Worthing 10k

I ran the Worthing Half marathon a couple of months ago, it was fast, flat, and I managed to knock 2 minutes off my half marathon PB. When the Worthing 10k race appeared in my periphery (I can’t remember if it was a clever bit of facebook targeted marketing, an email, or a recommendation from one of my runny friends) I knew there was the potential for me to set a new 10k PB, so of course, I signed up.

It was a relatively early start for a race with a 09:30 gun time, but that wasn’t going to be a bad thing as the sun had been turned up to maximum and the wind had been set to idle. Had it been closer to noon I think it would have been unbearable.

It was a sell-out event and the sea front was packed, by the time I got to the start line I was about 200 metres away from the start line. The man on the tannoy said something, there was a muffled cheer from 200 metres ahead and two minutes later the runners in the middle of the pack including me, started that run/walk thing that you have to do with the busy events.

I thought that I would spend the first couple of kilometres trying to get past the slower runners in front of me but as it was a closed road event it proved to be much easier to find the space to run at my pace once we shuffled over the start line. The PB was on!

I’m not the best at race preparation to be honest. I know what I should do, eat right, hydrate properly, blah, blah, blah but I hadn’t had time for breakfast and I was a bit dehydrated before I started. It was hot, my pace was sizzling, and very quickly I was feeling it. I knew there was water at the 5k mark though and I could use it to cool down and rehydrate. I powered on.

I could see the runners ahead all moving across to the left hand side of the road. A sure sign that a water station was coming up, I moved over, snatched my bottle and kept on running. No time to stop, I was chasing my PB. The plan was to give my feet and head a squirt of water to cool down a bit before drinking the rest but I fumbled it. I dropped the bottle onto my left foot which unhelpfully hoofed it over a ditch and into a field. So much for the water stop.

I knew quite a few people running and I was ahead of most of them, with the return leg back along the same road it was about a kilometre of high fives and encouragement which was really great. What was also really great were the two guys who were spraying a fine mist of water from pressure washers over the runners.

The last two kilometres or so along the sea front I found pretty grim, I knew it is the final stretch but I couldn't see the finish line. Memories of the half marathon came back to me, it was about here that I choked. I had caught up with my pace runner and was flying but for some reason that long slog back to the finish line was too much and I ended up walking much of the way. Not this time though, I dug deep and gave everything I had.

I felt a bit faint towards the end and this next bit was a bit dream-like. I crossed the finish timing mats and stopped my Garmin, made sure I got my medal before staggering a little way to clear the funnel, I picked a bit of tarmac that was in the shade, went to my hands and knees and gently rested my head on the ground. It was all very deliberate, I wanted to get out of the sun and get some blood back to my head but it clearly was quite concerning behavior, I had a concerned runner checking on me, and when I lifted my head back up there were a couple of St. John medics making their way over. I gave them my best “I’m still alive” thumbs-up which seemed to cheer them up though.

I did get that PB. Fourteen seconds off my previous, taking me to 00:49:45 for the 10k. Fast and flat, well organized, and a really decent medal. A jolly good Sunday despite the sunburn and the weird bit at the end.

Worthing 10k Medal