On Sunday I took part in the Hemel Hempstead 20 mile run. It is an annual marathon warm-up race around the countryside in Hertfordshire. The race is run in a great spirit with enthusiastic marshals who offer encouragement, drinks and even jelly babies!
It was a very early start thanks to the clocks changing and looking around I seemed to be the youngest and least experienced. There were mainly club runners and I wondered if could hold my own amongst this company.
With the faint smell of muscle rub lingering in the air, we set off to the sound of several hundred stopwatch beeps. The course was described rather conservatively as ‘undulating’ on the runners world website. I didn’t realise that Hemel was in fact home to some of the highest mountains in Europe! It felt like I was running uphill most of the way. The downhill sections offered little respite, as they were far too short.
After around 14 miles I felt good and found myself overtaking people. Maybe this was my inexperience showing as I found the last few miles very tough and subsequently lost most of those places. I soon went from feeling positive to hating everything. I had no reason to be angry, but I was just running on empty. I hate hills, I hate leg pain, I hate the sun, I hate mile markers, I hate running. I hate everything.
I made it to the finish line ok, although it came abruptly. Subsequently I was left with no real sense of accomplishment. The post-run euphoria that usually happens at that time was strangely absent. I finished in 2hrs58mins. Ideally I would have liked 10-15 minutes quicker but considering everything I was happy with the time.
The race taught me a number of valuable lessons; most importantly to keep a steady pace throughout. Speeding up and slowing down cost me a lot of energy and ultimately time. Not knowing what was coming around the next corner was a huge psychological disadvantage. I’m going to spend a lot of time visualising the marathon course over the next few weeks! I also need to get used to running early in the morning. Running that distance at that time was a shock to my system. However it is of great comfort to me that the London Marathon is flat!
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