Great Eastern Run 2016

My mum held out her arms. I stopped running and she gave me a hug.
“I’m ok. It’s just hard.”

I’d stopped running at 7.4 miles into the half marathon. The past 50 minutes had been a mental battle. I’d had lots of lovely messages in the week before telling me I could do it, but I didn’t believe I could.

I hadn’t run since Monday when my leg was painful. I’d rested it hoping that it would be fine on race day. And as I set off at 10:30am, it was. No pain. My legs felt good, a little too good. After a week of not doing very much, it was a struggle to reign them in and keep them from going the wrong side of 7:30/mile.

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A morning shower had left a thin layer of rain on the road below us and each footstep kicked up a sprinkling of water that tickled my ankles. The crowd parted suddenly and a man was getting up off the floor. I asked if he was ok: “I’m good thank you. Thanks for asking.”

The first few miles ticked by. I tried to take a gel but it wouldn’t go down so I clung onto it until I found a bin a mile later. We ran past a house with its speakers on full blast and people outside cheering. I wondered if those out in their garden knew how much of a boost they were giving runners. This runner very much appreciated it.

I saw my parents a couple of times in their familiar positions. Supporting this race had become a well rehearsed routine for them. So I knew that they’d be waiting somewhere after half way with their car and a warm bag of clothes I’d given them ‘just in case’.

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I went through half way just 10 seconds over my goal, but in my head it felt like a mountain. I debated with myself for the next mile and then I saw my parents and I stopped running.

I know that some people are of the opinion that you should finish a race at all costs. I’m not one of them. I’ve run 13 miles enough times this year to be ok with quitting. Yes, I could have pushed on and made it round, but I knew I wouldn’t get a time I would be happy with so my goal became to keep running this winter. Because last year I had 6 weeks out after running 13 miles on a dodgy leg and it was the worst thing.

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Somewhere up ahead my niece was running the 5k fun run with her mum and dad for the first time. Apparently she said to her mum: “this is hard, running, isn’t it?”

Yes, it is. I’m glad she finished her race. I hope she’ll be back to give it another go. Because I will be.