Wales 10k

I traveled down to Tenby for the Wales 10k. It was the toughest run so far, and the one I'm most proud of.

Representing team USA.

Why Tenby

I had come across Tenby in an article from The Independent last year titled '10 beautiful places you'll be surprised are in the UK'.

(My Apple news feed is pretty much split between 'X places you should travel' and 'X items you should bake' articles. You know, news.)

10 beautiful places you'll be surprised are in the UK (The Independent)

From one pretty picture, Tenby got added to my travel list.

I had originally looked to do the Tenby 10k, which is at the end of July.

This is a race that went on sale the second Friday of January. I went to book on the Sunday, and it was already sold out. Sold out. In January.

Also in July, though, was the Wales 10k, which takes place in Tenby. Not wanting to miss out the chance to run there this year, I booked a place.

The Wales 10k is part of a larger series of athletic events called Long Course Weekend.

For those who take part, the full Long Course Weekend consists of:

• swimming 2.4 miles on the Friday
• cycling 112 miles on the Saturday
• running a marathon on the Sunday

So that's a bit insane. As much as I've enjoyed adopting a more active lifestyle, I don't think I ever want to get to that level of commitment.

The journey

Of all the races I'll do this year, no journey will compare to Tenby. It's at the south-west corner of Wales and a 10-hour train journey to get there from Edinburgh.

Ticket booking joys

The fun already began when booking the tickets. Despite how far away it is, you weirdly can get cheap train tickets to Tenby from Edinburgh.

When booking for my dates, though, I couldn't buy an advanced single standard ticket for the way down. I was only offered 1st class. The return leg I could get a standard rate. It was weird.

However, I could buy split tickets at standard price from Edinburgh to Crewe and then Crewe to Tenby.

There was only an 11-minute connection at Crewe, though, and train delays are just a fact of life.

To be on the safe side, I decided to book an earlier train from Edinburgh (6:52am!) and have a 2 hour wait in Crewe. And then it would be 2 trains to get to Tenby for just after 5:30pm.

Round trip this cost £64 with a railcard. Not bad.

Forgetful packing

I left my house just after 6am. This got me to Waverley with plenty of time to spare, and enough time to realize I didn't pack sunscreen. 

So there I was at half 6 in the morning in the station Boots buying overpriced travel-sized sunscreen. It's amazing how the forecast went from sunny to cloudy shortly after this.

Careful crossings in Crewe

I made it to Crewe, where my 2-hour wait began. I took the opportunity to stretch my legs and walk around the town.

Crewe, I learned, is where pedestrians go to die. Leaving the station, there were logical points to cross the road that didn't have a pedestrian cross walk. 

I didn't die in the end, but I have never been so nervous crossing a road.

Train track crossing in Carmarthen

Just before I hopped on to the 2nd train, I saw the 8:52am train from Edinburgh pull into Crewe. So I would have actually made the connection, but only just. 

My 2nd stop was at Carmarthen in Wales where I got weirded out by the fact that I had to actually cross the train tracks to get to the other platform. But it turned out to be an end-of-line station.

A non-perilous crossing in Carmarthen.

All was going smoothly until the 3rd and final train. It stopped soon after starting due to a signaling problem. This delayed my arrival to Tenby by 26 minutes. 4 more minutes and I would have been eligible for compensation. Damn. 

So the final time from leaving my house to arriving in Tenby ended up being 12 hours. It sure felt like it, too.

An unexpected sea view

Stepping off the train, I soon learned that Tenby is a hilly town. Like Edinburgh hilly. 

It's the elevation, though, that makes this a stunning location. This became apparent when I checked into my B&B, and I could see the water from my room. 

Water from my window!

Also, I had a 4-poster bed, which was pretty nifty. 

The fanciest bed for a frugal runner.

To confirm, this place was much more expensive than any of my other race accommodations. Long Course Weekend is a big event for this town, so even booking in January, this place was the cheapest I could find at £60 per night.

Watching the Wales Swim

The first official event of Long Course Weekend, the Wales Swim, took place at 7pm on the Friday, so I had arrived just in time to see the action kick off.

While I had a water view from my room, I hadn't actually seen any of the beaches yet. On my walk over, I kept wondering when my views of pretty-colored buildings would turn into a beach.

Tenby: town of pretty-colored buildings.

The moment that happened I wasn't expecting it, which made the scene even more spectacular. It was like the coastline just appeared out of nowhere.

Oh hi, beach, didn't see you there.

The view of North Beach and the harbor was absolutely jaw-dropping. The scene around it made electric.

Getting ready for the swim to start.

