Event One – Chard Flyer 10k – News Year’s Day

And we’re off…

First day of the year and first event done – Hurrah!

I was a bit worried about how I would feel doing a 10k, having not run further than 5k in the last month – partly due to breathing problems early in December and partly because I have spent the last eight days trying to fit in 500km of biking while juggling a house full of guests.  Ian and I did the Strava Festive 500 challenge – 500km between Xmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.  Thanks to the  weather, I was trying to fit in 78km on the last day.    I was hoping for a rest day before my year started –  hey ho.

Well the breathing has been much better,  my asthma nurse has confirmed I can stay on my old drug for the foreseeable future 🙂  As for the cycling, it turned out to be a good warm up for today as my legs felt fine.

The weather the last few weeks has not been good – heavy rain and strong winds and today was no different.  Despite the forecast saying no rain until 1pm, it started to drizzle as we left the house and continued for the whole event. But I guess that’s what you expect at this time of year.  Everyone was in good spirits though and a few people mentioned that the weather was better than previous years!

I did my fist event of the year with my best friend Jo and her husband Martin.  Not really “with” them as they are speedy but we turned up together.  Martin had kindly picked up our race numbers earlier so we left Jo’s house ten minutes before the race started and wandered over the road to the little park in Chard.

There was a good turn out and I saw a few people I knew from my tri club, including Tanya who is super speedy and came in 4th lady today.

After a few hugs and cheery “Happy New Years” and we were off.

I had somehow swiped my watch onto a different screen than usual so only seemed to be getting my km splits and couldn’t see distance or overall time – whaatttt!!! I was too scared to touch it in case I made things worse so just counted the kms as my watch buzzed – note to self – need to get better at tech stuff.

Jo and Martin disappeared out of sight within a minute or so and I was near the back from the start.  The few people behind me gradually caught up and passed – fast lot those Chard runners.  As usual you kind of settle into a little group of similar speed people and have a bit of a chit chat – the lovely ladies around me were quick to point out the upcoming big hill (I had heard mumblings about this hill) and where it finished – somewhere in the distance, somewhere far far away – gulp.

I knew most of the area as I live locally and it’s where Jo and I do our weekly walk with her dog Shadow – we put the world to rights each week.  I’m not sure I’ve seen this hill before though, which came about 4km into the run after mainly flat trails. The hill began and so did the walking.  Because of my breathing I usually run 30 secs/walk 10 secs up most hills and this works well.  I have also been trying to power walk the hills in training so as not to lose much time.  I seemed to be keeping up with the slower runners using this strategy.

All the marshals, and there were many, were super encouraging and cheery despite the horrid weather and lots of New Year walkers also clapped us and cheered us on.

I loved it – my legs felt good and to be honest I was pleased to be off the bike for a change 🙂

The Hill was not too bad – similar to many hills I train on – in fact the worst bit was the steep descent the other side – the roads were very muddy with lots of surface water to I took my time – don’t want to get injured on day one.  The last part of the run came past Chard Reservoir and then through the streets of Chard to finish at the Rugby club.  The last km felt long, every turn I thought this must be the last – please let this be the last.

…and then I saw the finish line, a final burst of effort and I crossed the line in 1.03.08 which is a great time for me and better than expected 🙂

Jo was waiting for me and as the rain was now teeming down Martin dashed home to fetch the car for us – much appreciated.

Event One done – 49 to go!!!

Happy New Year xx