After 2 months break from running events during the summer, I took part in the Annual Enfield Mayor’s Charity 10K on Sunday 16th September. John didn’t join me because he did the Police Thin Blue Line 20 miler Charity Walk the day before.
John’s event is to raise money for the families of the dead and injured police officers. It is a great cause to show support for the police and to remember those who paid the ultimate price. My event is to raise money for the Mayor of Enfield’s Charity Appeal Fund whereas the fund has already benefitted to many charity organisations in the borough, to name a few: Enfield Voluntary Action; MIND Enfield; The Children’s Society; Platinum Dance School for Performing Arts; Age UK; One to One Enfield’ Face Front Inclusive Theatre; Enfield Clubhouse; Edmonton Eagles Amateur Boxing Club; Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice, Oasis Community Hub – Hadley, Macmillan Cancer Support, The Reading Agency and Book Trust.
So, we both felt very charitable over the weekend !
This 10K is one of the toughest I have ever done. Although it is not as tough and hilly as the Enfield Trent Park Triffic Trail 10k, it is predominantly trail running with a lot of tight twists and turns (see above route map). After the lethargic summer, I was just planning to take it nice and easy plus it was still quite a warm day with 21oC. Due to the demand at work, I had to go back full-time from August onward as opposed to working part-time 4 days a week. Although I’ve got 20% pay rise by working full-time, it also means I don’t have my extra day off to do more training. I told myself I’d just run as much as I could and if I got really tired, I’d do the walk/run interval. I managed to keep running all the way even the 300 yards uphill towards the finish line. I finished in 59’05”. Surprisingly, it was not my PW (personal worst). I remember there was a year I finished over an hour.
The organisation of this event is first class with so many volunteers including the Enfield Volunteer Police Cadets and the Enfield District Scout Group. Water stations were placed every 2 kms. These kids are really young. They were deployed to the water stations to dish out water to runners. They melted my heart when I saw these little kids raking up discarded cups on the road side with so much oomph and effort so that runner would not tread on them and slip. My heartfelt thanks to the volunteers both the adults and the kids.
We plan to go to Hong Kong next year but I think in order not to miss this event, we should come back before 15th September 2019.
