Clapham Common 10K - Race Report
The past weekend I spent in London visiting my Uncle, my Uncle is quite an avid runner and suggested we both sign up for the Clapham Common 10K. My Uncle has run this race quite a few times and thought it would be nice for us to both run together now that I'm a runner.
This was my first proper organised race. The one I did before was part of the Frostbite league, meaning only club runners could take part. I was looking forward to this being a mixed bag of abilities. There were 3 distances to choose from, 5K, 10K & 15K.
My training hasn't been great leading up to the race, my horrible cough still hadn't quite shifted and I hadn't run a 10K distance in about 2 and a half weeks. But nether the less I went out there and gave it my all.
Pre race - Actually looking fairly calm
As we were staying only a 5 minute walk from the race head quarters we walked over about 9:45am to pick up our race numbers and timing chips. This was really well organised and hardly any queues. I obviously had pre race nerves and headed off to use the toilet. Not many, but the the queue went down quickly and there seemed to be enough for everybody.
The race started promptly, 5K went off at 10.04am, 10K at 10.06am and 15K at 10.08am. To be honest I didn't really know what to expect, I felt a little underwhelmed if I'm honest, everyone just started moving forward so I followed. I stuck to the back of the 10K pack as I really didn't want to set off to fast. My Uncle's next door neighbour was also running and I knew she was a similar pace to me so we stuck together for the first Km before I pushed off a little faster. It was really lovely to have my parents there cheering me on - This is the first event they have been to and I think they actually enjoyed cheering everyone on.
The first 5K past fairly quickly, it was nice being around more runners, there was enough space for everyone and the race didn't feel too congested. There was a lot to look at on the course from football games, bootcamps and dog walkers. For the first 5K I felt really good and was keeping an eye on my pace (in hindsight I was probably going a little to quickly), it was really starting to warm up and I was starting to feel a little dehydrated, thankfully a water station was up ahead so I powered through. I walked through the water station to have a drink as these were in plastic cups which I hate.
The next 3K felt really hard, I was struggling to keep my pace and had to take a few walking breaks. I made sure I only let myself walk for a minute before pushing on. From the start I had been locked on one woman in front of me, we were a similar pace and I knew if I stuck with her I would do fine. She kept pushing on ahead, then I would catch up and vice versa. She dropped back around 8K and I powered through trying to keep my pace up. Around 9K I felt exhausted and started to slow to a walk. Out of no where the woman I had been following gave me a big pat on the back and gave me some encouraging words to push through. We ran the last 1K together, without realising I picked up the pace in the last 200m but she came through the finish line less then a minute after me.
The post race organisation was great, straight through to have my timing chip cut off, a goody bag handed to me along with a medal and a bottle of water. I am so proud to have my first medal for running. I haven't received a medal since I was about 7 years old, so it felt really good. The marshals at the race were also really good, offering encouragement and showing you where to go to make sure you stayed on track. Support from spectators was lacking apart from near the finish line, but it gave you the boost of encouragement you needed in the last 200m.
Race entry was £18 which seemed expensive to me (as a non Londoner) but I really enjoyed the race, the organisation was great & as I said I got a medal. What more could you want?!
I ended up finished in 1 hour 13 minutes and 45 seconds, painfully slow for some but my aim was 1 hour 15 minutes so I was pleased to beat my own target and it was nice to get a PB. At least I have something to aim for now. Next time I want to get sub 1 hour 10 minutes.
Look how chuffed I am.
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