Well I did it, not the speediest or most graceful of runs but who cares I managed to complete the Headcorn Half Marathon without my knee hurting – “leaps up and down for joy”
This was the inaugural race and although not perfect timing as far as I was concerned it seemed daft not to take part as it ran straight past my door – sadly at 4.5 miles so I wasn’t able to pop in for a coffee.
You aren’t going to believe how nervous I was just in case my knee began to hurt and I would have to pull out, I had to finish this even if it meant walking to the finish line. The weather was perfect, the sun came out and there was no rain. After a slightly delayed start approx 200 runners did a loop round the green then headed out along the road towards Smarden.
Everything was well signposted, marshalls were there to make sure no one went the wrong way and as we passed my house the neighbours came out to cheer which was lovely. HWMBO must have still been in bed as there was no sign of life from Prestbury House.
Although my knee was holding up fine, my right foot was painful. My osteopath had pulled it the last time I had seen him and for some reason had been sore ever since which meant I had a shooting pain that went up my big toe and felt unstable so I ran in the middle of the road to avoid the camber.
Just past mile 10 the wind picked up and we were running into a headwind. I tucked myself behind a quite large man which worked very well but he was going a little bit too slow for me so ran on past. As I was getting towards the finish I was passed by a group of cyclists, one of which was a marvellous but mad lady Lynne Oliver who shouted my name and cheered me on – how fantastic was that!
I was delighted to have crossed the finish line and pleased that my body held up – there is absolutely no requirement to put my time as firstly it wasn’t very good and secondly this run wasn’t about time or pace it was about distance and no pain. Tomorrow I will be tweaked once again by my osteopath who will hopefully straighten out all my niggles and I now feel that I can start training properly for Two Oceans as I really don’ want to be last to finish that race!
A great half marathon, lovely route and happy marshalls – thank you.
Happy Training.
