60 minutes challenge
Prequel
I had set myself two running challenges this year. One was an endurance test, and another was a speed test. Having achieved my endurance goal in the first part of the year, I conveniently forgot about my second challenge- 60 minutes challenge i.e. to run a 10K under 60 minutes. I have run a few 10K races and have never achieved a timing close to this target!
The whole purpose of this challenge was to improve my lung capacity, as I was starting to become more of an endurance runner. As the months rolled by, a beautiful summer passed and in came September. I vaguely remembered my promise and the only concrete action I had taken was to book a race in November, falsely secure in the belief that I had ages to prepare. As the weeks rolled by, it took a lot of effort to get back to normality after travelling during the summer months. A week before the race on 10th November, I realised that I had not put in anywhere near the proper amount of training for my sub 60 minutes 10K but anyway decided to give it a go as I had not done a race in six months!
It was by a miracle that I was able to run the race at Arley Hall that day! My SatNav took me down all the wrong routes, navigating me through redirections and road closures and then through hundreds of runners making their way to assemble at the running point! Two kind volunteers aided my hasty preparations, one working to tag the race number on to my shoes, and another pinning the race number onto my t-shirt!
Somehow I managed to reach the tail end of the runners and started my run. The run was not brilliant, as my head was still aflutter from this morning’s course of events. I was unprepared; I had neither a watch nor my phone on me and hence no way to check my timing. I could only pray that I was not the last person to finish the race.
I was pleasantly surprised when I neared the finish line. In my mind, my finishing time was lingering between forever and eternity, but to my pleasure, I had completed the race in 1 hour and 4 minutes!
10k run
I was back home pretty chuffed, and I was regaling my experiences to my son when he gently reminded me about my 60 minutes challenge!
The Endorphins were still working, so I set up a foolish endeavour; I browsed the internet for a couple of hours and found the race that was closest to 31st of December. The only place I could find was Leyland, 50 total miles from where I live on the 26th of December, i.e. Boxing day!!
As I write, I am in the third week of my six weeks long mad challenge. Follow me on my journey by reading my weekly journals.
ALSO CHECK: My journey to launching Fabulous Forty Plus