My first 10K: London ASICS

mikeyrp

Yesterday (Sunday 10th July) was race day for me at the London ASICS 10K event.

Firstly and fore-mostly I did this in order to raise money for The Sussex MS centre in Brighton, which as offered my little sister and other MS sufferers a whole range of classes and therapies which help both mentally and physically.

My friend and I raised £1713.92 between us, and that is a success story in its own right!


I signed up for the race at Christmas - before I started my diet, before I had even heard of MFP and at a time when I was my heaviest (196lb) and most unfit EVER. The race proved to be a great motivator to loose weight and get fit. You can read about that journey here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/274600-30-lb-almost-lost-with-pics

As if by magic I finally reached my target weight last week, just before the race.

Well, OK, target 'look' - I was never sure what the weight would actually BE: initial guess 12 stone (168 lb) - left a little padding - second guess 11.5 stone (161 lb) but at 165 I looked in the mirror and new it was done - 6 pack outlined but not looking skeletal!

Right - anyway - race day.... Got up 5am to leave house by 6am, which would have been painful but I only got back from a business trip to Costa Rica on Saturday Morning so my body clock was so messed up it failed to register. Mum and Dad along for teh ride along with my long time best friend who I roped into running with me.

Got to the bag drop at 8am


- The moustache was to help with the fund raising - its worth £100 of donations! Now safely removed.

Wondered up to the start line: was amazed - it was packed - over 25,000 people running and 500 charities represented!



The race started - and we crossed the START line 10 minutes later. Realised in afterwards that you can order a tag thing which electronically registers you as you cross the start / finish lines: I just used my Run Meter app on my phone - nice as it give me a break down of my time afterwards.

It was massively crowded - I couldn't get up to my and maintain my pace because I was constantly weaving in and out of people... Much more tiring than anything I had done when training. Decided that this was never going to be a great time and I would just enjoy it in its own right



After about 5km it started thinning out a bit - and pretty soon we came to the embankment where you could run on the pavement and overtake some of the slower runners/walkers. My parents were standing somewhere along here and were surprised to find me running behind them - hence this is the only photo of me mid-race.



Coming up to the finish line I heard 'Only 300m to go' through a loud speaker. Saddly this was aimed at the people on the other side of the road - I had 1.5 KM left... Still - people started moving faster and the everyone's pace was picked up which made running much more pleasant.

Cruised over the line at 50 minutes 58 seconds - Not the best time I've run the distance in but under the circumstances I was very pleased. My phone showed 10.2 km - did dodging people add 200m to my run? it sure felt like it. Now I want to do a less crowded run to see how fast I can really do it in!

Anyway - we collected our medals and I'm proud of the whole thing...


And no, I will not explain the bunny, at least not in this post

Next challenge - A Marathon April 2012 for the Brighton federation disabled people. There will be 10K's and half marathons on the way but they are just a means to an end. Wish me luck - I'm going to need it.

yes_i_can

Amazing job!! I'm an aspiring runner as well, running my first 5K this weekend. You're definitely brave to jump so quickly from 10K to a marathon!

Good luck with the training

T0M0

Well done mate. A great story and an inspiration to us all.

My story is pretty much the same as yours. I'm in training for a half marathon in October. All signed up and training going well. I'm hitting 8 miles regularly.

I just need to sort out a charity and sponsors now to make it worth while.

mikeyrp

T0M0

You definitely should - it really boosted my motivation. I wouldn't have raced otherwise and I definitely wouldn't have signed up for a Marathon yet... Still - Now I'm committed I'll get there.