Skip to main content

Thorpe Park Half Marathon Race Recap

Today was the second Thorpe Park Half Marathon and my second time running it. Last year's course, which was promoted as flat and fast, wasn't. So this year we ran a new course, which, while not as scenic, was significantly flatter.

Last year's race was also the first time that I met my Instagram friend Rachel and we've been good buddies ever since. We catch up for a run whenever we can including at today's race to celebrate our runversary, marking the fourth race we've run together.

The shorts and grey weather of last year were replaced by sun and sub-freezing temps today.

Cold temps meant leggings, two layers, a buff, a hat and two layers of gloves

The race village at RunThrough events always has inspiring since that apply to running and to life. The race organizers are fantastic. I saw Matt, who started RunThrough, and introduced myself and then found Lucy, who works for Matt and is an Instagram friend as well. I love how running brings people together.

 

With three weeks to go in my prep for the Limassol Marathon, training called for 16 miles at moderate pace, so Rachel and I set out for a steady 8:00/mile and finished in 1:44:23, just about bang on our pace. Well done to us!


After grabbing our medals, race shirts and goodie bags, we said our goodbyes and I finished my run by trekking the 3 miles to the train station to get home. Unfortunately the trains were cancelled so I called Beth and she offered to come get me. Thank you honey!!

Annoyed that I stopped my watch 1/2 mile early by accident

This race wasn't all roses though. I don't think I warmed up well enough, in fact, I know I didn't and I paid for it. About 4 miles into the race my right hamstring started to tighten up, not like an injury, just tightness like I didn't warm up enough. Then at about mile 8, it really grabbed. I continued on to test it out and it didn't get worse, so we kept going to the finish. In fact, it didn't start to really hurt until I stopped.

I've been icing and massaging it to speed up the rehab process. I have an easy 5 miles on the plan for tomorrow; if my hammy feels better in the morning, I'll go ahead and do my run...very slowly. If not, I'll take a couple days off to ensure I don't ruin all this training I've put in. Wish me luck!




Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

No more trips to Vietnam

Well, last week was a big week for me. I decided to leave FCG and return to work for Coca-Cola Enterprises. I had been talking with the people I know at CCE since late last year about working with them and they finally had a position open up a couple of weeks ago. I'm excited to go back there and work on the business side of the company versus the IT side. I start on Apri l16. I will be working in the Revenue Management Department as the Forecasting & Planning Manager. Essentially I will be the business process owner, facilitator, and coordinator of all forecasting and planning activities within the company. That involves working with all of the regional and corporate business units to ensure that the tools and related processes are thoroughly integrated across finance, revenue management, supply chain, logistics and sales. I will also be responsible for managing all of the support tools and solutions, so I still get to be a Project Manager. This is a big job with lo
6 comments
Read more

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

I don't know anyone that loves to bake cookies more than me. Better yet, I get to eat as many as I want. So I decided to create a video of how I make them. It's basically this recipe . To make them vegan:  Use 1/4 cup of applesauce (from Whole Foods in the UK) for each egg Use margarine instead of butter Use dark chocolate chips (you can get a 2KG bag of chocolate chips at Costco).  Ignore the nuts. Who likes nuts in cookies anyway? Blasphemy! The biggest cautious is to NOT melt the margarine/butter. This makes the cookies too oily and they turn out flat. I've made this mistake too many time. Instead, let the margarine/butter come to room temperature. Enjoy!
Post a Comment
Read more

Saigon Walking Tour

I was going to put the picture of me with the two Thai twins here, but I thought that'd probably not be the best idea. David, Jeff, Scott & I went on a walking tour of Saigon Saturday. Our goal was to hit as many of the historical places as possible. This will probably come as no shock to most of you, but I was the tour organizer. The pictures from our tour can be see here . - Hotel Continental: Built in the French colonial days, this was a common meeting place for journals and diplomats during the Vietnam War. - Nha Hat Thanh Pho (Municipal Theatre): Built in 1899 as Saigon's Opera House, it later served as the National Assembly (Congress) of South Vietnam until 1975 when it became a theatre again. - Nha Tho Duc Ba (Notre Dame Cathedral): Built in 1880 by the French on the site of an old fort, this is still an active Catholic church. - The Virgin Mary: This is the statue of that was reportedly seen crying. - Buu Dien Trung Tam (Central Post Office): Built by the F
4 comments
Read more