Race Report - The National Lottery Anniversary Run

Hello! It has been a busy couple of weeks in the life of trainandscoff, unfortunately, not quite as much training as I’d have liked. My metatarsalgia flared up last week, so I ended up taking a few days off. This was after the best training/squad run of my life. I was chomping at the bit to get going, but knew that rest was key. In it for the long haul.

Had a great weekend at the British Championships – if you ever need a bit of motivation, go to an event like that. My Word.

Wanted to go up and say hello to Scott Overall, but I had a burger in one hand and a pint in the other (it was my birthday). Basically was within 6feet of most of my running heroes all weekend. Paula, Crammy, Dai Greene, PSD, Andrew Lemoncello, Harry A-A,Aly Dixon and her stunning solo(!) track 10K - the list goes on. Amazing.

The past weekend we were away again, down to the big smoke for the National Lottery Anniversary Run (TNLAR). The prospect of finishing on the track in the Olympic Stadium was one I could not pass up. As we arrived into the park, I could feel the goosebumps start to form. It was doubly special for me as it was the first time my mum has seen me race.  We entered the stadium and I got a little moist in my eyes. We were back, and it was real. The magic of Super Saturday was welling up inside me. I couldn’t stop smiling. 

 

Me and Mum at the Stadium

It was soon time to line up at the start. I was in the first Red Wave, there were a lot of club runners around me, a lot of people were wearing the official blue race t-shirt, but I couldn’t not race in my black and white PLS Vest – wouldn’t feel right.

Sir Chris Hoy started us off and it was very packed at the beginning. A couple of hundred metres after the start, the course narrowed to about 10ft across. Imagine 12500 runners trying to get through a gap that big. I know the organisers had stressed it wasn’t really a PB race, but they could have made specific warning about that. There were a lot of disgruntled club runners around me and a bit too many XC-elbows of people trying to barge past into spaces that didn’t really exist. The course continued to be narrow for most of the first mile.Que a lot of argy—bargy and I was tripped up at one point. Also, there as a deaf-blind guy running with a guide runner. People were pushing him out of the way. At that point I said “Come on guys, It’s really not that important”. I thought it was a stupid and dangerous thing to do.

At mile two the course opened out and we could get some speed going. I mentally took myself back to basis, a strategy that worked for me in Bath. I did a classic Nick Anderson, I knew I should be running around threshold, and found people to pick off one by one. This really worked and I was overtaking other runners at a steady pace. The miles seemed to fly by doing this and soon we were coming up to the 4 mile marker. Last push. At this point I was feeling the effort (not helped by the stress of the first mile). “I could go gentle and blitz the track” I thought to myself. “NO YOU BLOODY WILL NOT. YOU DO NOT SETTLE FOR SECOND BEST ANYMORE”. I’ve not managed to do that to myself mid-race before.  I think it was because I’d been calm and working well up to that point. We hit a bit of a slope and turn to head back into the stadium. Looking back at the Garmin data afterwards, I seemed to lose a minute of time in the last mile and I can’t work out why.  But never mind.

The roar as we entered the stadium was brilliant, and the track felt very bouncy. As I was running up the back straight, a runner flashed by in the opposite direction. One of the leaders warming down? I thought to myself. Turns out it was Paula Radcliffe high-fiving runners. I blanked Paula Radcliffe – I am SO ashamed.  I couldn’t help myself waving to the crowd as I went round the track, it was infectious. A final quick sprint down the finishing straight brought me home at the end of a great race.

Do I really run like that *shudder*

Overall, it was a good event, although personally for me it was more like a mile warm up and a four mile race.  These mass-participation runs can be a strange beast for a club runner, sometimes you just have to shrug your shoulders and say “today is about enjoyment more than times”. A few more of the club runners should have thought about that, but I think they/we all had the mental image of zooming from the Olympic Park and Stadium track to a new PB. There were some lovely and unforgettable moments to treasure. There will be other days for PBs.

On Sunday, when I had the chance I ran well, possibly the best I’ve raced. That’s what counts.

Next stop, this weekend. Thunder Run.

The Penny Lane Project is coming….