This race review was written by Hayley Sparshott, and Su Baldock.
Why do we enter races?
I entered the Vitality London 10000 event when I had my knee operation and was told to never run again. I felt so deflated and lost and low, this was my idea to motivate me to just try and see if I could possibly run again, all the excitement of the London marathon without the mileage.
Su and her lovely daughter Tilly also entered the event to keep me company and run in London to see the sights and get the big event vibe without the grunt of a marathon and years of ‘sorry not successful, would you like a charity place?’.
Race day
We drove to Woking train station and parked then got a train to Waterloo station. We made the decision to sight see and be tourists from the get go and walked to Green Park. It was a lovely 3 ish mile walk of sight seeing and it was great to see the roads we would soon be running on.
Once in Green Park we had time to do our baggage drop, use the loo and get into the collecting area ready to be walked round to the start pens. It was all done with ease and like a well oiled machine worked effortlessly. Once in the starting pen area we were entertained and also had the privilege of being there when Scott Mitchell, husband of the late great Barbara Windsor, and Jake Wood from Eastenders talked to the cameras and crowds about Babs and their charity.
Let’s do this!
We set off at a 10 min mile pace…..did we heck!! We had to run with Tilly because she is under 18 (I thought she would be running at 10’s to 10:30’s – how naive am I!!) Our first mile was steadish then Tilly found her pace ….oh lord !!!
Despite being 1:30 min/mile pace faster than I had possibly imagined we had the best time ever. Laughs, chats and sight after sight after sight. Cheering on other runners and the odd bit of dancing to the music on the way round. The bells were chiming at St Pauls and sounded magnificent.
Tilly ran an outstanding race and was on for a huge personal best time then did the biggest sprint at the end leaving the 2 old ladies like we were going backwards and through treacle!! Huge PB for Tilly and a wonderfully marvellous life experience for myself and Su!!! All the thrills of a London event without the extra 20 miles to run.
Vitality London 10000 completed
After the event we went back to Waterloo a different way to see more of the sights – London tourists, 10k runners and epic day out, completed it mate!
We cannot recommend this event enough. It’s like the London marathon vibe without the hideous bits and without the awful mileage and pain. What’s not to like about it?!? Oh and we got a tshirt and nice medal too.
Thank you for reading.
Hayley, and Su.
