My Journey to 100 miles!

Not going to lie, I was very nervous for this one! This may just be the most nervous I’ve been for a race yet, which seems crazy, but, there was a reason for the nerves! I actually had a time I aiming for. I had planned to go for not only a PB but for a sub 2hr and I told everyone of my goal!

Rewind back to the end of last year and people within the club are starting to talk about which races they’re doing and of course with it being local, the Brighton Half Marathon pops up. I actually hadn’t even thought about it as have done it 2 years in a row (it was my half back in 2022!) so had no real desire to do it again. However as mentioned I do get bad FOMO so when it seemed like a lot of people were doing it, I signed up and soon after Andy offered to run with me and said we’ll aim for sub 2. I just nodded as it was months away so didn’t really think about it! Until the last few weeks where I’ve been trying to hit ‘race pace’ at the end of long runs and interval sessions, all of which have felt quite hard and nearly all have ended up with me being grumpy and even once shouting at Andy. Poor guy. So I was hardly confident!

Race weekend came around and I felt myself starting to stress. It was arranged we were running as a group, which again I had no idea if I was going to like or not. The group is also part of a WhatsApp chat so there was the usual talk of times and predictions which I didn’t love. I hate putting myself under pressure and all my PB’s have been accidental so this was my first time going for a ‘time’ and I was way out of my comfort zone. To add to the stress the day before I got a haircut, my absolute worst thing to do. And I had gone very short which caused a great deal of distress, not great before race day.
There were some positives, I knew how I was getting there and knew I had lunch booked with Sophia and Elle afterwards at one of my fave restaurants! Also I’d been out for drinks Saturday night and am convinced I run faster if I’ve been drinking!

Race morning does not start strong… my alarm goes off @ 5, I stay in bed until 5.30 which means I am already behind schedule when I realise the car is frozen! And I have very low miles left. I make the decision to do ponies then get petrol, very nearly regretted that as I literally role into the garage and just make it to the pump!! I grab a Powerade and a quakers to go bar, breakfast sorted, but I’m still stressed from the petrol situation.
Thankfully all race stuff is ready to change into and I very quickly find a jumper I’m happy to chuck at the start and just as I’m done, Terry is outside. We drive to the park and ride and get the bus to the start.

Funnily enough when I’m there I’m not nervous at all, in fact I’m now ready to just run and I’m looking forward to lunch!

We met with all the club members for a good luck chat and picture and then before I knew it we were in the pen ready to go, just behind the 2hr pacer. I was running with Andy and Sarah who were also pacing Sean, Catherine and Terry. Gary had also joined us on hearing our plan.
Finally, after what felt like a long wait, we were off! I’m well known for my kamikaze approach to races and then burn out so the plan was to keep it easy for the first mile, especially as it’s uphill. The problem was, I felt GREAT. My legs were fresh from a low mile week and the crowd were a real treat after nearly all my recent events have been pretty much spectator-less. I reined it in though and this is where having a pacer was brilliant, without having someone reminding me to slow down I’d have probably burnt out.

I’d given myself my own little challenge to not, under any circumstance, look at my watch. I did fail at this as I glanced a couple of times but that was only to look at the current pace to compare to the other’s watches. I couldn’t believe how quickly the miles were passing. The first glance we were nearly at 10k and I realised I was about to get a 10K PB taking off 6 mins! This excited me greatly and again I was told to calm down and not be pushing the pace yet. Still the miles were flying and the group were brilliant at just chatting away making jokes which made me laugh, a great distraction.
8 miles in and I forced myself to take a gel, GU salted caramel. I love them however I just couldn’t be bothered to open it but thought I’d better take something.
Having run this before I knew that once we started in the other direction we had 5K to go. I felt good so decided that I’d hang on to Sean as he’d planned to leave us and go for it. Andy told me no. I think I grumbled a bit but I listened to him and agreed to stick with the main pack. Apparently the wind was bad, being honest I didn’t feel the wind at all, I was just having a great time.

The last 2 miles might just be my favourite miles I’ve ever ran. I’d slightly broken away from the group and was weaving in and out of other runners as I overtook them following Andy who made it look easy. I still felt as great as I did in mile 1, which never happens to me so I was amazed!! Andy was slightly ahead and when we got to the pier he had the crowds going wild which made me smile, well smile bigger, which made me run faster. I then spotted Sophia and Elle in the crowd which I always love to see.

I knew we were getting under the two hour mark but still went for a cheeky sprint finish and I knew not only had I got under my desired time but by quite a bit! I was ecstatic and think I was bouncing about all over the place, mainly on Andy. I then needed a min as all that running and hopping around had made me feel quite nauseous, oops. After my mad minute I realised that everyone who we’d started with had also crossed the line which meant that all 5 of us gotten a PB and had a great race, sooo much fun!!

We may of been late for lunch but it was delicious and celebrated with a few Aperoles!

This race has taught me that sometimes a bit of pressure isn’t a bad thing. Setting a time goal will always be scary for me but gosh what a great feeling to know that all the hard work is paying off. Maybe all this has also given me some motivation to see how much speed there really is in these legs?! I’m always about having fun rather than speed but now I’ve experienced them both together it’s a bit of a game changer!

Official chip time: 1.56.01 – an 8 minute PB! I also got a 2 mile, 5K, 10k and 15k PB!!
As I said on my Strava, a lot of people have helped make this happen. Very fortunate that I always feel I have so much support no matter what the goal is.

I have a busy week planned as we’re back to the ultra training block. Including a run from Eg to Brighton which is looking to be around 35 miles which I’m so excited for.

Next event is Rome Marathon which I can’t wait for! That will act as a long training run, my only plan is to complete it and maybe find a hot Italian along the way! Watch this space..!

Jade x