British 10K - A scenic run in the hot London sun

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 15^th 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.