Clapham Common 10K

The Clapham Common 10K race is a series of races that take place during the summer that have the runners loop around the common (large park) three times. I have been trying to keep up with my running and I thought this would be a good way to keep me motivated. It was a very good learning experience. For one, I decided to try out a new before running breakfast to see how my body responded. The meal of champions? Porridge. I kind of had to force it down. It wasn't that it tasted bad, it just tasted weird. And had a strange consistency. I didn't like it. And it let me down. I started the race feeling ok but about a mile into it I felt myself getting hungry. And as they like to say on the AIDS ride you should "eat before you are hungry" and as I didn't have any food on me I was a bit worried. The second problem was it was blazing outside! It was 25c (about 75ish) when we started and only proceeded to get hotter. I hadn't had enough water starting off and although there was a water station I could feel myself getting dehydrated. Blasted, second AIDS ride rule broken, "drink before you are thirsty"! I also had a hard time pacing. It was difficult finding my pace with all these other runners around me and not knowing the terrain. I had to continuously tell myself to slow down as I could feel my heart rate rising. I did a pretty good job of making myself run slower when I needed to but it was all very frustrating. And then the worst was the pain in my feet. Oh the pain! It was mostly my toes but it was real pain and I have to do something about it because it was not pleasant. It made me want to stop (but I didn't) It might be my shoes in which case I will need to buy new ones but this is not convenient as it means I will have to buy two pairs over the course of the marathon and that is just expensive. I am taking them to the pro shop to see what they say. (hmmm, I wonder what they will say...) I didn't do as well as I had hope but I did well enough. I finished in 58 minutes. (a 9:20 mile) And then I spent the day outside as it was glorious.