Paddock Wood Half Marathon

Hello blog readers.

Me and Karin (Naggy)

Today was the day! I had trained and trained.......no.......actually I hadn't trained much at all!  But Paddock Wood is where me and Naggy were heading for with loads of other PWR's too, to run the annual half marathon.  I have done this a couple of times, usually with a bit more training!  Today, well, today I am just going to have to do it and see what the results are!

I started off early to walk all the way over to Naggy's house, I didn't want to be late! She was up and ready and looking forward to it!  I had slight apprehensions due to the lack of miles in my legs, I am going to have to go on sheer will power!  We drove towards our race! We were quiet ish on the way there, I am not a morning person, but I soon rallied round the nearer we got to Paddock Wood.  Naggy had her PWR shirt on, it's virgin outing, complete with number pinned on it, mine was in my kit bag, all ready to just slip over my head.  I had brought a change of clothes, as it was raining, and it gave me a good excuse to use my PWR kit bag!

When we arrived we were about a quarter of a mile from the start so we started walking along with all the other people that were going to run this, and then of course it was the obligatory toilet stop.  they have more toilets this year, with the 'toilet pointers'.  It works well, that system, they get people in and out of the loos as quickly as possible!  And let me tell you, it needed to be like that, the queues was long! Ablutions done we joined the throng of runners, me and Naggy with the 2 hours + group!

And so it was the off, Naggy was eager to go, she had a plan and she was going to stick to it, I had mine.....just to get back, on my own two feet!  I didn't see many PWR's they were all in the faster pens, but I did bump into a few before the off, Tim, and Laura and James who were running with the 2:30 pacer flags.  I don't think I will be keeping up with them!  And I saw Marcus too! They are all going to be going for it, I seriously just want to get around, and it won't be pretty.

By the time we were over the mats and heading for the road Naggy was saying a cheery "See you at the end".  And now I was running this on my own.....well apart from the other 2,000 odd people that was here too.  So the first mile is all about getting the breathing right, warming up properly and trying to not over do it.  I was running next to some runners who were running for 3 minutes walking for 1.  But their running pace was pretty fast and I couldn't keep up with them,  even one of their friends was at the back and running pretty fast to catch up to them and then kind of flaking out a bit.  But they were still in front of me!  Around the first corner is where we meet the first of the hills, you can hear all the groaning from everyone, including me!  But I tried as much as I could.  I had ran the first mile already, so a little walking wont be two bad.  With the first mile gone all I thought was "Only 12 miles to do"  I decided that I was going to count backwards, it will give me psychological advantage hopefully.

I didn't actually see the 1 mile marker but I saw the 2 mile marker, here, look at this!  I decided that from now I was going to photograph all the marker boards along the way!  Just so that I can remember what they said!  Heading toward the third mile I was feeling pretty good, well I would do really, it's only a park run. I keep o going chatting away to some of the other runners as I do.  It's a totally friendly race and people are willing to chat away.  In fact all races that I have ever entered people are will to chat, is it because we are at the back and just like to encourage each other on? Who knows.  I can image the front runners are totally focused, just moving along the route with one goal in mind, get that as fast as you can!  Can they chat to others as they go along?  I don't know, I have never asked actually, maybe I should do that when we are all together again!

 Mile 3, this is the board, inspiring right?  Who wants to run fast, you can't chat away to anyone then can you, nor can you take selfies!  So now I am passing park run time, mind you, I have not even been doing that on Saturdays, as I have been doing the beginners!  I was wondering what they would have written on the next board.  There was also a water stop, I was glad of this as I didn't bring any with me, I don't like to carry things with me, apart from my phone! It was beginning to get harder now and I still had  9 miles to go! I am not even go to think about it, I shall just see what the next marker board says, it's bound to be something encouraging.

Mile 4 As you can see, my face is not so much smily as it should be!  But I am still amoung other runners, so not totally on my own.  I have done the running by myself on a race day, it's a pretty lonesome experience.  But then you can get away with stuff!  For instance, I bought these really fancy runderwear pants, especially for today, they are just perfect and fit well.  Only trouble with them......they was in my house!  I forgot to put them on!  So I had my 'ordinary pant's' on.  Not a good idea, not a good idea at all. Not this fancy knickers anyway!  The chaffing started!  Oh well, nothing I can do about that now!  It's not as if I can whip them off and chuck them away!  I will just have to suffer.

 Mile 5, we are moving on now! No selfie this time.  In fact that board there just didn't do it me

either.  I blimmin know it's left, right, repeat!  Last time I did 5 miles I did it in just over the hour, so I am on track at the moment to get in at the time I kind of said I would get in!  Of course when I say something it goes completely out of the window!  I shouldn't have said anything, but still, if I keep this pace going I've got it in the bag!  Jelly babies, was there jelly babies here, I can't remember now.  There were jelly babies on route, and drinks and sponges.  Maybe I should have taken pictures of those too, then i would know what where abouts everything fitted in!  Because from now on, it's all a blur!  I still remembered to take the selfies, and I can kind of remember what I was feeling when I reached those too.  I pinched myself to make sure I remembered!

Mile 6 Nearly half way!  Yup, nearly is not half way!  At least I was smiling here, and totally relieved.  I think if nothing drastic happens I can actually do this in the time I said!  But then, I do know me, I know what my body does to me when I push it! And that fecking 'hungry bum' of me!  For goodness sake ladies, do no where  Brazilian pants with a lacy edging!  Oh y goodness!  I will be wearing seamless pants for the next 12 months I think!

