H – O – T

Those three letters are all I think when thinking about this race! Having gone from a snowy March only a few weeks earlier, it’s safe to say I hadn’t aclimatised to warm-weather running. It’s never my forte, but it does gets easier over a few weeks of getting used to it. It certainly increased my sympathy levels for the London Marathon runners of a couple of weeks earlier – 10k was more than enough for me!

I hadn’t had a great lead up to the race. Work had been really busy (spring in the ecology world – never going to get around that one) and I had been put on a new dose of medication that had sent my blood pressure and stress levels through the roof. Headaches and constantly tense muscles aren’t ideal for training and in the week before race day I woke up on the Tuesday to my right calf being very sore and I couldn’t get onto my tip toes – not a happy bunny. I was convinced that was me done and I’d have to sit the race out. Luckily by the time I saw my wonderful physio, Stu, it was no longer painful and I could do a single leg calf raise. He spotted I was rather wound up (I dread to think how fast I was talking) and got me breathing properly. He loosened everything off and sent me away with instructions not worry about exercises and just to remember to breath – good advice generally!