The sun was out, the music was loud and despite the 6am alarm call (on a SUNDAY!), we were feeling more motivated than we could have imagined. It was all a far cry from 4 weeks previously when we first found out about Nike’s Run to the Beat music half-marathon. The conversation went something like this: Tracy: “Hey Michael, I’d love to run a half-marathon, what do you think?” Michael: “Yes, we could start running in our lunch hour. I did a 10k once, I mean, how hard can it be?” Tracy: “Exactly! Let me check how long we have to train.” Both: “4 weeks?? Oh dear.”
Yet despite the last minute cram-training, somehow, here we were, last Sunday, lined up alongside 17,000 other runners with 13 miles of road (and some unexpected hills) stretched out before us. The previous few weeks involved thrice weekly runs around St James’ Park in our lunch hour, running to and from work in order to find the hours to up the mileage, swerving Topshop in order for sportswear shopping, and a couple of packets of Compeed. There were times when we thought we might not make it to the start line, there were times we skipped training and went to the pub in a panic instead, there were even times when we ENJOYED the running – it’s actually a brilliant way to spend your lunch hour away from your desk. And enable you to eat more without the guilt. But here we were.
With DJ sets from Calvin Harris, Annie Mac and Reggie Yates providing the soundtrack to the route, it was a pretty cool race to run, if ever it takes your fancy. Raising money for a fantastic charity and with the crowd in full swing, we were off. Two long hours and three very painful minutes later, Michael was crossing the finish line and feeling very proud of himself. A few minutes later, at two hours 24, Tracy limped across the line too, looking chuffed and rocking a shade of beetroot (not in a good way). And as we hobbled off towards the pub, we found ourselves having this surreal conversation. Tracy: “Wow, if that’s a half, imagine doing a FULL marathon. That’s DOUBLE what we just ran. I couldn’t do it.” Michael: “Me neither!” Tracy: “Although I guess once you’re in the zone, it’s just a case of powering through, right?” Michael: “Yes, and with more time to train...”
Watch this space!
Check out the video of Nike’s Run to the Beat 2011 here:
Check out RunToTheBeat.com for more on how to enter next year.
