Then in the year 2013, I ran a total of 9 races. Serpentine's New Year 10k. Easter 10k. We Own the Night. Bupa 10k. Harry Hawkes. Wimbledon Half. Run to the Beat. Richmond Running Festival. MoRunning.
Another change happened after starting to run with a group. I stopped relying so much on music to fuel my run. Before if my iPod ran out of battery, I lose all hope to run. I thought to myself, I can't run without music. There is no way I could run without music. Then on the start line of the Serpentine's New Year 10k, my iPod blinked and turned off on me as we were about to start. I wanted to die. But I was in the company of Charley and we have always ran together in Run Club and she has also ran without music and we have chatted while running before. So I thought, I will just take it easy and not worry about this. After not training for 3 weeks (the two of us, I was ill and she had a serious medical problem which actually, she should not have ran that day) we came home at 46min15sec. I was extremely proud and this was one more barrier I broke.
Then, at We Own the Night, I broke the 45min barrier, when Charley and I chased Mark (one of our friend and pacer at the event). He was the 45minutes pacer but really, we were running faster than a 45minute pace, I am sure of that! When we finished, I turned around and saw that I have just ran my fastest 10k yet, 44min18sec. I could not believe it. In less than a year, I have managed to shave 4 minutes off my 10k time. That is an average 24seconds off every Km, and in my opinion, that's quite a lot. So I decided to take the plunge and move onto my next distance. I did a warm up with Harry Hawkes 10miles, where I did a 1:20:00. Wasn't that fast, but it was ok. When I did my Wimbledon Half, I got my first ever Half Marathon time, 1:42:10. I was quite happy because I wanted my time to be under 1:45:00 and I did that.
When I went home in February that year, I ran with a running crew the first time ever, the Harbour Runners in Hong Kong. Through miscommunication, they thought I ran with Run Dem Crew in London but really I ran with a Nike Club. But I have heard of RDC at that point, just never participated. The two runs I did with them in Hong Kong was so fun that I made sure to keep in touch with as many runners I have met as possible. They have just expanded my running circle of friends internationally. In the summer in London, after much persuasion from Mark and Richard, I went to RDC west and see what all the crazy fuss was about. Wow. If only I have discovered them faster. That day, I met Cory and Ellie, the founders of RDC West, I met Jeggi, who was so patient with us girls attending our first ever track work out, and I also met incredible ladies, like Anika and Sorrell. Then I started my affair with RDC West behind NRC White City's back. Switching between the two (they both had sessions on Monday and Thursday nights!!)
It was also in the summer that I started to take more responsibilities with NRC White City with another fellow runner and slowly we took part as the pacers for the groups. I have never had this type of responsibilities before so this was very fun. My goal was to welcome all the new runners, made sure everyone felt comfortable while integrating workouts I have researched about or took part in that I genuinely believe that will better any runners. I wanted everyone to enjoy every single moment of the work out no matter how gruelling it could be. I took it upon myself to try to play a part within the group that kept up with people's progress, especially newcomers. I tried to take part in organisations for runs, races, as well as social events that would bring the group closers. I will apologise now, for those time if I ever came across bossy, take things way too seriously and just overall too much to bear. I can really get quite intense sometimes without knowing and I do feel bad for those that have to endure it. Thank you if you did and please accept my apologies.
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