Alison Angier Diary

I can not believe I let myself be talked into doing a 10 mile race! I had no idea what the course would be like apart from it was advertised as undulating. Well I can assure you it was blooming hard work!!

The furthest I had run before was 9 miles, but that was quite flat really. Well today was far from flat!! In fact I can not even remember if there was much flat at all!

It was a very hilly course going through three villages and was on roads and paths. There was quite a bit of traffic on the roads but they were very considerate. Some of the paths were hard to run on so we tried to keep to the roads as much as possible. Jenni my friend from the running club came with me and we stuck together the whole time. I knew she was quite capable of going much faster but she loyally stayed with me.

Once we got to the 6 mile mark, we were actually quite comfortable and had had some water on route from the water stations. There had been some quite steep hills and it was a relief to actually have a little down hill run. That of course didn’t last long as the hills were there yet again.

At 7 miles, I started to feel a bit tired and my legs started to ache. I was beginning to think it was an impossible task. It seemed ages to reach the 8 mile marker but we were relieved to see it.

The last 2 miles were the hardest!! I was certainly feeling it in my legs and my fingers were starting to feel like bananas. And what did we see as we ran past the 8 mile marker?? Yet another hill!! We were stunned as it was quite steep and sweeping. I couldn’t wait to get to the top. Jenni seemed much fresher than I did and to me, didn’t seem to be struggling. I know I was.

The 9 mile marker came and went and it felt like a very long way. We were on the home straight and I was so tired. Jenni kept me motivated to keep going and it was so hard. When I saw the 400 metre mark I was so relieved, then the 200 and suddenly we could see the finish line. We made the last effort to sprint for the line and were very relieved to cross it. The time was 1 hour, 40 minutes and 50 seconds.

What an achievement!! At the moment I don’t feel like I want to do anything like it again, but you never know.

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