After completing the Hackney Half in May and with the Ealing Half not until September, I was looking for a shorter running event around
July. I opted for the Virgin Sport British 10K. This event starts in
Piccadilly Circus and ends around the Houses of Parliament via the London Eye,
the route covers part of the London Marathon, so I thought it would make for an
interesting run and would be good preparation for the Marathon….IF I get in
(ballot results not until October).
Unlike the Hackney Half the training wasn't interrupted by
any injury concerns – it was refreshing to go for a run without it turning into
a limp.
On the day of the event, I got on the tube at South Ealing to Piccadilly Circus…at first I was the only person in running gear on the
tube….but as it edged closer to Piccadilly Circus more and more runners were
getting on. Again, like with the journey to the Hackney Half, no runner spoke
or dared make eye contact with another runner. Yet everyone was pretty chatty
at the main meeting point. I spoke to a couple who had done the Hackney Half
and like me it was their first half marathon.
When signing up for the British 10K, I didn't even consider
the weather. The summers in London are rarely consistent but as I write this,
without checking, we've had about 5 weeks of good hot sunny weather (As I go to
publish this it's a lot cooler and greyer)! Sunday 15th July 2018
was a scorcher! The Yahoo Weather app said it would reach as high as 30 degrees Celsius. I got to the event at 8am and it was already hot in the sun! The
race was due to start at 9:30am so it was only going to get hotter.
After dropping off my bag and then answering nature's call, I
made my way to the starting pen. I was in Pen E, which was situated outside The
Ritz Hotel in the middle of the pack. I estimated my finishing time to be 55
minutes for this event, which was my personal best. As I stood waiting outside
The Ritz, I wondered what the residents must have thought with over 10,000
runners outside. I also thought about popping in for afternoon tea at the end
of the race but then I remembered I didn’t have a tie and shirt with me.
The race made a start just after 9:30am…I shuffled towards
the start line with the other thousands of runners, eagerly awaiting to get
started. I finally made it to the Start line around 9:50am and then I was off!!
I surprised myself by overtaking people straight away…not sure if it was my
imagination or the adrenaline but I felt I was flying….not in the literal
sense…in terms of speed!! After running to the end of Piccadilly I decided to
ease off a little bit as I didn't want to burn out too early.
Running up Regent's Street towards Oxford Circus…my mind
started to wander like it often does when I go running. I was thinking that the
road would make for a good Formula 1 race similar to the Monaco Grand Prix…then
I remembered when A1GP were in London and wandered what happened to them. A1GP
was a kind of World Cup for Formula 1 cars, where the teams were countries and
all the cars were created equally. They eventually ran into financial
difficulties and it ceased to be after a few years.
After I turned the corner at Oxford Circus, a band inside an
open lorry started playing "Keep on running" by Spencer Davis Group,
this made me pick up the pace again as I ran down Regent's Street towards Piccadilly
Circus.
My Dad said he would cheer me on at some point along the
route but I didn't know where. I guessed around Piccadilly Circus, so as I ran towards
it I was looking out for him but as I ran past the Eros statue I didn't see
him. Fun fact: The statue which is commonly known as the Eros Statue, is not
actually Eros…it's his brother Anteros (the God of counter Love).
Next I ran around Trafalgar Square, up by Leicester Square
to Shaftsbury Avenue and then we turned back on ourselves to run towards Trafalgar
Square again but before we reached there we turned to Charing Cross station to
run along the Strand. As I was running towards the Savoy Hotel, I heard someone
shout out "Tony, TONY!!" as I looked up, it was my Dad with his hands
aloft….I was so happy to see him and he looked just as delighted to have
spotted me….and then he shouts "Run faster!!"…which made me laugh as
I turned the corner to run down Savoy Street. The street is full of pot holes
and I was trying not to land in one awkwardly as I made my way down the slight hill
towards Victoria Embankment. At the bottom of Savoy Street we turned left to run
towards Temple and we ran around the gardens before running towards Victoria
Embankment again. At this point it was really hot in the sun…I could feel my
skin burning like a vampire in the sunlight…so I ran faster towards the shady
parts of the road.
Looking up I could see Westminster Bridge in the distance. I
knew this was towards the end of the course and the only bridge I needed to run
over. It was still a long way off so I tried not look at it too much and tried
to focus on other things, like the London Eye, the cheering crowds and what
pubs I knew in the area. One of my favourite places is Tattershall Castle, this
is a pub on a boat that looks towards the London Eye, although I was disappointed
to see that there were high fences up for some development work in the area around where the boat is moored.
Before I knew it, I was fast approaching Westminster bridge
and I could see the Houses of Parliament getting taller and taller as I got
nearer. Running over Westminster Bridge, looking to my left, I could see the
London Eye, which is a view I will never get bored of. At this point, the bridge
was extremely hot, there were no shady spots to be found but I knew that I was
getting close to the end of the run.
We got to the end of the bridge and then we had to turn back to run over it again. I was starting to get bored of the
routes doubling back on themselves. On the way back over the bridge towards the
Houses of Parliament, runners were stopping to take pictures of Big Ben (the great bell is Big Ben not the Clock Tower but you know what I mean). I don't
know why the runners were stopping to take pictures as it's covered in scaffolding
whilst they do repair works.
The route then took us alongside Parliament Square but instead
of taking us around it, we went on through Broad Sanctuary passing Westminster
Abbey, on to Victoria Street and followed this street up to Christchurch Gardens before we turned back on ourselves to run back towards Parliament
Square again. As we ran around the square, I spotted the back of the Winston Churchill
statue and remembered when it was vandalised during one of the demonstrations. As
I felt my legs start to tire, I started to think of Churchill's famous quote,
no not the 'Fight them on the beaches' one…but this paraphrased one: "Yes I may be drunk but
tomorrow I will be sober…but you will always be ugly!".
Entering Whitehall I knew I was on the finishing straight
and I tried to step it up a bit. I then could see the finishing line, there
were crowds watching but they weren't cheering like the Hackney Half. I made it
past the finishing line and still had enough energy to lift my hands aloft as
if I had won the event. Although I hadn't won, it did feel like a feel victory
for me. I later discovered that my official finishing time was 51mins 45secs, which
is a new personal best for the distance.
After the finishing line, I collected my medal, goody bag
and t-shirt. I walked slowly towards Trafalgar Square looking for somewhere
to sit that wasn't the floor.
I checked my phone to see that I had loads of messages of good luck from friends and family. It was great to have everyone's support. Much to my surprise (and delight!), there was also a message from my Dad saying that he was at the finishing line and asking if I had finished yet. I hadn't expected him to wait for me or to see him again that day. After giving him a call, I then found him next to the Earl Haig memorial statue. I was a bit hot and sweaty but he gave me a big hug anyway…he was clearly proud of me and was keen to take a picture of me in front of Nelson's Column.
On the way to collecting my bag there was a Queen tribute band
near Trafalgar Square belting out Bohemian Rhapsody.
After collecting my bag I suggested that we go to the pub for
lunch…my Dad replied "Tone, it's a bit early for lunch". I looked at
my watch, it wasn't even 11am and being a Sunday the pubs weren't opened yet.
So we killed time by going for a coffee in Neros in Soho. We eventually made our
way to The Real Greek on (aptly) Greek Street in Soho. We had a big feast
washed down with a couple of Greek beers and then we said our farewells before heading
home.
