Count Down to OZ!

I have spent most of the week saying how mild it is for this time of the year. Well not today people! When I left the house this morning it was super nippy and really, really foggy.  In fact I nearly missed the bus as I couldn’t see it coming down the road!

Here I am about to miss the bus, sans make-up and generally wishing I was still in my cosy, warm bed..

Just look at that enthusiastic smile! Last night I seriously considered skipping this race in favour of carbs and wine, but unfortunately I changed my mind.

My plan when I got to town was to store my bag in my gym which is next to the start line, but the slackers hadn’t opened yet so I dumped my bag at the bag store and went straight back into the shopping/cinema area to keep warm.  Like a seasoned runner I took no notice of the fact that running early on a November morning might require more than cropped leggings and a t-shirt and I made a mental note to add a base layer to my Christmas list.

I had about 40 minutes to wait and it was at this point that I started to feel quite intimidated by the other runners.  I haven’t had this before as at my previous races the main focus has been on running for charity, but today I was surrounded by lots of club runners and I felt like the odd one out.  There was a distinct possibility that I could come last!

Pushing my nerves aside I went and queued up outside with about 10 minutes to go and it was so cold that I was really obviously smuggling peanuts!  I just wanted to get started as I knew that I would warm up really quickly as I tend to overheat when I run.

Can I take a moment to ask a question here? Why do people run up to the start line? Are they idiots? Why would you want to run any further than you have to? I went against the masses and walked until I hit the timing mats and off I went.

I knew the course really well as it is the route to McDonald’s, which had it’s benefits, but it also meant I knew exactly how far I had to go.  It’s not a picturesque course as it is just on one of the main roads out of the city and then you turn back on yourself at the 5k mark.  The highlight is normally running past Kirkstall Abbey (hence the races name) but today the fog was so thick that I didn’t even see it.  In fact I could maybe see max 20 metres in front of me at anytime it was that thick!

In true ‘Laura can’t pace herself’ style I went off way too fast for the first 2k, but then I settled into my intervals and ended up running around the same people for most of the race.  One of those people happened to be one of the girls I met when I trained with Kirkstall Harriers before I got injured earlier in the year.  At different points in the race I also saw two men juggling as they ran, lots of blind people running with assistance and a man running in some kind of blow up donkey outfit :)

The race is advertised as fast and flat.  There are no massive mountains to climb but there are some long uphill drags which I hated.  They are the worse as they just seem never ending! The nastiest one came literally in the last half of the last kilometre - which quite frankly was bang out of order!

I crossed the line with over a 2 minute PB on my 10k distance - the last 10k race being back in July in London.  So I am chuffed with that :) I am still very slow and I know that my priority needs to be some speed and hill work.  If I had my way every race would be downhill ;)

After the race we all got given a bottle of water, lucozade and our finishers t-shirt.  I got very cold, very quickly so I headed into the gym for a nice shower and to get ready for work…

and then I devoured this bad boy…

After my first 10k I went home and napped for 3hrs, so I am quite impressed that today I went and did a 4hrs shift at work.  However I am now tucked up in bed and my legs are really achy.  I am officially now only moving to get wine, so I shall leave you with 2 really bad photos of me in my finishers t-shirt…

I never planned to run this race, but when I saw a twitter competition offering free places through Bupa I entered and won!  The races took place in Portsmouth which is on the south coast and is the next big city along from Southampton where my parents live.

As per usual my training didn’t really go to plan as I pulled a ligament during the Great North Run and then my IBS attacks left me feeling to weak to really push during my runs.  I knew I could cover the distance so I just tried to fit in some 5ks and one 10k training run beforehand.

We drove to Portsmouth from Southampton on the morning of the race and as soon as we hit the outskirts of the city the traffic crawled to a stop and it took us over an hour to get into the centre of town. At this point they had started to shut the roads so I had to abandon my parents and auntie and walk 2.5miles to the start! I wasn’t the only one though and I just followed all the lycra clad people and headed to the sea front.

My wave was due to shut at 10.30am and I knew I wouldn’t make it in time so I opted to visit the portaloo and then slot into the back of the wave.  This worked out quite well as my wave was the last to go at 11.10am and I was able to walk straight into it.  Having a hectic start also meant that I didn’t have time to get too nervous.

