On 14 December I did my first 10K. Both in terms of distance and event.
Back in July I had just finished a parkrun with a friend, Clare, and she mentioned that for the previous couple of years she and some friends had taken part in a Christmas 10k fun run. I agreed to join them this year.
The event was the Weston AC Christmas Cracker, an annual race which takes place in Weston-super-Mare where participants are encouraged to wear festive fancy dress. The race course is a combination of running on the beach and on tarmac along the promenade.
Preparation
In the lead-up to the race, the furthest I had run was 6.25 km back in August. By race day the furthest I had run was 6.25 km. Not ideal preparation.
My plans had largely gone unfulfilled. The weather in November and early December was grim and it rained almost every day. My outdoor running efforts were non-existent. However I had been doing some slow running on a treadmill at my CrossFit gym and those sessions tended to be almost an hour so I was at least used to running for a reasonable time.
Mentally I had decided that I was taking part in a fun run, in a costume, on sand, so I had no expectations about my performance and was fully expecting to mix running with walking. I wasn’t going to focus on a time, rather I would try to enjoy a social run with friends.
Race Day
Fortune smiled on us and the weather finally changed and the rain was replaced by sunshine, albeit with a cold breeze.
The race started at 11 and so I decided that if I was up by 7:30 I would have time for some breakfast (my usual overnight oats) without it feeling heavy when I was actually running. I had a coffee with it and the some water but I really had no idea what fuel or fluids I needed in advance. I knew I could do a parkrun on an empty stomach and with relatively little hydration and I hoped that a 10k wouldn’t be massively different.
I was pleased that I was with friends because whilst the whole process of collecting my bib (the race number) and timing chip and working out what to do with them turned out to be simple, it was also daunting for a first-timer. If you are going to your first race then it might be worth learning about affixing your race bib to your vest and the timing chip to your shoe.
The start of the race was like a giant parkrun and it took a little while for us to cross the line and find some clear space to settle into a comfortable pace. The marshals were great and cheered everyone on and it was my first experience of spectators supporting runners and it definitely adds to the atmosphere which was relaxed and fun and exactly as I had hoped.
The first five kilometers were pretty straightforward and whilst I wasn’t tracking our pace I knew it was reasonable; slightly slower than a parkrun but definitely not completely relaxed. The sand was fairly wet and solid which was definitely preferable to running on dry, loose sand and the Santa outfit I was wearing was doing a good job of keeping me warm.
By kilometer seven however I was getting hot and tired. I was running with Clare (her daughter was ahead of us somewhere and her two friends somewhere behind) and we fell into a pattern of saying that we might walk for a bit when we got to the next kilometer marker. We never did and we ran the entire distance.
The race headed off the beach and onto roads before we joined the promenade to run back towards the pier. Around kilometer eight some marshals had tubs of sweets to help give people an energy boost but all I could think about were the long queues for the loos before the race and whether people had washed their hands and resisted temptation.
The last kilometer was probably the worst and my legs felt heavy and my neck and shoulders were getting really stiff but the end was in sight. We rejoined the beach and ran for the finish line which was under the pier and Clare and I crossed the line side-by-side with Annabel, her daughter, who had finished ahead of us, cheering us on. And a couple of minutes later Clare’s friends also finished.
My Result
In 2024 Clare finished the race in one hour and 15 minutes and before the race I’d decided that matching the time would be good but probably not achievable. Both Clare and I felt unprepared and with her parkrun time being around 35 minutes (and mine only slightly faster at 32 minutes) we were not expecting anything faster. As it turned out we finished the 10k in 1:11:46, beating Clare’s previous time and both of our expectations.
We went and got a coffee, perhaps the worst one in the whole of the UK, and took the obligatory post-race photos.
After The Race
I was lucky that a 10k is not too physically demanding if you have been doing some running and are have some degree of fitness. This allowed me, with little proper preparation, to complete the race with no great drama and at a reasonable pace (particularly considering the fancy dress and running on sand). I didn’t need to eat or drink during the run but this would definitely not be the case for a longer distance.
In the evening I was tired and my legs, and particularly knees, were sore. It took 48 hours for that to sort itself out which was not entirely unexpected but initially I was slightly worried that I’d injured myself in some way. I’m sure that some proper warm-up and cool-down would have helped with this.
Running with someone definitely helped and it got me through the tougher parts of the race but there were periods where neither of us wanted to talk (or were too busy concentrating on breathing to actually talk) and some music would have been great during those parts.
There is always an element of mental toughness with running and knowing that I can now run a 10k is a great mental boost and gives me enough confidence to sign up for some more 10k races.
Looking back on where I was a year ago, knowing that I needed to lose weight and get fitter, I am incredibly proud of myself for completing the race and the medal we got at the end of it is something which will always be very special to me.
