Weybridge 10k

I had strong start in Weybridge, but heat, fatigue and a stitch slowed me down in the end.

I even walked up to someone to ask for a picture this time.

Why Weybridge

I have a conference in London this week. Work was already paying for my travel down south, so I figured I'd take advantage of this money-saving opportunity and do my June 10k in the area.

I didn't want to run in London, though, as I wanted to go to somewhere I've never been. So when searching on the Find a Race website, I narrowed my results to races happening near London on June 23rd.

Weybridge was pretty much my only option, but it seemed like a good one. Much of the run was right along the River Thames, so some nice scenery to take in. I also liked the opportunity to do a run in a town I probably would never have visited otherwise. 

The journey

It was (thankfully) an uneventful train ride, but after arriving in London, I had to use the Tube for the first time in 9 years and while on my own.

The idea of navigating the underground made me quite nervous, but it ended up being okay. Google Maps gives very thorough directions.

Market-ing

I practically did no research before my trip. June has been a crazy busy and tiring month, so time to do planning has been non-existent. 

A few days before I left, I googled 'things to do in Bankside' (where I was staying) and from skimming through one article, I came across Borough Market, and nothing my influences my itinerary more than food.

This was a good shout, though. The Market felt like its own separate world. One second I was walking along a quiet street, the next there were hoards of people queuing all over in the name of good food.

People, people everywhere!

And good it was. I decided this was the place to get my pre-race dinner. I passed a stall of the most beautiful- and crazy-looking mushrooms and was sad I wasn't staying in a place where I could cook them.

I didn't even know mushrooms that looked like this existed.

Then I turned my head the other direction and discovered they were cooking up these funky mushrooms, so I got myself a mushroom spelt risotto.

The salt was strategically placed in this risotto, making it all the more delicious.

Obviously, I needed to get something sweet as well, and this ended up being a cinnamon bun from Bread Ahead bakery. This normally wouldn't be my go-to dessert, but when I saw the buns sitting in a pool of sticky cinnamon goo I felt compelled to eat them.

Look at that cinnamon goo!

So good.

Thames walking before Thames running

Maybe if I had done more research, I would have had a better plan after the market. But it was nice out and I didn't feel like spending any more money, so I took the opportunity to have a nice stroll along the Thames.

That's the expression you make when you don't want to take a selfie but feel you have to for your blog.

I decided to walk until I saw places I recognized from visiting London a year ago and then turn around. This ended up being at the Golden Jubilee Bridge where I got to see Big Ben in all of its scaffolding wonder.

Ooo, scaffolding.

The race

An early start

Weybridge had the earliest start time of my races so far this year: 9am. As I wasn't actually staying in Weybridge, though, this meant:

• waking up at 6am,
• leaving at 6:40am,
• catching a 7:11am train,
• arriving at 7:47am,
• and then walking for half an hour to get to the start area (which just so happens was not in Weybridge but the neighboring town of Walton-on-Thames).

Remember when I said June was a tiring month? Getting up at 6am after (somehow) struggling to fall asleep was not a good feeling. 

What was enjoyable was seeing all the runners who came by train blindly following whoever was in front of them to get to the start line.

The people I was following made a turn I didn't think they should make, so I turned around to see what the people behind me were doing.

We all conferred that that was in fact the wrong way to go and decided to walk together the rest of the way. We had a jolly chat about Brexit and my bitterness with the UK immigration system. 

Boats! Swans! Rowers!

A bumping vibe

After 30,000+ runners in Manchester, it was a much different scene at this 1,200-person race. Similar to Carlisle, the small number of runners gave the race a good community feel to it.

There was a DJ blasting Kesha, which was most appreciated. There was a group warm-up that was silly and fun. Despite my fatigue, the vibe left me in good spirits and ready to run. 

Ready to start the race.

A fast start

They did the run in 2 waves, but where you were during the warm-up basically determined what wave you were in.

Always keen to be near the front, this meant I was in the first wave. As such, I wasn't battling to get past slower people at the start - the fast people were trying to get past me.

Being with the faster group influenced my pace, though. My first mile was in 8:33, which is over half a minute faster than any of my first miles from my races this year. 

I ended up getting my 3rd fastest 5k time at 27:49. 

A slow finish

This promising start ended up costing me in the end, though. Halfway through, my tiredness caught up with me. The heat (68F) and mugginess were taking its toll. At 7km, I got a stitch that lasted for almost a full kilometer.

The smartest thing I did all race was at the second water station I took two sips of water and then poured the rest over my head. Boy, that felt good and helped keep me going. But I wasn't looking to run any faster. I just wanted to finish not in pain.

My official time was 59:07, so my 4th best time of the year. However, my running app says I ran 6.33 miles. 10k is 6.21 miles. My app also says my 10k time was 58:09, which would have been my 3rd best time of the year after Manchester.

Despite the sign that says start, sweaty hair should indicate that this was at the finish.

