Day 197: 10/14/2018
I did something for the very first time, I ran my very first 10 mile run in the UK!
I remember having a difficult time trying to sleep and waking up several times last night before eventually sweating an hour right before I had to wake up this morning. These are surely the signs of nervousness before the first 10 Mile run today.
P’Gluay and I decided to sign up for the 10 Mile run last week as I saw the York Marathon advertisement on Facebook. It was a quick, no brainer decision for us. From that point on, we basically did not have much time to prepare given it was only less than a week before the race day. In fact, the reason why I decided to sign up for the race simply was because it falls on Sunday which is P’Gluay’s day off.
Last week then we wanted to prepare ourselves for the race. We tried our best to practice 2–4 times as our time allowed. P’Gluay could only run a couple of times due to his tight schedule whereas I could run 3 times on my own. I would say having run for 15K not long ago made me quite confident that I would be able to finish the race. However, considering the unstable weather conditions lately, I was obviously very concerned about the weather and my own endurance running in such conditions.
Last night as to prepare for the race, we tried our best to go to bed early so that we would have enough sleep and be ready for the day. P’Gluay, unfortunately, had a bad diarrhea that he needed to go to the bathroom twice during the night. Similarly, I could not sleep straight as my nervousness kicked in. Nevertheless, we got up this morning rather fresh and ready to go.
I cooked a simple breakfast for us while P’Gluay made our caffein boost for the day. Tuck kindly told me that we needed to have something high in fiber, carbohydrate and protein for the pre-race period. So, I prepared two quick and easy dishes to have along with the riceberry.
By the time we got ready and left our home, the rain kept pouring down and continued to do so for the rest of the day.
We walked to the venue, the University of York, and could see the marathon runners on our way there. I was very impressed and inspired by the speed of the runners and the total amount of them altogether. It was a big event considering the size of the City of York indeed.
To our surprise, the York Marathon was such a huge event with over 2,000 runners running two different distances, 10 miles and marathon. The event itself was full of energy, lively, well-planned and well-organized. All the staff members and volunteers involved were proficient and professional, people along the way cheering us were very active and extremely kind. I could not ask for a better event for the first time joining a running race in the UK.
Along the cold, wet, and rainy 10 miles of running, people waited for runners cheering, clapping, providing us energy food, support and endless words of encouragement along the way. In brief, the crowd was completely amazing. Period. They made it so impossible for me to stop, or slow down to walk, let alone to quit. Their voices echoing countless words of encouragement kept me energized, motivated and inspired from the first mile to the last. My willingness to cross the finish line was never stronger. If I had to name one thing that impressed me the most, my only verdict would be the crowd.
Over two hours later, our clothes were completely soaked, our hands, arms and legs totally numb and could not feel a thing, P’Gluay and I crossed the finish line together making our own milestone by conquering the first 10 miles and finishing our first running event in the UK. It was such an amazing feeling that kept us so high and painted meaningful smiles on our faces for the day.
We both now think and dream that one day we can run our first marathon, perhaps in York or somewhere in this whole wide world.
Although the weather was cold, we felt deeply warm, loved and touched today. Thank you, York for another incredibly fascinating experience!
10/14/2018 10.14 pm.
