Last month I went back to running half marathons. I hadn’t run longer than 10k since before Christmas but I was so relaxed about this race you’d think I’d been training for months lol!
I was a massive F1 fan growing up. My weekend plans revolved around the TV coverage of the Grand Prix even if that meant getting up at 3am, so I couldn’t wait to run the actual, real life track at Silverstone.
Everyone told me that this was a boring race with nothing to see or keep you going but I didn’t care! I just wanted to be on that track.
My mum came with me on a road trip and I decided that I would run to enjoy this one. It’s a flat, fast track so ideal for a PB but I was going for the experience not the time so I really wanted to enjoy it.
Standing on the start line I met one of my running club so we started off together. She started to struggle after the first mile with her ankle and told me to run on. I felt so guilty. I’ve never left anyone behind before but she insisted and I actually felt in a really good place so I did.
Due to the nature of the course, spectators were few and far between but the marshals more than made up for the lack of encouragement. They were friendly, smiley and very loud! There was also a DJ that you could hear every so often as you came near to a speaker/sound system.
The course itself was amazing for me. I ran the starting grid, the pit lanes, I ticked off the corners that I could name, I ran the service road. It was amazing. The only weird thing for me was that it was so disorientating. Everything looks the same (tarmac and grass), and there are no landmarks to orientate yourself. There was a marker at each mile, don’t get me wrong but I literally could have been going round in a figure of eight and not known any different. You’ll see why when you look at the route plotted on my Strava.
I hit a wall just after mile 10. I had rang my mum to let her know I was nearly done and then I just felt like I had so far to go. My own fault for not training I know, but I was doing so well time-wise and I had been feeling so good that it took me by surprise. Mile 11-12 was the worse part. That mile felt approx 5 miles long. I really didn’t think I could finish. But I knew my mum was going to be at the finish waiting for me so I struggled on.
I crossed the line and burst into tears!!! Haven’t done that in a while lol! It was a combination of the final struggle plus the overwhelming excitement to be at Silverstone. And I actually managed a really good time! I knocked 2 mins and 7 seconds off my PB! It does make me wonder how much I would have knocked off if I had *actually* trained for it though!!
Ah well! There’s always next time. Right?