Here I am at the start…

The start was pretty funny as there was a terrible singer who sang a different inspiring ballad for every wave start.  My wave was treated to ‘You raise me up’!  Once we were over the line it was a pretty slow start as it is quite narrow along the sea front, but once we turned off it widened out a bit and it was easier to fall into a good rhythm.  The first couple of miles were fine, but around 2.5 mile point I felt a little poorly and as though I didn’t have any fuel in me even though I had eaten overnight oats for breakfast and a Clif bar on the way to the course.  I think that perhaps I hadn’t really eaten enough in the few days leading up to the race.

From the 3rd mile I started my intervals of 6 mins walking and 90 secs walking which seems to be working really well for me.  The only other time I had to walk was when I got a really bad stitch in my side and walking for a minute or two seemed to take it away.  One thing I am really pleased about is that I didn’t have to stop to stretch once!! No legs of doom, no pins and needles and no ankle pain! WHOOP!

I saw my parents at the 6 mile mark which was nice, however due to their fear of technology they didn’t actually get any photos of me :(

Once I was past the halfway mark I felt so much better.  I seem to spend the first half of my races cursing at myself for thinking I can do the distance and then the second half telling myself that I am nearly there.  As with the Great North Run whenever it got a little tough I would start to read the signs on peoples backs saying who they were running for which always inspires me to keep going.  One of the funniest moments was when the guy dressed as a Gorilla snatched a little child and ran up the course with him.  I was laughing so hard, but I don’t think that the parents were too impressed!  The crowd were really great and I could often hear people shouting my name.  I had one slightly surreal moment when I could hear my name and looked up to see a DebRA charity shirt.  I was totally in the zone at that point so it took me a few seconds to place it and then I realised of course it was a tumblr connection!

The last 2 miles were back along the sea front and as soon as we turned we all hit a head wind and drizzle.  You could see everyone slow down immediately.  The Bupa zone was at mile 9 where I munched on some jelly beans and then I was cheered on again by my family just before the end.

My main goal was to finish under 2 hours and when I crossed the line at 1:58:31 I was so happy.  This is the first time I have ever made one of my race goals and I think with more training I could have been even faster.

Once over the line a nice man and woman helped me to detag my trainers and they let me sit down as I felt a little faint and sick, but that soon passed and I went to get my medal, t-shirt and finishers pack.  The plan was to have a meal with my family before getting the train back to Leeds, but due to the gridlocked traffic they left me and I spent the afternoon in Starbucks abusing the free wifi!

Today I am a little achy at the bottom of my hamstrings, just behind my knees and I think that is from sitting cramped up on the train for 5 hours.  Hopefully a nice hot bath will sort this out later :)

And finally, here I am in my finishers t-shirt…

Next race: 20th November: Leeds Abbey Dash 10k

Ha ha a few of you seem to be on the edge of your seats regarding the naked boy in the bath situation.  You will be pleased to hear that there were bubbles strategically placed and we did what English people do well and maintained a stiff upper lip and apologised profusely to each other ;)

I got back to sleep easily and woke up at 7am with the aim of leaving the flat at 8.15am to get to the metro station.  I got dressed, had some breakfast (overnight oats made with soya milk and blueberries) and headed out.  The only people up that early were also heading out to the race apart from an old man who stood on the corner wishing everyone good luck.

I was so glad that we got the metro from the outskirts of Newcastle because from the stop after ours the metro was jam packed with runners.  Also the overwhelming smell on the metro changed from stale pee (nice) to Deep Heat or what I like to call ‘Au Du Runner’!

It took us about 20 minutes to get into central Newcastle and then we followed the masses up to the start area. Our numbers were coloured and given a letter and we had to walk down to find the correct baggage bus to put our bags in.  I cleverly (if I do say so myself) stopped Ruth from putting her bag upstairs on the bus - there were so many people mad at themselves for having to climb up to the top deck after running 13.1 miles after the race with very sore legs!  By the time we put our bags on the bus and found the porta loos it was about 9.30am and we had to be in our pen by 10.25.  Anyone who missed this deadline had to start right at the back.  The toilet queue took sooooooooooooo long - seriously I haven’t a clue what people were doing in there?! I also got very annoyed that spectators were using the loos as well and not allowing the runners to go in front of them.  While we were in the queue we listened to the commentary and the race held a minutes silence for the loved ones that people had lost over the last year.  I had two very burly blokes stood next to me who dissolved into floods of tears so most of my toilet roll tissues were passed to them to wipe their eyes.  It was a very touching moment.

Not scared at all!

We managed to get down to our pen at 10.20am! Cutting it way too close for me.  More or less as soon as we found a spot we were treated to a flyover by the Red Arrows with their red, white and blue smoke.  This was especially emotional this year as only a month ago the Red Arrows had their first fatality since the 1970’s. The widow of the pilot who died was running the race in his name and was given the race number red 4 which was her husbands flight number.  She was also invited to start the race with Mo Farah.

