A Soggy Caerphilly 10K!

Last weekend I ran the Caerphilly 10k road race with my Pegs. It was my first race since the Manchester Marathon (did I mention I ran a marathon??) and since my IT band injury decided to feature in my life so I was a bit nervous but my nerves were soon quashed when I met up with my running buddies.

Best looking club ever!

The weather did what it loves to do in Wales, it started raining! That didn't dampen our spirits though as we all started the race together which was great, usually we're split up in our pens depending on what our estimated finish time is. 

There were about 2000 runners so it took over 3 minutes to get from our place in the pack to crossing the start line but then we were off! We all shouted 'good luck' 'have a good run' to each other and started our own races.

Tracy and I lovin' the soggy run

I knew that Caerphilly wasn't flat and was prepared for the hills but the first one was about a minute from the start line... not fun! I put my head down, paced myself and got up that hill without killing my race. As we all know what goes up must come down and I love a good downhill.

The rain was actually quite refreshing and helped to keep me cool during the tough sections, well that's what I kept telling myself anyway.

No filter, just rain

My goal for this race was purely to finish it without my knee giving in. I'd been going to physio and doing all the exercises and stretches that she told me to do so I was quite confident that me and my IT band could pull this off. I just wanted to finish without walking and without pain.

At about 4km (ish) we were running up a steady climb and I started talking to a fellow runner. Claire was doing her first ever race so we chatted for a while and discovered that we had the same race goal - just to get it done! We were matching each other's pace really well so stuck together and kept each other going.

I hadn't run further than 5 miles since the marathon and had only just been running regularly again for a couple of weeks so my fitness level felt dreadful. I honestly wasn't sure if I could run 6 miles without having to walk and know that I probably would've given in if it wasn't for Claire.

My new running buddy - we're running in sync!

After a lot of running and a lot of nattering we approached the finish line and my Pegs were there to cheer me on. 

Wooooooooo hoooooooooooo!!

We crossed the finish line and I had completed my goal. I had finish the 10k without walking and without pain. NO PAIN!! I also completed my secret goal which was to finish in under 1 hour and 10 minutes - I did it in 1 hour 9 minutes and 36 seconds!

I picked up my medal, t-shirt, goodie bag and quite possibly the smallest banana I've ever seen.

The organisers of the Caerphilly 10k had put a stage up so that posers like us could have our team photo taken.

Team Pegs

Team Pegs with Jazz hands!

The Caerphilly 10k restored my confidence in my body and my running. It reminded me that I can do anything when I put my mind to it, I forget this on a regular basis and have a tendency to doubt my abilities.

Bling!

So the next step for me is to continue running (obviously) but the hard work has to continue. I need to slowly increase my mileage again as well as focus on my speed, I want to get faster so I have to run faster even when it's uncomfortable and my body is screaming for me to slow down. I need to keep up the cross training and the strength training too. I also need to do more hill work with Caroline and her posse of pain lovers so will join them on their Monday night session of misery very soon.

Apparently this is a regular sight but with more tears and shouting!

I've signed up for 3 more races this year, the first is the Severn Bridge half marathon at the end of August and will give me a good indication on how much I need to improve for the Cardiff half marathon in October where I'm still planning to smash my PB. I'm also doing the Cardiff 10K in September and want to beat last year's time. I'll probably enter a few other races along the way but these are the 3 I want to focus on.

Wish me luck!