Mile 7. Hmm the smile has gone again.  The pain is there, the pride......well, it's there, at the end of this!  It's the longest I have run for a long time! Now it's going to get messy!  Now I am going to be running on sheer adrenaline!  I just wished I had some!  People still running around me, we were playing 'Catch'.  I caught and over took them, then they caught up and over took me!  I must say, I was feeling a bit demoralised, mainly because I was being selfish and didn't want them to overtake me!  I tried pushing out as much as I could.  I was using my Garmin alerts that I use for the beginners.  Run for 4 minutes walk for 2.  I had been doing that from about mile 4.  Sometimes I didn't always take a full 2 minutes walking and started running, but I tried very hard to keep every second of the running section a running pace!  It didn't always happen and I was talking to myself a lot by now! "Get a move on Old Girl, just move it" were a couple of the things I was saying.

Mile 8, just over a park run to do! That's it, that's all I have to do. I can do this and I will! I could see I was catching up with some people that have been a head of me from the beginning. Now either I am running faster (yeah right) or they have slowed down.  But I was deffo getting closer to them.  I was beginning now to really suffer, my toes were hurting, my back was hurting and my neck and shoulders were hurting.  I tried to shake my arms out and stretch out my neck.  What I really wanted to do was to just stop, stretch out and then go home! But that is not going to get me the bling, is it! So on wards getting closer all the time to the two ladies in front of me.

Mile 9.  What the heck is this one all about!  Seriously.  Hard, great!  I am sure I will think so at the end.....maybe.....but right then, nah!  I couldn't even think about it!  I am not sure, but this is where the tears started. every mile maker after this brought about tears! I am sure there were more jelly babies too, and jelly beans, I think there was one before too.  Some little kids holding out their carton on sweets, getting all sticky from the rain!  I didn't care, I just needed a bit of sugar.  I did manage to to eat something in the car on the way, it was a 'Goodness knows, nutty, fruity thing.  Which was surprisingly very tasty!  And thankfully it is still remaining in my tummy!  Yup, because by this I was feeling a bit fatigued and in need of a decent Sunday dinner and a pint!  I couldn't wait to get home!

Mile 10 Time to break out the awesome?  I think I did that when I got out of bed this morning!  I had caught up to one of the ladies, and it wasn't because I was running faster, it was because she was looking for a place for a nature stop!  Do you think there was anywhere to go.  for the last 2 miles she was looking for a place, that's how I caught up with her.  But that didn't explain the other lady that I was closing in on.  Maybe she is getting fatigued too!

Mile 11  Homeward bound!  I so wanted to go home!  I really did.  Never will I do another half marathon unless I have properly trained for it.  At least get up to 8 or nine miles!  People like me, you know the slow runners, the 'just get arounds' we need to really train hard.  All those Thursday evenings I missed at track! Tut, tut!  Boy was I really telling myself off now!  I didn't doubt I would finish it, but there was no way I was going to get in under 3 hours!

The mile 12 marker, where was it!  I couldn't see it, we were going through an estate.  Just as we turned into the park there was water....or was that at mile 11, anyway there was more jelly babies, even on the estate too.  There was a lady out with her two daughters handing out the sweet sugary energy boosters and some crisps.  But one of her daughters was eating more crisps than she was handing out!

That last mile, oh my goodness. I just couldn't wait for it to finish.  Very soon I will see the high street, I will run past the cycle shop and then up and over the bridge.!  Oh I can't wait! I had managed to pass by the other lady!  I couldn't believe it.  Even now I am still passing people!  I didn't think that was possible! When I came out onto the high street people were cheering me on and the others as well, and saying very encouraging things!  We had to cross over the road, but by the time I had got there the road was opened.  I had to stop moving to wait for the traffic t be halted!  I kind of just crumbled then, I clutched my knees to keep myself up right.  It felt blimmin hard to get moving again!  I knew the last mile marker was just up and over the bridge, just before I need to turn to go into the finish and those mats that will tell me just how long it took me!

Just then the lady who had a nature break came steaming up from behind me.  She looked pretty strong, and then the other lady that I had in my sights for ages passed me by too!  I was feeling pretty knackered and just accepted it.  I can't do no more now!  Then two other people passed me by, I had passed them by way back!  My energy seemed to just drop them. I heard my name being called from a car, and there was DiscoRich! "Keep going, Old Girl" he said, or something like that, I couldn't quite get what he said!   Up and over the bridge, not long now. People calling out my name, it was very much needed at that point.   I could see the sharp left turn just up ahead and I could hear my name being called again, but this time I knew who it was. It Naggy!  She took some pictures, here, take a look

Ok, so this was taken before we started
but I did look a lot happier!

outta my way!

That's it, stay behind

Done it, now to keep them there!

Did you notice, did you notice? Because when I was running I didn't really notice, I was passing by the two people who I had behind me for most of the race!  All I wanted to do was to get to Naggy, she will help me on this last tiny bit left.  And she did.  "Come on Dons, you can do this, you are awesome, you've done it, you've done it!

I got my banana, I got my water and I got my bling!  It's a lovely medal!  I worked hard for it, and there were more tears when I picked it up!  We collected our stuff and I got changed out of my wet clothes,  then it was the hunt for some hot food!  Which we found, in Farnborough, with beer!  A tough run, very tough! Will I do this race again......yeah, of course, it goes without saying!!

Geeky stats.