Ruth and I in the pen. Hello double chin!

As a slow runner I knew that I wasn’t going to get over the start line for a while, but annoyingly there wasn’t enough room to properly warm up.  When we finally got over the line Mo was on the wrong side of the duel carriage way for a high fiver, so I clicked run on my Nike+ and headed out towards the Tyne Bridge.  The course splits at the start with the runners in the left hand lane going under a tunnel and the right hand lane going overground - we all met up at the Tyne Bridge. As expected Ruth and I got a little excited and ran the first mile in just under 10 minutes which please my head, but not my legs.  Already my calves were getting tight and just as I got over the Tyne Bridge I had to take the first of my stretching stops.  Although this was a little disheartening I knew that I would have to do this due to my injuries during training and my ban from doing a lot of hill training.  As we reached the middle of the Tyne Bridge we were honoured by another extra flyover, this time with the Red Arrows in what they call the ‘Missing Man’ formation.  All of the planes let out white smoke apart from the pilot who had moved into John Eggings position who let out red smoke.

Due to having to stretch I told Ruth to go on and that was the last I saw of her until the end of the race.  That didn’t really bother me as I prefer to run on my own.  I decided to start running the intervals I had practised of run 4/walk 1 to get me through to the end.  From the 3rd mile the course basically climbs on a very slow gradient until the 20km where you go down a really steep hill towards the sea front at South Shields.  People had warned me that the worse points of the course were between miles 9-11 so I was a little apprehensive to push too hard in the early stages and having problems towards the end.  My goal was to finish and not be carried away in an ambulance!

There was huge diversity amongst the crowd and I saw an array of people in fancy dress including:

• A giraffe (who beat me!)
• The Flintstones
• A Clanger
• and various service men running with full packs on their backs.

There were also a lot of people running pushing others in wheelchairs which seemed mental as the course is uphill!

The organisers made sure that there were plenty of water stands, powerade stands and my favourite the BUPA area which had loads of jelly babies.  In addition to the official drink stands member of the public set up stalls on the side of the road offering water, orange slices, cake, sweets, ice poles and beer!  Some people also stood on top of the bus stops with water hoses and if you raised your hand they would spray you with water to cool you down.  One of the great things was that the was a crowd throughout the whole route and seeing as the first half is mainly on a dual carriage way this was pretty impressive!

I managed to reach mile 9 having had to stop and stretch a lot and I had pins and needles in my right foot from the 4th mile which wasn’t too fun! Mile 9 was fine for me and I started to wonder what all the fuss was about…..

….but then I hit mile 10 which I now like to call THE MILE OF DESPAIR! It was horrible.  My legs just didn’t want to do it and it seems like the longest mile ever!  I felt a little teary at this point as I knew I wasn’t going to finish within the 2.5hr mark and I had to keep reminding myself of why I was doing the race.  I didn’t want to let all of the people down who had kindly donated and I tried to concentrate on how far I had come in the last year.  Also crying and running really messes up your breathing!  Another thing that made me WTFU was seeing a man running with no shoes, a guy putting his prosthetic leg back on and a fireman running with an oxygen tank on his back. 

At this point a lot of ambulances started to make their way through the runners and it seems that mile 10 was hard for a lot of people.  I saw a man collapse at the side of the road and lucky all of the residence of the local housing estate rushed to his aid and helped him out. 

The top of the final hill finally arrived and over the crest of the hill I could see the sea.  Such an amazing sight especially as the Red Arrows were starting their display over the sea and they made a huge love heart in the sky just above me :) The next short stretch was downhill but it was so steep that you couldn’t use it to make up some time and it had been raining so it was super slippy.  The final mile and a half was along the sea front and the crowds were about 8 people deep on both sides of the road.  I balled my eyes out along this last stretch - I think it was a combination of pain, relief and pride.

I passed the line with the official chip time of 2:41:21 - I’m not going to lie.  I was disappointed, but it is something to beat next year!

On passing the line I cried some more and a nice soldier patted me on the back and helped me through to the de-chipping area.  I had no strength at all and a kind women took my chip off for me and handed me my finishers pack.  I scrambled to find the medal in that bag like a mad woman!!! It is the most beautiful medal ever!!

