Race Day!

Ok, so I’m here! Finally, after months of training/whingeing/being out of breath, race day has arrived. I have spent the past week ‘preparing’ by resting and not drinking – I figured it was better going into the event with rested legs than aching ones! I woke up this morning feeling extremely nervous and wondered for the millionth time exactly why I’d signed myself up for this. My friend Gez arrived to pick me up, two hours before we were due to race – we figured this was plenty of time to load the bikes onto her bike rack and drive the 5 miles to Richmond. We didn’t account for the sat nav taking us through central London, or the many road closures and backlog of traffic.

90 minutes later, sat in standstill traffic on Putney Bridge, we started to think that perhaps we weren’t going to make it. Surprisingly, rather than this being the huge relief I thought it would be, I started getting incredibly frustrated at the idea that after months of training (and a £55 registration fee!) we weren’t even going to make it on time. The thought of going into the office the next morning, after banging on about this to anyone who would hear, and telling people I hadn’t even done it didn’t bear thinking about. Still, with 20 minutes until registration closed and traffic showing little sign of improving, it wasn’t looking good.

By some miracle, and some speedy driving by Gez, we somehow managed to make it to Richmond Park with 10 minutes to spare. We unloaded our bikes and scrambled to registration. Only problem was that after getting into my head that I wasn’t going to end up racing, I was now completely unprepared. It was a crazy 10 minutes of pinning on my number, racking my bike and trying to warm up – then, before I knew it, my number was called and I was lining up at the start. Nerves had properly kicked in by this point, but I tried to focus on the task ahead and not get too freaked out. Most important to me was not taking off like a shot in an attempt to keep up with the (much) fitter people around me.

I started out slow and steady, settling into my rhythm. Without my ipod to keep me company or tell me the time however, it was tough going. Especially when I spied the 1km marker ahead – surely I’d run further than that?? I made it around the first 5k run without any hiccups and actually was starting to almost enjoy myself – the sun was out, the park scenery was absolutely beautiful and the atmosphere from other competitors and the organisers was great.

It was good to get on my bike and catch my breath – until I encountered the unadvertised GIANT hill a third of the way round. It nearly killed me, I swear. Still, coasting down the other side was nice. Again, I felt a small pang of exhaustion when I saw the halfway marker for the 10k bike lap at what I was convinced was the home straight. Making it into transition for the final leg, I was waning. I felt like my legs were barely moving as I plodded along, red in the face, trying to settle my breathing. Although I didn’t want to walk, after 1k my legs slowed of their own accord. I walked for approximately 300metres before continuing, repeating this a couple more times just to get some energy back.

I eventually finished in 1h41 (having had a vague plan of doing 1h30, it could be worse) and came in at 710^th out of 780! Ok, so I won’t be competing in the Olympics anytime soon but I still came away proud of myself and very satisfied. After months of injury, forcing myself to go out running on aching legs and stressing out about whether I’d finish at all, I did it!