Silverstone Half Marathon 2015
I’ve written this post endless times in my head, my thoughts have been whirling with my many emotions and opinions and I just needed to take a completely different approach with my race review.
Therefore, I’m listing all the great things about Silverstone Half Marathon 2015:
*Everything worked – My outfit was perfect, even though I was bitterly cold waiting around before the start of the event my tried and tested kit felt just ‘right’. I ate the same breakfast, drank plenty and even managed to eat jelly babies whilst running (hurrah I love jelly babies).
*It was bitterly cold in places – But it did’nt rain, hiphip hooray!
*My very patient fella G came to support me – Plus he acted as race photographer for me, also his father really kindly took the time to come along for the second half. It meant a lot to have people there offering support.
*High-5-ing children – Was the best feeling ever, it’s so very uplifting and made me SMILE.
*Around mile 3.5 I experienced the most painful cramp – but somehow I managed to keep slowly running whilst holding my side, I had to stop a couple of times but determination pulled me through. When I could start running again using both my arm’s I felt unstoppable and so happy. I just wish that the cramp hadn’t stayed with me for 2 painful miles!
*Water Stations – Loo’s – Lucozade – These were every few miles, plus bands and medical centres, I felt well cared for and it saved me carrying my own bottle of water. I really credit the people at the event picking up the discarded bottles, maybe that’s a normal thing in large races (?) but I felt very uneasy littering.
*The reasons people were running – I made a real effort to read people’s signs whilst running, partly as a distraction and partly because I really do care. I read sign’s that nearly moved me to tears, if I could have managed to text whilst running I’d have donated a lot of money yesterday.
*I faced my race fears – I have a real issue with big races, I find the build-up, the pressure I put on myself and all the people a real issue. I’m so pleased that I managed not to bail at last minute (If I’m honest,I did consider this) and I handled the crowds without going to pieces.
*The goodie bag was ace – Cadbury chocolate, water, Rebel Mylk, Liz’s Granola, Coconut Water, a T-shirt, awesome medal etc. I’m not going to lie, the 20% of my diet crept in whilst I guzzled a lucozade sport and half a bar of Cadbury Ritz Chocolate on the way home, don’t judge – I’m only human!
*I ran further than expected – I won’t lie, my heart broke in two when G told me my official time. I’d trained hard, plus my training times were on point and all of a sudden I found myself hanging my head in bitter disappointment. Plus I couldn’t understand why my Garmin had ‘failed’ me, I have since cross referenced with 6 people via Twitter (I love you Twitter) and they’ve all recorded 13.5 miles like me. I’m looking on the bright side that maybe, after all just maybe it was a lovely PB because I ran 13.5 and not 13.1. I know it shouldn’t matter but after all the training and effort I’d put in, I really craved that high of hitting a new PB.
I finished the day by visiting some of my beautiful family (esp Mum, as it was Mothers Day after-all). We ate cake, remembered my Nan (It was the 10 year anniversary of her passing) and celebrated all the wonderful things the last week had brought us.Moving on…thank you for having me Silverstone, thank you to all the people that volunteered/worked at the event, thank you to G & T for waiting in the freezing cold. Thank you to all those people who listened to my boring running talk, who ran with me, who took the time to text/tweet and huge congrats to everyone else who took part.
Did you run Silverstone Half Marathon? Or have you? Anyone manage a sneaky PB this weekend during all the events going on?
Katie
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