There were hoards of people there to watch the swim. There was music blasting. All the swimmers were geared up and ready to enter the water.

I kept thinking this is the closest I'll get to attending an event that feels like the Olympics. 

At 7pm, the swimmers rushed into the water, and then fireworks and color streams started shooting off. This event was legit.

Shooting off fireworks and color streams for the swim start.

While they were in the water, I went up into town to get some food and check out the neighboring Castle Beach before heading back by the swim area.

Castle Beach with St Catherine's Island in the background.

This sunny stroll resulted in me taking many selfies because it was gorgeous out, and I was wearing short and flip flops. Lauren at her most content.

I got to experience summer!

An American athlete

On Saturday morning, my first stop was to pick up my race number. The walk there took me along streets that didn't have sidewalks. This trip was now gaining a rep for bad pedestrian situations.

Two things excited me about picking up my race number. One, I was given a Long Course Weekend wristband, which made me feel part of a cool club. You could see other athletes in town wearing theirs.

Only ran a 10k, but part of the Long Course Weekend club.

Two, my race number had the American flag on it. I was visibly representing USA, on 4th of July weekend no less.

USA! USA! USA!

The long walk to find South Beach

Race number in hand, I wanted to check out Tenby's South Beach. On the way there, I saw some cyclists competing in the Wales Sportive, Saturday's event.

Cyclists in the middle of their 112-mile route.

I was following Google Maps to find the beach, when I saw a sign in town pointing to South Beach. At that point, I put my phone away and decided to follow the signs.

But then the only signs I ended up seeing only had a symbol of a walking person with no written indication of where you'd go if you'd follow a certain path.

This walk kept dragging on with no beach, so I ended up asking a woman I passed for directions. My new route took me into the neighboring village of Penally where for the 2nd time this trip I got to cross train tracks.

Crossing the tracks at Penally.

These tracks were actually in use, though. There are trains going in both directions to Penally, but it only has one platform.

One lonely train platform.

Getting my feet wet

About a quarter mile from the train station, I finally made it to South Beach. It was expansive and practically people-less.

South Beach practically to myself.

I wanted to spend my Saturday suntanning, but it was really cloudy out. However, I didn't want this to deter me from dipping my toes in, so I went to test out the water.

It was actually quite tolerable. I went in up to my knees and stayed in for 5 minutes.

Proof I went in the water.

I was surprised at the number of massive jellyfish I saw washed ashore. I later learned that the jellyfish are not actually dead and will go back into the water once the tide comes back in.

Mega-sized jellyfish.

I eventually made it back to Tenby, but boy did that walk take a long time in the sand. 

Every bit of sand you see, I walked it.

Boat trip

While my past few trips had focused on spending money on food, I decided to spend money in Tenby actually doing things.

Being in a coastal town, I wouldn't miss the opportunity to go on a boat. I love boats. It's been brought up in this blog before.

Cloudy Tenby from the boat.

On this boat trip, I learned just how many jellyfish there are. The answer: a lot. They were floating around everywhere, and I really can't stress enough just how massive they were.

A terrible picture, but literally saw a jellyfish in the water every 2 seconds.

The boat took us around St Margaret's and Caldey islands, just off the shore. On the latter, I got to see some seals hanging out.

Seals just hanging around and moaning.

A fort turned zoo

Immediately after returning, I decided to check out the fort on St Catherine's island, which is only accessible during low tide times.

Stairs leading down from the fort.

It was built in 1870 to defend from the French, but the French never came.

For most of the 1970s, it was a zoo. That's correct, a zoo that's only accessible during low tides. This may have contributed to its ultimate closure.

It's been incredibly run-down ever since, but this contributed to its charm. It's only within the last 5 years or so that locals have revived it and made it into a visitor attraction.

An old TV covered in dust at the fort.

Dinner on the beach

Having constantly nourished myself during the day, I didn't feel like going out for dinner, but I did want something.

I went into Tesco to grab a sandwich. For nostalgic reasons, I picked up the cheese triple; it was a favorite during my 1st year of uni.

And because I didn't get the chance to suntan during the day, I decided to sit in the sand and eat my sandwich on North Beach, which had significantly fewer people on it compared with the previous night.

Just me, the water, the sand and a cheese triple. It was actually really nice.

Dinner of champion runners.

On the way back to my B&B, I decided to walk along North Beach to intentionally walk up a very tall stair case.

Don't think this picture conveys how tall this staircase was.

Along the way, I came across more jellyfish washed ashore.

All those little plops are jellyfish.

Climbing the staircase, I realized I was getting to the vantage point of the picture I had seen a year ago in the Independent article. I didn't see any palm trees, though.