I met up with Ruth in the charity village where the lovely people from Mind treated us to drinks, sweets, soup and rolls.  We were hoping to get a massage but we had to leave to be able to get our train back to Leeds on time, so we took some group photos and Mind gave us some goodie bags with lots of pampering treats to use in the bath :)

Our journey home was another half marathon in itself!  From the seafront at South Shields it took us 25 minutes to walk to the ferry port to get the ferry over to North Shields.  We then had to stand out in the cold for 2hours queuing for the ferry and with every minute that passed we knew that we were not going to make our train.  Instead of going back to the flat to shower and relax we had to jump on the metro and get Ruth’s friend to bring our bags down to the metro station.  The metro doors opened, we grabbed our bags from her and we jumped back on.  We missed our train by 30 minutes and decided to just jump on the next one.  Normally this would have cost us another £45 for a new ticket, but the ticket inspector took pity on us and let us travel for free :) Muchos good karma to that lady!

I arrived home at 9pm, still in my race gear, smelly and tired.

Oh and before anyone asks.  No I still don’t ever want to run a marathon, but maybe another half :)

Ruth and I travelled up to Newcastle the day before our race so we could get settled in at her friends flat and go and watch the City Games.

The City Games have taken place in Manchester and now Newcastle and they bring high level athletics right into the city centres.  In this case an athletics track, long jump and pole vault areas were set up on the quayside along the Tyne just outside the Sage and the Baltic.

I had never been to Newcastle before so it was really great to see those two iconic buildings alongside the athletics.  The games are the USA vs UK and were broadcast live on the BBC.

Please not the tall guy in front of me! I hate tall people blocking my view of hotties in lycra!

We arrived just as Mo Farah was running his two mile race and I felt very privileged to see him win.  I find him very inspirational in terms of his talent and due to the fact that he is a super friendly person.  We then walked over to the track and saw the 100metres, 150metres and hurdle races.  This included Carmelita Jetter who is the second fastest 100metres runner in the world!  Her bottom is AMAZING!!! Just pure muscle!!  I was really shocked by the speed of everyone and also the tightness of the lycra.  I know that they look fast on tv, but in real life it is amazing.  Ruth and I decided that we definitely want to go and watch some more athletics.

Look it’s Mo!!

I feel in love just a little bit with the man with big muscles and an equally big grin!

Those hurdles were so high!

After the BBC broadcast we went for a wander and came across Dean Macey (so tall!), Colin Jackson and Jonathon Edwards!

Former athletics turned BBC Sports presenters

The GNR show was also on the quayside and this is where I brought my official tech t-shirt and saw the whole US athletics team getting down to some booty dancing with a local radio station.  I dived in and found this hottie hurdler for some photo action…

He looks a bit dozy cos he is drunk with love for me….obviously!

I also got my free pasta from the pasta party.  Each runner was given a big bowl of pasta for free and there were bands playing for all the families to listen too.

Free Food = Happy Laura

Ruth and I then crossed over the Tyne from Gateshead to Newcastle and saw some of the Mini races for the children.  Some of them are such fantastic runners already and all of them received medals and t-shirts. 

After a wander and purchasing a blow up bed for Ruth to sleep on we headed back to her friends flat.  We spent the evening going through our race bags, pinning our numbers to our shirts and making sure that everything was laid out ready for us to just get up and go in the morning.  As I predicted Ruth had forgotten all of the essentials and I thanked my lucky stars that my OCD organisation skills meant that I had spares of everything! One of my main concerns was getting to the baggage drop and the race pens on time.  I knew that 54,000 people all trying to get to the same place would be busy so I wanted to be able to get up, get dressed, eat and get going.

The face of a relaxed and calm person

I am also a terrible sleeper when I am not in my own bed, but I had convinced myself that as long as I rested my legs it didn’t matter if I didn’t actually sleep.  Just as we were going to bed one of the flatmates bought some friends back from the pub and I was convinced that they were up for a rowdy night :( I stuffed my earplugs in and just buried my head under the quilt.  By some miracle I fell asleep and woke up around 1am desperate for the loo (that’s what hydrating does to you!).  In my sleepy state I wandered into the bathroom and suddenly woke up when I realised that Ruth’s friend’s boyfriend was stark naked in the bath!!!

More to follow…..

Yes I have stolen my title from a Tinie Tempah song - 10000 bonus points!

This is long so see below the cut for all the lols and I have stolen all the photos cos I couldn’t be bothered to take any ;)

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I warn you now.  This is gonna be long.  So grab a drink, some food, maybe a red bull to get you through the sugar slump halfway through and some eye bleach for when you see the photo of me at the finish!

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