2009 - A year of races

2009 was a year of a lot of races for me, however it wasn't always a great one from a running point of view.

In order to stop myself from doing my normal trick of getting my fitness up and then stopping, meaning I have to start again pretty much, I decided to enter a lot of races.

The first race was a re-run of the Reading Half Marathon in March, which I ran with Sui in a PB time of 6 seconds faster than the year before (I'm nothing if not consistent!).  My time was 2 hours, 35 minutes and 13 seconds.  I am officially a snail, but hey I like to think of it as getting value for money!  I had hopes of being able to run a half marathon in under 2 hours 30 minutes but it wasn't to be at the Reading Half.  In fact if I hadn't been with Sui I am not sure I would have finished at all, as the last few miles were incredibly hard!

The next race was the Shinfield 10k in early May.  I ran this mostly with Sui and her friend Sue, however I just couldn't get a grip on my breathing pattern resulting in a nasty stitch and I couldn't keep up with them at all, so I told them to go on without me with a couple of miles to go.  I was absolutely gutted.  To be honest I have no idea what stopped me from sitting on a kerb and having a good old cry because that was how I felt, but somehow I finished a few minutes behind them.  If I had stayed with them, it would have been a PB time, but it just wasn't to be that day.

I then moved on to the Woodley 10k in the middle of May.  I arrived and was sat in the car park eating a banana with the rain absolutely lashing it down outside.  A downpour of such proportions that I did seriously consider just starting the engine back up and leaving!  However, about 15 minutes before the race was due to start, the sun miraculously appeared and I found myself at the start line.  I even made the local paper!  They had been snapping as people crossed the line, and there I was (yes I do still have the cutting)!  It wasn't a very speedy race and I struggled to get into a rhythm, so I was a bit disappointed, although I did enjoy the unexpected run in the sun!

The two 10k races were swiftly followed by the Wokingham Half Marathon.  This was originally scheduled for February however the weather conspired against it (snow) and so it was rescheduled to a freakishly hot weekend at the end of May.  So hot that extra mobile water stations were laid on.  I seemed to find myself on my own quite a lot whilst running this one, and had Defying Gravity from Wicked stuck in my head.  I was so on my own at one point that I actually started humming it aloud!  Then at about 9 miles in, I stumbled upon a running partner.  Well, actually, I overtook her, then she overtook me, and so it continued for about half a mile until we just said why don't we run together!  We were both flagging somewhat from the heat, and it was her first half marathon.  We ended up doing a sort of run-walk a bit-run type rhythm for a couple of miles, saying we will walk until that lampost and then start running until one of us needs a rest again and so on.  It worked really well, and we had a good old chat.  I remember at one point a family had set up a hosepipe outside their house to douse any willing passing runners, and we went down to single file to make the most of it!  It was an amazing feeling as it was ice cold!  Towards the end I had a bit left in my legs so I went on ahead a bit, but I just couldn't keep it up and so I waited while she accelerated back up to me and we crossed the line together.  Do you know, I never found out her name!!  I was disappointed that I had walked during the race, and as a result my time was not great, but I put it down to the heat and vowed the next race would be a good one.

Then came the Thames 10k, a very scenic run through Beale Park in early July.  My time for this race was not far off a personal worst time, however I really enjoyed the race and felt like I had some miles left in my legs, so I left happy in spite of the time.

The next race was another half marathon, at the end of July.  It's called the Down Tow Up Flow half marathon, because it isn't a there-and-back race, it is one that follows the Thames and changes direction each year.  It was another that I found myself on my own for some of the time, but I ran every single step of this race, which was a real first for me.  My time was not great, and I remember feeling really disheartened when I saw how slow I had been.  I vividly recall sitting on the towpath waiting for Pete to come and find me and once again only focussing on the negatives and not the fact that I had run it all!  No walk breaks!

From that moment on, I didn't run another step for nearly 18 months.  I can't explain why for sure, but I know that I had been struggling to come to terms with my lack of progression.  It seemed like I was just getting slower and slower and still finding it just as hard, so I began to question if this was the sport for me.  In fact I stopped doing any exercise at all really until mid-2010 when I had a few personal training sessions at the work gym in preparation for being a bridesmaid for my best friend later in the year.  Once again I didn't feel like there was much progression, and I stopped exercising again until I met someone in late 2010 who helped me sort out my head and get myself back into it.  I started climbing, and remembered how much I loved the feeling, and decided I would start afresh with the running in 2011.