Brighton Half (Again)

At the beginning of last week I LOATHED myself for signing up for this race again. Training in December and January was scant and underwhelming. The dark nights, the ice, the interrupted sleep... I knew I was hugely underprepared. On Thursday I spent half the day in bed sleeping off a mystery flu thing we can refer to as the 'lovebug' that Gwyn had helpfully brought home from work. He was out on Wednesday and wasn't feeling too clever by Thursday but I was a complete write off. 

It was not looking good and I was really not looking forward to it. 

However after alot of sleep I woke up full of the joys on the Friday and read a bit of 'Born to Run' which is about ultrarunning and puts 13 miles into perspective somewhat. I was all of a sudden completely up for a couple of hours running down the seafront. It sounded like it would be fun. By the time we got to the start on Sunday morning I wasn't talking about just finishing it anymore (the previous weeks intention) I wanted to beat my personal best. Everyone was excited, the atmosphere was palpable and I knew in a couple of hours it would be all over anyway so I might as well hit it.

 

 

And I did. I didn't get sub 2 hours but I did come in at 2 hours and 2 minutes. And within minutes of finshing (after 3 miles feeling like I was going to VOMIT) I was standing in the sunshine elated and thinking about doing it next year. I probably will end up signing up again, one never learns. 

I completely zoned out during this race, where I would usually listen to music, I ran with a friend and each mile marker we 'reset' the clock and aimed to get to the next mile marker in 9 minutes. I barely remembered the miles previous before spotting people I knew cheering from mile 8, I lost track of the mileage and had that feeling you get when you arrive somewhere after a long drive and have no recollection of actually getting there.

I ran the race on a double serving of the Juicemasters Super Juice , a bowl of chia and apple juice and an avocado. It was like rocket fuel, no weighty porridge for me.

And my post race recommendations? A post race massage, coconut water, a bath with Epsom Salts and a smoothie with some MSM. I've never tried MSM as a supplement in my smoothie before but I didn't feel half as achy yesterday and today I feel completely normal. I will definitely be using this as a staple in my juices and smoothies from now on. 

Hope everyone has a great week, I might even go for a run this evening!

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Comments

[Angela Tobin]

Woohoo! I am so impressed with all your training, and beating your PB. Next year? Do it! You can do sub-two hours, definitely!

[dottycookie]

I am beyond impressed. Blimey.