Silverstone half marathon in Sparkly, frosty wintertime 2016 (started a little late!)

Blimey, there were two hours and forty two minutes of highlights to remember! Where do I start? Maybe I should go further back in time to the morning.

I woke up in an amazingly comfy Premier Inn bed (obviously I did, eventually, untuck the duvet…) at about 6am after seven and a half hours sleep. Nice, warm, comfy, gentle sleep. It was a while before anyone else woke so I just enjoyed the dark peace.

It’s funny how peace can change so rapidly, we were showering and packing, kids were moaning and getting excited in turns while Rich was suffering after a migraine the previous night. 8:30am saw us in a queue for a breakfast table, an extremely harassed man was dashing around, trying to clear tables, put out clean plates on the buffet, keep the buffet stocked etc… as lycra clad folk milled around trying to pre-race fuel from the food provided. My porridge arrived but no honey, the harassed (but incredibly brilliant) waiter eventually brought me a jar of the stuff as he couldn’t find any individual containers.

The drive to the race track should have taken three minutes from the hotel but it’s a popular race, the traffic was queuing along the A43 outside the hotel and so we crawled all the way to the circuit, parked up and walked the half hour to the national pit area where bag drop areas were, food purchasing areas and… the start.

I had arranged to meet some online running friends but was informed that they were stuck, further back, in the traffic having travelled from home that morning so, once I’d kissed goodbye to my gorgeous family and had good luck hugs from them (including an especially huge one from T) I meandered towards the slow runners’ start area (that wasn’t it’s official name…) and joined a toilet queue near the start. Almost at the front of the queue, I heard a yell. “KAAAAATE!!”. It was one of the friends who had parked the car and run to the start with minutes to spare! We walked into the starting pen and waved goodbye when we discussed potential finishing times - she was aiming at half an hour faster than me.

I chatted to a bloke from Cardiff who had travelled almost past my house en route (within a quarter of a mile of it), and i accidentally touched a lady’s bum. I apologised saying, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to grab your bum then!” But her laughter was a little off putting, it went on way longer than was really comfortable!

Six minutes after the start we finally crossed the start line. Our running chips kicked in and I pressed the start button on my cheap, casio stopwatch. A lot of people overtook me during that first mile but I knew that trick, start off too quickly and everything can be derailed. Once again I loved running around the Silverstone race track knowing that some of my heroes had been around it, albeit a lot faster. Knowing that once a year we have to stay behind lots of safety barriers to watch the moto gp bikes go around at upwards of 200kph. Loving that i could legitimately be on the track.

The first three miles were a cruise, there was a water station and the first toilets. The queue for the toilet was a serious running time sap - so many people were waiting so i ran by, knowing that any need I had could wait. And shortly after I saw a portaloo! A lonely portaloo standing at the other side of a puddle, one that I think is there as a regular one for marshals on the track. But who am I to follow convention? I hopped over, went in and used the facilities while only using a couple of precious minutes.

Shortly after this was my first sighting of the family. And am I glad the girls have such bright coats - L’s is a bright green while T’s is bright sky blue with vivid orange! I didn’t have to spot faces in a crowd, just see that combination of colours. The girls waved madly while R asked if I was okay - knowing I’m still not 100% following a plethora of viruses. I felt fine though and on i went, through a lovely big puddle - the sun had come out which was affecting my running since it’s usually pitch black when I go out in the mornings - cooling my feet helped my whole body.

We had left the track by this point and were running ona variety of roads, some usually open to the public on moto gp weekends and others which have always been no go areas! It was nice to see in those areas. The slight drawback were the humpback bridges, enabling roads to cross the racing track, they were bloody tough! At mile five i was feeling thirsty and saw a drink station up ahead, I picked up the pace, ready to welcome the relief but they were handing out lucozade which is, essentially, glucose in a bottle. I haven’t had sugar in over three years so I certainly had no plans to fill my belly with sloshy, sugary liquid so I kept going but, by 7 miles i was licking my lips to try to get some moisture - I was getting quite dehydrated, not dangerously so but it was certainly affecting my performance. I had to walk at 7.5 miles and, finally, got a drink at 8 miles. I didn’t take a few swigs and dump it as I had with the previous one but kept it and sipped regularly. I needed a plan of action at this point because there was no way I could run the entire rest of the way so I decided on a system of running for ten minutes and walking for five minutes alternately, this worked for a couple of miles but the running was getting harder and harder so I dropped the running to five minutes too. This was when I saw, amongst the sea of grey coats, a flash of green next to bright sky blue and vivid orange, I got such a boost of energy from seeing them that i ran across to them and blew kisses, soaking in their calls to me, like some magic energy potion. I only had a couple of these reps to do before the finish line loomed ahead, like some mirage, a desperately longed for oasis in the running. I picked up the pace and put all my effort into the finish line, grinning maniacally as i ran towards it, arms up in the air and yelling “WOOHOO!” the adrenaline rush crashed into the endorphins and I grinned, soaking it all up. I took a selfie with the finish line behind me, I wandered around as happy as I’ve ever been. Eventually I made it through the timing chip removal, I picked up my goodie bag and had a photo taken with ‘2017 finisher’ in the background. I received a text from my online running buddy saying that she was at a burger stall but the texts we’re all running a little late and she had already left, back to her car, as she was getting cold. It was still nice seeing her before the race though.

Of course, me being me meant I chatted to many people as I went around. A lot of asking people if they were okay and chatting as i ran along next to people. The lady who grunted in reply to everything I said, albeit a friendly grunt, the lady who told me all about her husband and boys coming to the formula 1 and camping, though she had never camped because she prefers hotels. There was the utter killjoy who moaned about bluddy everything! I sympathised with a lady that her shoes sounded squelchy (a sign that they’re well beyond the point that they need to be changed) and this bloke near by told me that her make of shoes only last 300 miles so he didn’t know why they bothered making them, then he told me how interminably boring this race was, but not as boring as some other race he’d done… I told him I’d never had a run or race that I didn’t enjoy because i was out there doing one of my favourite things, I then picked up the pace a little and left him behind. Really don’t need those bad vibes! Oh, and there was a woman sniffing. I offered her a tissue as I had loads and she was so grateful ☺ I really love being a back-of-the-pack runner, the camaraderie is always so great ☺

R and the girls caught up with me at the baggage collection point. Lila made me a cheese sandwich with the picnic stuff, and they all hugged me. T keeps saying how amazing i am and how brilliantly i did ☺ that makes the whole thing extra worth it 💕