All of Friday at school all I could think of was the relays, as I was pretty excited. The club was travelling up on Friday evening to a hotel an hour from Mansfield. So, as I like to start any race blog post, I talk about my carbonara pasta, but this time it was slightly different to normal. This was because I was eating it on the coach from a tuba wear box, so it isn’t exactly different just a bit cold… Anyway the journey to the hotel went pretty quickly (which was helped by sitting next to Clara). When we got to hotel we were quickly in our rooms and ready for bed… okay not quite, we had a little tea party and a chat before bed, as we had arrived at 8pm. I know I go to bed early, but not that early! At 6:30am my alarm goes off and being slightly disorientated, it takes me a while to realise what was happening. The beds at the hotel were possibly the best I have ever had (and we are talking about a Holiday Inn right now), this made getting out of bed that bit harder. We headed to breakfast to find no porridge, but panic over, because I had brought a sachet of porridge with me. I swiftly asked the lady at breakfast if she could just add some hot milk to it for me and luckily that was fine. We step off the coach and the quick realisation of how cold it was, quickly hit us! I went from 2 layers to 4 within 10 minutes of being outside. We walked the course after almost immediately getting there, it didn’t take us long considering it was only 2.5km, which I wasn’t completely a fan of, but I just thought at least I won’t be running for long. Soon enough I was on my warm up and for once my legs felt good and like they had lots of energy. I did some drills then some strides, so then I headed to the holding pen, where all the athletes who were running the third leg went. I was pretty nervous about running the third leg, but before I knew it Clara was charging up the last hill and I was off. First I headed off through the open field and then I headed into the woods. It was a lovely course but in the woods all the tap going in different directions was slightly confusing as it all sort of merged into one. I would like to say that I came flying out the woods into the final field but I didn't, my legs felt slow and I didn't have much left in me. People started to over take me and this definitely pushed me down, but I knew I had to do it for my team. The cold air made breathing hard, but at the end of the day everyone was in the same boat so I tried to get on with it. The last 500m was painful and I was just trying my absolute best and in the end we came home in 8th. This was a great result but I had started my leg in 4th so clearly I wasn't that happy. At the end of the day my relay team did really well and Phoebe even got the fastest overall leg, which is pretty impressive. Unfortunately Saturday wasn't my day and I didn't have the magic moment of energy, when I put my spikes on. Whether it was nerves because of the big event or travelling up and having a slightly different routine the night before, I will take it all as experience and learn from it. Sometimes I just have to remember how new I am to the sport and that there is a lot of learning involved, but of course you always want to do well. After my race it was fuelling time, which was helped by bounce and chia charge. I am obsessed with the coconut and macadamia bounce ball at the moment, so that was of course some of my lunch. I also enjoyed a nice bagel with peanut butter on... my fav! Once I had topped up the tank, I headed off to the stalls, where I picked up my new burgundy hoodie and a long sleeve top, which I was very excited about as I hadn't got an event hoodie before (and I am still wearing it now, and have no intention of taking it off anytime soon!). They were also seriously reasonable, and good quality for how much I payed for them (£12 for the hoodie and £7 for the top). My new More mile kit kept me nice and toasty on the cold day and also looking pretty snazzy too, especially with these new leggings they have just realised! I am currently writing a More Mile review, which will be up sometime this week! Although I can't resist telling you how soft this long sleeve top is, and I was wearing it all day but when I got home I didn't want to take it off, (although the shower was definitely calling me by this point!) At the end of the day I had a great weekend, and loved my first major event! I am keen now to continue to get some solid training in this winter and hopefully improve for my upcoming Kent League's in a few weeks and I have a few school fixtures too. I hope you have all had a nice weekend! G x
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
HelloI'm Grace, a 18 year old runner, and fitness fanatic. Join me on my crazy journey through life, squeezing in an adventure in every second of spare time I have. Archives
February 2019
Categories
All
Latest Instagram's: |