I'll accept my official time, but the point being I think this course was longer than 10k. Either that, or I was running wildly off course. But I don't think I did that. 

Where's the swag?

A final note: despite the slow finish, I really did enjoy the race. It was a nice course and a good scene.

However, it was practically swagless. I don't need a fancy goody bag at every race, but I thought £25 was a lot for a race where I only got a medal, a banana and a milk drink. I practically got the same in Carlisle and paid £10 less. I suppose these are south-eastern prices, eh?

They did offer free downloads of their photos, though, which was nice, and I came across my best race photo yet.

OMG, I make running look cool.

Taking a rest

After getting back to London and taking a much-needed shower, I did something I didn't think I would be capable of doing: I lay down for a bit.

With these trips, I always feel I have to go out and do stuff. But I'm in London for a conference and I want to be awake for that, so when my body told me to take it easy, I listened. 

Taking some food

Afterward, I didn't have to venture very far for my lunch destination: GAIL's. GAIL's is a bakery chain I first experienced in Oxford last year, and I was very much looking forward to the opportunity to go to it again.

How lucky that my accommodation was practically next store to one, so I went and got me a swiss chard and gruyere pastry and pecan cinnamon crumb cake.

My girl, GAIL, doing what she does best.

Taking in some art

My accommodation was also right across the street from the Tate Modern. I'm not one who readily goes to an art museum, but it was right there and it was free.

I did come across one piece that struck my interest: 'Babel 2001' by Clido Meireles. It was a tower of analogue radios from the 1920s to more modern versions.

Towering radios.

It was absolutely massive, and I was impressed at how someone can find that many antique radios. They were all playing at once, so there was a constant buzzing in the room.

As the title suggests, it was all a reference to the Tower of Babel. I thought this was a good analogy. 

A long walk in flip-flops

After another rest, I decided that I just had to go on a walk. I wasn't going to make it that long, but as I was getting hungry (again) and didn't want to spend a lot of money, I decided to walk to Shoreditch to get a bagel.

I took a route that made me go past Tower Bridge as I had never seen it before. Actually, I probably saw it 20 years ago, but I have no recollection of this.

The joys of getting across a bridge that's also a tourist attraction.

Along the way, I stopped at a gelato place outside Borough Market that had the longest queue ever the day before. Thinking this was a sign of something good, I went and spent £3.90 on what turned out to be mediocre gelato. The worst part was you don't even get to see the all the gelato; they just list the flavors.

Half the fun of gelato/ice cream is actually getting to look at it in order to decide what you want. Tsk tsk.

I journeyed north and made my way up Brick Lane to Beigel Bake, a Jewish bakery that's been around since the 70s. This place is open 24 hours a day, every day. It was busy. It was loud. 

But it was also cheap and good. It was £1.40 for a bagel with cream cheese. The sad part, though, is you can only get plain bagels and they don't cut it fresh for you. They have already pre-filled bagels they hand you. With how busy this place is all day, though, it's understandable. 

So basically the theme of London has been walking to places for food, which if I have to spend money in this city, that's what I will gladly spend it on.

On the way back, I walked past St Paul's Cathedral which is pretty impressive from the outside, though looks more like a government building than a church.

This photo does not convey just how massive this cathedral is.

The main downside of this walk was that I did it in flip-flops and now have some blisters because of it. Oh, and I ended the day with 41,166 steps. Shame the work step challenge is over.

Making my way to Greenwich

Normally, my blog post would end here, but I'm still in London so let's talk about all the cool things I got to do before conferencing started.

As the conference is at the University of Greenwich, I had to make my way over there. This involved my first experience on the DLR, which is a rail system in East London with driverless trains.

It felt very much like an amusement park ride. I even got to sit at the front while we went under a tunnel. Oh, joy.

Driving the train through the tunnel.

Checking out my running route

As part of the conference, I've organised a morning run in a place I've never been to before. As such, I felt it prudent to walk along the route I set up to see what it was like and make sure I knew where I was going.

The route goes to the peak of Greenwich Park which overlooks the city. 

Can't wait to run uphill.

It also goes past the Millennium Sundial, which is right on the Prime Meridian line.

Millennium is a terrible word to spell.

I took a slight detour to see another Prime Meridian marker the goes across a road.

A very subtle Meridian marking.

I then of course stood on either side of the line to experience what being in two hemispheres feels like.

Standing in two hemispheres.

The route then goes alongside the Thames and the University campus, which is absolutely stunning.

That's one majestic uni campus. 

Foot tunnel fun

After a quick lunch, I made one last detour to walk across the Thames via the Greenwich Foot Tunnel.

It looks like an underground war bunker. It smells musty. It's cold. It has great acoustics. 

Resisting the urge to start singing in the tunnel.

The view of the University from the other side was absolutely stunning.

It was less humid on the other side of the river.

Now, the conferencing fun begins. 

Next run

Wales 10k

It's back to Wales for me. This time to Tenby, all the way down in the south-west coast. Who's looking forward to a 10-hour train journey? This gal!