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Sunday 24th June 2018 @10:30am (Temp: 25oC feel like 35oC)
It was so hot and humid even the Superman had to slow down……The “Superman” (aka John Wallace) is a triple Marathon Centurion as he now has done 309 Marathon races including one of the most difficult one in the world taking place on the Himalayas with several thousand metres above the sea level. When I overtook him at about 3k, he told me that his costume (including the gloves) were a bit too warm for such sultry weather. I advised him to “fly” but he said flying would break the race rules and he would be disqualified!
We missed this event last year due to the clash with the Dragon Boat Race. This year, and thanks to the World Cup, the Dragon Boat Race was moved forward for 3 weeks. Therefore, we could run this event. However, John signed up a 100-mile Bike Event called Ride to the Sun from Carlisle to Edinburgh. So I invited my sister Fidelia from Toronto to join me as she happens to be in London. She said there was a very long and harsh winter Ontario and the snow only thawed in May and she has not climatized herself to run in such a warm weather.
There are 5 hills around this single looped course with the highest summit reaching 456 feet so on average there is a hill every 2 kilometres. As far as I can remember, this was probably the hottest day since I took part in this event since 2004. Plus there was not a breath of wind therefore the weather condition had stopped me cooling down. It was a tough run. I even lost my sister Fidelia and I couldn’t even remember where I lost her. I was holding my water bottle from the start as I remember in the past the water stations were only at 3k, 5k, 8k. The organiser Trent Park Running Club added more water stations this year on 2k, 4k, 5k, 6k, 8k. This gesture is highly commended. I took water from all the water stations. I finished in 1:03’47”. I was disappointed as this was my PW in this event. Those were the day when I finished under 55 minutes (I think it was 2007).
After crossing the finish line, I was offered fresh watermelon and handed a high quality quick dry Finisher’s T-shirt and a goody bag which contained so many goodies inside including a bottle of water, crisps, fruits & nuts bar, chickpea snacks, coffee, vitamin supplements, toothpaste, a notepad and assorted discount vouchers to sports shops, theatres, massage parlour, gym membership and yoga classes. All finishers were even offered a surprised “Spot Prize”. I was so lucky to have drawn a really beautiful shoes bag. These are all such a good consolation to off-set my sorrow on my poor time.
John and I are doing the Regents Park 10k Summer Series next Sunday. We were compensated for a free place in the Summer Series due to the cancellation of the March event in the Winter Series due to snowing. If the weather is as not as today, I’d probably do a rubbish time again.
