with a few people there.

A few people had said how hilly it was, but I tend to do quite well on hilly courses usually and I find they’re a bit more strategic than the flat out runs. A bit more interesting too. But I struggled from the off.

I went off too fast and got caught up in the moment. After 2.5km my tummy started gurgling and I started thinking about dropping out. I’ve never not finished a race before and I was telling myself to keep going otherwise the next race will feel harder but I hated every moment of it. I kept visualising a big DNF next to my name and thinking about how humiliating it would be. At 3km there was a corner and I stood next to the marshall and said „I’m out“. But a clubmate caught up to me and said, „come on, run with me and we’ll walk up the next hill“.  A club member who’s quicker than me at track and who I’ve hardly spoken to before, slowed down to help me.

Totally summed up the friendliness of the club. Someone who hardly knows me stopped to help and to encourage me. We ran the whole way to the finish, overtaking people and not really being overtaken and running up all the hills. I didn’t feel great and a marshall driving past asked if I were OK – obviously not looking my healthiest at that moment – but I didn’t stop.

The last 0.4km was the hardest. Bizarrely the sign which said 400m to go made me feel worse not better. But I kept going and overtook someone else with about 200m to go.

I finished almost 4.5 minutes slower than my last 10k but so, so grateful to my club mate for pushing me through. A friend who joined the club recently did really well and I could honestly be thrilled at her success rather than jealous. My irritation was purely at myself for not doing enough tempo work. But ... learn from mistakes. At least I now know what I need to concentrate on.