Woah. Incredible.
First ever official marathon done.
Originally coming off from a runner’s high from my Track marathon, I was very much set on doing the marathon out in Copenhagen. But I didn’t want that to be my first one. I enjoy the support you normally get at an oversea race, especially if you are doing it with so many of you crew and others too. But something in my mind told me I wanted to do that as my second marathon. The first one, a one that I have been putting off for so long in fear of the time I am going to get, I wanted to do it by myself, somewhere without anyone else from my crew.
So after some quick research, I set my eyes upon Worcester Marathon. It was way out of London and also during the same weekend as Paris, Brighton and Rotterdam. Perfect.
The next thing was to keep it quiet. I booked my train ticket and hotel the same say as I entered the race, making sure I will not back out of it. This was back at the beginning of February. So I had two months to train for it and not really let it get in my way of socialising, so people won’t be suspecting. Harder than I thought. I also wanted to share this ambition with those that were closest to me.
Leading up to the race, I have had some doubts. I had some serious calves problem that put my in a bad running place for 2 to 3 weeks. I also had a cough which meant I couldn’t run as much. There were moments where I was really frustrated and felt annoyed and ashamed at myself. This was my first marathon and now that I have finally committed to running it, I was extremely worried I would not complete it in the manner that I had hoped.
But running the Spitfire20 miles race a few weeks put me back on track in terms of confidence. I know I have it in my legs to run the distance, but it was slowly daunting on me that I would be running a two loops country side course, with no cheer dem, with no music, only green fields for company.
I hadn’t done much course research. All I know is we will be running through 4 villages, and we will begin the race with the half marathoners, and that hopefully it would not be too hilly.
Friday night I stayed home, and felt surprisingly calm. I guess there wasn’t too much hype going into this race, and I didn’t feel like I was expected to achieve any time apart from the one I set for myself. Saturday was the day I travelled up to Worcester and what a quaint little town. It almost reminds me of every other small town that I have visited, their high streets definitely all look the same!
My hotel was 4 miles out of the city centre, but 15 minutes walk to the start line which was perfect. I had a very quiet night in, speaking to those that knew about the race and expressing my excitement and also for them as well, as many were also running Paris Marathon and Brighton Marathon.
It was a strange sensation, approaching the start line knowing that I know no one there at the race. It was like how I started back 3/4 years ago, when I approached to my first ever 10k race in Hyde Park. Being by myself and just thinking through whatever was in my mind. The only difference this time was I am no longer the timid runner I once was. I openly spoke to other runners also waiting in my pen, expressing our aim and hope for a goal time during the race, wishing each other good luck.
Throughout the course, there were other runners I spoke to. It was quite funny, as I was mostly surrounded by middle aged white male runners throughout the whole race. I guess this is what the races look like when you leave London. They probably never really see a blonde asian much normally.
My legs were still trying to find its rhythm around mile 4 to mile 5 but I didn’t worry too much, I knew I would feel good soon. And I was right, approaching mile 10 and I was feeling fresh. At this point, I was averaging 7:32-7:40 minutes miles. I was quite happy with this pace. And at mile 11, a fellow runner named Simon caught up with me and expressed that how I helped him kept going and he was going to stick with me for as long as possible. It was the nicest thing I have ever heard and so we swapped stories and thoughts throughout the miles we ran together. He told me how he always crashes at mile 22 so I said let’s try and aim to crash at mile 23 this time instead. He also expressed how I had a great command voice (we were running on country side road, so cars were coming, so I was saying lots of ‘stay right’ and ‘cyclist’ and met with thumbs up from in front), and that my voice just sounds very positive and how he found that very inspiring.
Let me take a moment out and just say thank you to Run Dem Crew for training me so this positivity can be seen and felt by others! That comment just made my day so much.
However, because we got a little excited and carried away while chatting, at points we were hitting 7:20 to 7:30 minutes mile, we were at mile 12 just shy of 1 hour 30 minutes. So around mile 19, I started to feel the ache. My legs weren’t getting heavy, but my hips started to feel achey. My quads were feeling some burning sensation and I kept thinking just keep moving and it will be gone. Nope. Lactic acid wasn’t going to listen to me.
So from about mile 22 to 26 I had a lot of stopping. Not proud of those moments but I tried to keep them short. Whenever I passed anyone that had stopped to walk I would ask them if they are ok and give them a thumb up. So I was so grateful when something similar happened to me. There was a guy that I passed earlier and I asked him if he was doing ok. Two other runners must have picked him up and when I just stopped and walked a little, they came passed me and they told me to not give up and join them, and let them carry me through. HOW NICE! They were club runners too.
This course was not as flat as I had hoped. Lots of inclines, not major hills, but lots of hills up until mile 25. At one point I think I was walking up one hill faster than someone running it. I see this as ultra marathon training. I picked up my pace again for the last mile and I see the finish line. I kept my smile on (A marshall was so nicely telling me how I looked as strong as I did a lap ago), and finished strong. I picked my legs up and I think I came home just a little over 3hr35min.
It is a little slower than what I had hoped to do. So obviously there will be a part of me hoping I did better and wished I had more training. But another part of me is thinking, I just came home as the 4th female (yes, it was a small running field, that’s why) and that I should be enjoying it.
I don’t think I will dwell into this race too much and get myself too worked up, I will just let it pass and at least now I have Copenhagen (ULTRA FLAT) to look forward to, knowing what part of me needs working on.
Well done to everyone who ran Paris, Brighton and Rotterdam today. Today was a good day.