The angle that made me want to visit Tenby.

The run

Pretty much all of Sunday was taken up by the run. The start time wasn't until 1:30pm, but runners got a bus to the start line at 11am.

This was the first linear race I'd done where the start line was pretty much 10k away from the finish.

Chatty bus ride

The long gap between the bus ride and starting contributed to this being the most sociable run I've done. When you have 2.5 hours to fill, you might as well talk to strangers.

On the bus, I was next to a woman who had done the 10k before and was filling me in on how hilly the course was.

I didn't realize that when I booked the run because, ultimately, my motivation was to visit Tenby. But it became clear to me that I would not be aiming for a PB here. I just wanted to get through those hills.

I also had an amusing chat with a Welsh woman who lives in the west of Scotland and is new to the world of running. This race was her 2nd 10k, and like me, I don't think she realized how hilly it was going to be.

Checking out Manorbier

The bus took us to Manorbier Castle, which we sadly couldn't explore, but was our holding area for 2 hours.

Let me in, Castle!

However, the Castle was right near the coast, so I walked down to the beach.

Didn't mind waiting 2 hours around here.

There I saw people walking along the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, a 186-mile national trail.

Some people are scared of heights. I am the opposite of these people. When I see a cliff-side to walk along, I gladly go toward it.

So before running a hilly 10k, I thought, why not walk up the coastal path for a bit. I'm so glad I did.

This had to be my favorite moment of the trip. The views were incredible. 

The view from the highest point I climbed to.

No one was around me. I had this moment to myself. I went into selfie-overload.

Lauren happy with heights.

Coming back down with time still remaining before the start, I joined other 10k runners to watch the marathon and half marathon competitors run through Manorbier. They looked tired.

Setting myself a pacer

At the starting line, I was next to a guy who had done the full Long Course Weekend before and had done the full swimming and biking events this time, but was only doing the 10k due to an injury.

When we started the race, I kept using him as my pacer. If I could run as fast as a guy who'd done 6 marathons but was injured, I'd be doing okay.

And then the hills came. From the moment they started, a lot (I mean, a lot) of people started walking. Granted, there were half and full marathon runners in the mix who were exhausted by this point. 

However, I was determined to run those hills, and run them I did. My playlist was definitely helping, playing the right songs at the right times.

Along the way, I sped past the 6-marathon man, and as awful as it is to say, it felt good to do so. 

I know he was injured, and I hope he was okay, but little me was absolutely crushing this race.

Making myself proud

It wasn't just the hills I was conquering. It was the weather, too. Despite a cloudy forecast, the sun made more of an appearance than was tolerable, and it was humid.

I wasn't running my fastest by any means. But I was running well for how tough the course and conditions were. I progressively felt better as the run went on.

Along the way there were even more spectacular coastal views.

At mile 4, the course had a welcoming downhill stretch before heading into Tenby town center.

I also learned my lesson in Weybridge. At the water breaks, I took a few sips and poured the rest over me.

I finished the race at 59:12. That was 5 seconds faster than the entirely flat Liverpool race.

Post-finish line jubilation.

However, my app said the distance was 6.15 miles, so like Weybridge, I don't think this was actually 10k, but in the other direction.

Still, this is the race I'm proudest of, and it had the best atmosphere. The crowds were absolutely amazing, cheering runners on all through the route and giving ample high fives.

The finish was along a red carpet, and I felt like a rockstar running down it.

To cap it all off, when about to cross the finish line, the announcer called out my name as 'Lauren from the USA'.

Now I understand how athletes that compete in international competitions feel. Your name said next to your country is a truly special feeling. Even more so when you no longer live in that country.

Post-race happenings

As an American woman who crushed it on Sunday, I decided to watch other American women crush it, too.

I didn't watch any other matches in the Women's World Cup, but the finals seemed like the right time to watch the American team kick some Dutch butt.

I headed into town afterward for my first sit-down dinner. I was next to some Long Course athletes, who I started chatting to about the events. I don't know how these people were still mobile.

I kept dinner on the light side as I had a real goal in mind: ice cream. 

I even went for 2 scoops: part banana ripple and part Caramac. I had never hear of the latter, but I've now learned it's a candy bar that I would like to try.

Trying out Caramac ice cream.

I ended the night taking a leisurely stroll on Castle Beach and over to North Beach, soaking in my final hours in Tenby before the long journey home.

Lauren loves Tenby. 

Next race

Two Tunnels Railway Race 10k

I'm trading in a train for a plane next month. I'm flying to Bristol and then running in Bath.