Sunday, 13th October 2019
@10:30am
On Sunday 13th October, John and I took part in the annual Lee Valley Run the River 10K (formerly known as Jill Oliver 10K) organised by Edmonton Running Club. We missed this race last year as it was already full when we tried to register. This year, we booked this race early enough to get a place. We also both missed the Regents Park 10k the week before as John was in Barcelona doing the hiking event (I couldn’t join him as I have used up all my leave for the Hong Kong trip). It was pouring with rain on that morning plus I didn’t book and pay in advance so I just skipped it and did my own training run instead.
It was also a very wet morning. On the previous day Edmonton Running Club posted some photos on their Facebook group showing the towpath covered with puddles and they advised runners to wear more sturdy trainers as the surface would be slippery and wet. When we arrived at the Lee Valley Athletics Centre, there was a “Fitness Marathon” taking place inside the indoor running track. There were at least 5 to 600 mainly ladies following the instructor on the stage dancing and stretching. I found out it was a 5 hour event from 9am to 2pm with different impacts of aerobic dance intertwined with yoga and palates. The atmosphere inside the indoor track was great and the music was really upbeat. I was tapping my feet to the dance beats. It was such a big contrast from the gloomy weather outside. Shortly before the start time of 10:30, we huddled at the carpark right outside the athletics centre. What a surprise to bump into our Comets fellow runner Hameera Darr. Before we knew it the race horn was set off and the runners were charging off at what I would describe as: “It’s so wet and windy, let’s get this done” pace.
The first K was relatively flat and nice on the pavement until we turned to the towpath which was a totally different scene. From then on, it was just head wind and puddles. Just before the 2k mark, I saw a familiar face standing on the side-line with his push bike watching the race. I saw him quite a lot recently on telly but he is not a TV star. He is retired Borough Commander Chief Supt Dal Babu. He recently was in a lot of TV interviews concerning the big surge of juvenile fatalities from gun, knife and violent crimes. I couldn’t help but giving him a loud shout: “Hi, Dal Babu”. I was hoping he still remembered me but I didn’t think he did because he looked at me with a bit f a shock. I met him through John. John later told me that he actually stopped briefly and chatted to Dal Babu.
I never like my feet to get wet so I tried all attempts to avoid the puddles which also meant I didn’t run straight line. As a result, my Garmin GPS watch showed I had covered 6.4 miles instead of 6.2 miles equilivent to 10k but at least I managed to keep my feet not too wet. I just can’t bear the thought of treading my feet to the puddles and splashing water all over my body. I crossed the finish line in 1:00’33” (in 6.4 miles). I suspect had I not avoided the puddles and mud, I could have got sub hour. My times was more than 4 minutes faster than the Enfield Mayor’s 10K 2 weeks before so I was happy to gradually inch back to my fitness after the very indulging 16 days in Hong Kong and China last month. John finished in 1:10’44” and Hameera finished in 1:20’22” For all results, please visit:
When we headed back to the athletic centre, the music was still blasting from the “Fitness Marathon”. After the run, my body was too shattered to make any dance move!!