Yesterday saw me undertake my biggest running challenge to
date – the Worthing 20 mile road race!
It was a bitterly cold and very windy day, and I have to
admit that I didn’t wake up in the most positive running mood, but once I stood
on the start line I decided to put all of that aside and just go for it.
The race consisted of 4 x laps of a 5 mile course, and was
completely flat., which provided a great pacemaker for the marathon.
My race plan was to take it really slow on lap 1 and build
up speed for the other 3 laps. The plan started off well as I came through lap
one in 50 minutes, and as I came through lap 2 at 1hr 42mins I felt really good,
and positive. I picked the pace up and at the end of lap 3, went through
thinking “only one lap to go”. And then something changed. As I went through 17
miles I think I must have hit a ‘wall’ as my legs started to feel really heavy
and there wasn’t much left in the tank – not good with 3 miles to go! I managed
to compose myself, take on some gels and pick myself up to complete the race. But
it wasn’t easy.
I’ve come away in 2 mind sets: positive that I’m able to run
20 miles (this was my longest run to date), but also nervous with the fact that
I still have another 6.2 miles to go on marathon day! All I can do now is put
in another few long runs and then start to taper off – I’m sure I’ll be fine!
I finished in 3hrs 14mins, I originally thought it was 3hrs
12mins, but my Garmin was slightly ahead of the chip time for some reason.
Chip time: 3:14:38
Pace per mile: 09:44
Category position: 46/79
Gender position: 103/1077
Here’s the latest medal in my collection.
Next stop the Cranleigh 21!
