Sunday 23rd June 2019 @10:30am
On Sunday 23rd June, John and I did the Enfield Trent Park Triffic Trail 10K. This is a horrid course with 5 hills. It was vile. There is no other way to describe it. Between 2 and 3k, the hill splits into 2 parts. I thought I was reaching the top, the slope gets less sharply for about a couple of yards then it comes another uphill. I struggled on the hills but I got up them eventually but slowly though. Before each hill I felt as though I couldn’t do another. My head said to my legs: “keep pushing”. My legs didn’t hear it.
The weather was sunny (too sunny). I carried my own bottle of water from the start and finished it all by 2k when the first water station appeared. It was indeed a very welcoming sign. I originally thought the next water station would be at 5k but then I saw another water station at 4k. I was so pleased. There were 3 more water stations at 5k, 7k and 9k. The organiser Trent Park Running Club did a fantastic job to put extra water stations to help runners cope with the heat. Although the majority of the route is inside the park with shade, between 4 and 5k, there is a section where we were running on an open space on grass with no shade at all. I just slowed right down and my GPS watch was beeping alerting me that I was running 13 minutes a mile pace!! At this point, I decided to totally ignore my watch. My goal was just to cross the finish line whatever time it would take me. I just kept plodding along. I finally heard the music then I saw the finish line. Time had become irrelevant; I pressed my watch after crossing the finish line in 1:02’53”. John finished in 1:14’43”. He was struggling too and had to walk from 9k onward. For full results, please visit:
http://racetecresults.com/results.aspx?CId=16586&RId=394&EId=1
Out of a total of 570 runners, I finished in 406th position. In hindsight I was not unhappy with my effort as there were still 164 men and women behind me. I need to train more hill work as I’m sure the hills are the limiting factor that showing me down. I’ve been training either on the treadmill or from my office to Canary Wharf and back. I have not been doing much hill work and that’s why my legs are not strong enough to conquer the hills!!
