To finish up last week, before the team at work lost some members to holidays, I arranged a few beers on Friday after work. I don’t drink anymore and have pretty much stopped going to the pub at any time, but thought it was important for the team after a few intense weeks/months. There are plenty of good low/no alcohol beers on the market but pubs seem to still be catching up with this trend and my only options here were lager substitutes, and lager was never my tipple. Illogically I had a bottle of the AF larger for every round the group had. When is there ever an instance, sitting with friends, that we drink water, juice or soft drinks when as soon as someone’s glass is empty someone is at the bar refilling everyone?

So Saturday morning I woke gassy and bloated and didn’t feel great, the 10k around Kew was the last thing I was looking to do at tempo. So I was glad to bump into a flock of eagles when I got there to keep my mind off the grumblings and discomfort. This would be the second Friday night in close proximity that would impact my running the next day for absolutely no reason. The race got underway and the first couple of kilometres felt harder than usual, I’d started slow and decided to make it a progression run before we set off so I consciously put a little more pace in each time my 1k alert went off on the watch. I didn’t do too bad either, apart from the muddy wet bit where people slowed to a stop to walk single file around the puddles. My trainers from the week before were wrecked and I didn’t want to ruin the Vapourflys. I was happy when it finished though and started looking forward to an easier run on Sunday.

As I was on the tube to Green Park the next morning I was excited to be running around the closed roads of London again. I was wearing the kit I was planning on wearing in three weeks to test it all out, check the settings and alerts I’d dialled into the watch, how I was going to manage water stations, reacquaint myself to running in a crowd of people and build the mantras and tools I would use in the psychological battle running twice this distance would surely throw at me. The London Landmarks Half Marathon gave me the final chance to practice the racing.

I’ve had so much practice with race villages and bag drops now that I amble through these on autopilot and head for my start pen, I’m in wave five and they had just released wave one as I got there. The usual apprehension settled over me, was I sure that I was going to be able to run ALL of this half marathon? Should I have thought of some kind of Jeffing strategy? 21.1km was a long way, was I sure I could make it? Even though I had just spent the last seven weeks completing distances greater than this with half marathons for my cut-back weeks, failure was still the most prevalent thought in my head. I go through my little pre-race routine as others do the same around me, mine involving little bounces on my toes and focusing inwards. Others around stretch, chat and take selfies and photos of the throng of people between us and the starting arch. I stand and watch them all do the warm up led by a guy on a platform wondering if I should one day do the same but dismiss this thought as there is still 20-30 minutes delay before we are set off. Something to do with a donkey and a man carrying a cross for Palm Sunday somewhere on the course.

Todays run is an easy one, so I had it in mind to stick with the 2:10 pacer until she started playing music from her portable speaker, then I realised I had to get away from her as soon as I could. I love running with music, but my choice of music, not what she was playing. In the end I settled into a pace around 6min/km. Too fast I was thinking right from the start, I feel great though. Especially compared to the run in Kew the day before. If I pushed this a little I should easily get a new PB.

No, the main event is in three weeks, this is a training run! Back off.

So on and off throughout the race I had to keep pulling myself back a bit. Keep it steady and enjoy the run. The supporters out on the course were fantastic, there were hundreds of them cheering, shouting the names of people they didn’t know that was across our bibs giving that boost to the runners. There were very few places along the route where there weren’t many spectators, I don’t think I have been in a race with so much noise and cheering and it had an incredible effect of lifting higher and higher as the race wore on. Mile marker after mile marker disappeared behind me and my mind still flip-flopped between wanting to walk and keeping on running. “You will want to stop…………don’t.”

Tower Hill to me represented the start of the home straight, I positively felt like I was bouncing up the hill passing other runners struggling, all thoughts of failure dissolved away. Coming on to Embankment I imagined myself here in three weeks time. The crowds at the side of the road began to get deeper, louder. The running became easier. Temple station was followed by Embankment station which gave way to charity cheer squads lining the road cheering extra loud anytime someone with their vest on was running past. A loop over Westminster bridge and past the hospital I had spent a couple of weeks in at the end of 2020 then back onto Embankment to Whitehall. 

As I rounded the corner of the Old War Office into the finishing straight I was hit by the wall of noise from the crowds cheering and shouting at the top of their voices! The banging of fists against the advertising boards either side drove through me, physically lifting my head, shoulders, spirit. I could feel a huge grin on my face and ran as hard as I could towards the line, basking in the energy the crowd was giving off. Someone shouted “Go Eagles!” to my left as I closed in on the line. If this was a reflection of what it would be like in three weeks time then I knew I was in for an incredible day.

Walking back to the bag drop busses I noticed, with some twisted satisfaction, how other runners were struggling to go up or down the steps, even simply walking, recalling how that used to be very much me. Right now though I felt like I could get another lap in. This weekend was so very different to the last one.

Monday evening was the coaches meeting so I would have to skip the club run and do an easy run home from work, which felt anything but easy and very much grounded me again with niggly little doubts. I’m finishing this blog off on the Wednesday morning though, which provides perspective after a rest day. Trust the process, focus on the journey and not the destination. 

Let’s talk race photos. Both races this weekend had professional photographers at the events that wanted to sell you the pack of images of yourself out on the course, collecting the medal or with some of the volunteers in fancy dress. There is usually a discount before the event which changes back to full price very shortly after. In the case of the LLHM this switch to the higher price came in before all of the images had been processed so you didn’t know what you were buying! There are rarely more than 2-3 images from these packs that I like of myself and I don’t want to be paying out what amounts to £10 a photo, and in the case of the ASICS 10k last year, someone else’s video! I want images from these races though, it’s a memory, a record of progression and having been a very keen photographer before running consumed most of my time and I lost my dark room I know they need to be paid for their time and skills. Not easy when the only tangible element from the time spent capturing and processing the images may only equate to a handful of images.

I’d much rather have a small amount added to the race entry though and you get all of the images for free. This would likely only be a couple of quid. 

I’d love to know other peoples opinions on this one.