I run my first competitive 10km for Cancer Research Race For Life

So any that may have followed me on social media are probably aware, but I’ve been running since the start of COVID. Initially spurred on by the need to escape and see wonderful views, and also Lisa Forte pushing me to do a 5km run / walk for charity, which in turn made me realise that I should continue with this and get into shape.

While I’ve been trundling along the South Downs and the beach around Brighton, I think other than running 400m when I was still at school, I’ve never taken part in any race since that, certainly never as an adult. The Beautiful One however has ran a marathon before (not only is she beautiful, she’s amazingly clever, kind and a great runner too – swoons) and had signed up for the Race For Life with her friend.

Now, right up to the race day, I had wrongly assumed that Race For Life was for women only to take part in. In fact, up until 2020 it was a women only race, tied to raising money for the fight against breast cancer. An amazing cause. But actually men can take part – so I signed up and joined in the morning! Hurrah!

I left The Beautiful One to race alongside her friend who was probably slower than she would normally run, but I think she appreciated the camaraderie of the women running together. She said it was OK for me to run it properly though… so of course I did – it’s my first race!

This Race For Life was at Stanmer Park, Brighton and it was great weather for it. It is NOT a serious race. I mean 5-10km is a serious distance but it’s not meant to be angry faces, stereotypical sports macho crap. This is about having fun, being supportive of each other, and having a great day. If you don’t want to do that then don’t take part!

For the first 10 metres I was leading the race and then I ran out of steam as the initial incline started to raise and went pack down the pack. It was intentional as I wanted to be able to say I was in the lead on my first race but let’s be honest, that was the only opportunity that was gonna happen 😂

Stanmer Park is beautiful but hilly – the first 1km has 58m of elevation, followed by another 18 in the 2nd km! Do bear that in mind if you do want to take part it’s quite a physical 10km! You do go back downhill in the second part. One lap is 5km so for the 10km you do two laps. Anyhow for my first race I was happy with my average pace of 6:47/km and time of 1:08:36 and I finished in top half of competitors still so I’m good with that 😂

Everyone taking part did wonderfully and it was great to see The Beautiful One and her friend cross over the line too! Well done!