Orpington 10K

It’s probably a little odd to have anxiety dreams about being made to do PE in your underwear while getting yelled at for being unable to throw a netball with any effective force the night before a 10K race. But I suppose this makes a little more sense when said 10K race starts and finishes in the playing fields of your former school. Needless to say, I had a relatively broken night’s sleep the night before the run, but all fear soon melted away when I arrived at the start.The Orpington 10K, organised by the Orpington Road Runners and now in its 13th year, kicked off in the grounds of Darrick Wood Secondary School at the very respectable time of 11am, after several 2K children’s races had taken place for various age groups. The sky was clear blue and the sun was beating down, which, although not ideal for a run, did make for a wonderful pre-race atmosphere – the food stalls and families settled around the field on picnic blankets gave it a fête-like feel, and made a refreshing change from the hectic start lines of huge races. There wasn’t even a queue for the toilets!

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Cross-country

The race started promptly at 11am, beginning with a lap of the school field before winding its way through Darrick Woods and off into the countryside. Although I was running with my husband, he soon picked up speed once we were through a slight bottleneck early on, and set off ahead of me (irritating, considering his idea of training had been refraining from having a beer at a barbecue the evening before). But this left me to enjoy the peaceful surroundings at my own pace. The route was challenging at times, being a cross-country run up some fairly demanding hills, but the effort of making it to the top was always rewarded with some beautiful woodland scenery, shouts of encouragement from the wonderful race marshals, and some occasional long stretches of flat and downhill sections in dappled shade.

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Back to school

After pushing myself to run up the final hill at around the 8K mark and running back through the final stretch of woodland, I neared the school field to find that, with a cluster of runners ahead of me and another behind me, I was pretty much by myself as I headed towards the finish line. But the cheering from the crowds didn’t stop as I ran my final lap of the field – a testament to the fantastic race-day atmosphere. With my shiny medal around my neck and ice-cold water to rehydrate, I was pretty pleased to check my watch and see my finish time of 56:59 – not a PB, but not bad considering the hot weather and hilly terrain. Challenging and rewarding, with great race-day camaraderie and a wonderful route, this is definitely a race for next year’s diary. Whoever thought I’d be so keen to get back to school?!