19th May: Daddy Daughter Running

The Hook Fun Run and Road Race is the annual village event that sees most people come out to cheer on those participating over 2.5, 6 or 10 miles. The short course is once around the centre of the village, the 6M takes in the further reaches to the west and the 10M route ventures out northwards to the neighbouring village of Rotherwick and back.

Rather than run the 10 miles in fancy dress as I did last year (here's my blog about it) I had arranged with her mother for my eldest daughter to run the 2.5M race with me, which she was well up for. Not just for a chance to run with her daddy again, but a chance to run in a proper race.

Feeling that I should be missing out on a decent run myself I took myself out on a good 10.5M XC run as soon as I awoke for some form of prep for the Flete CTS Marathon next week. I chose to head out along the canal and across the fields to its derelict side before a couple of miles of road up the hill to Tylney Hall and across their golf course and the fields from Rotherwick to home.

For a distance like this I did not feel the need to take any drink with me so I was able to run totally free and unhindered today - although I did feel my right hammy tightening for part of the run but a stop for a massage eased this out.

On returning I just had enough time to take a shower, walk the dogs with LSS and get changed ready for the run. I met up with the girls and their mother at the appointed time at the race base of the village junior school.

Meeting up beforehand

I had arranged for my daughter to be wearing her England top and I would wear one as well so we looked kind of together with similar shirts and consecutive numbers. In no time I had her first ever race number pinned to her front and after posing for a photo we worked our way to the start line.

Numbered-up!

Whilst no stranger to school and inter school running races this was her first proper event involving people of all ages, so she was understandably feeling a bit nervous. As we walked off her mother had said to her as encouragement to try her hardest and to finish as far beyond the middle as possible. I thought this might be putting a bit too much pressure on her so I said that we would run it as fast as she could manage and we would do it without stopping, just slowing down if it was becoming a bit too hard.

A Nervous-Nelly

Soon we were off and running out of the school with the pack. People were jostling trying to find space and the occasional unintentional elbow was being jabbed here and there even though this is just a once around the block course that most of the village joggers do each day so they should know their pace. Some people seem to have the worst brought out of them by competition!

I warned my daughter about stating off too fast and we should take it easy to allow her to find her pace, and within about 5 minutes with the course being an incline for this till the top of the railway bridge I could see she was starting to struggle with her face getting redder and redder, so rather than running just behind her and to the side as I had been doing I ran alongside her and slowly dropped the pace down for her to recover a bit.

In action.

It was funny watching some of the over-enthusiastic boys in the race of around the same age as my daughter who would sprint as fast as they could past people, then emptying their energy tank found they had to stop or walk for a bit to recover before doing the same again. I think they may need to learn a bit about pacing a run over distance! Dropping behind my daughter again as this was going on I was able to observe that she was choosing to run on the grass verges rather than the pavement whenever she could - maybe she is a natural XC runner through preference?

After the detour through the industrial estate I pointed out that we were coming to the water station so she should have something if she needed it. The reply was yes and that she was going to throw the rest of it over her head like you see proper runners do… and sure enough she did so!

Up the hill for the next half mile of the eastern side of the route and loads of the villagers were out cheering everyone on, with a few people recognising my daughter and cheering her on by name. Near the top of the hill we ran past LSS who was primed with camera to catch us in action, which she duly did!

On the overtake.

Another successful pass.

Off we trot.

At the top of the hill it was getting a bit too much for my daughter who asked to stop because it was getting too tiring, so a few words of encouragement about how far we had come, we were nearly finished, the track was flat etc. seemed to snap her out of this temporary funk and in no time we were rounding the corner at the village centre to head back in to the school and the finish. This last stretch is all downhill so I encouraged my daughter to go for a sprint finish when she could see the finishing line. The reply was "I can't, I'm too tired." but as soon as we rounded the corner and the end was in sight she was off like a rocket and sprinted past 5 people, with me having to up my pace significantly to keep-up with her.

Just before the turn for the finish.

Crossing the line we were handed our finishers medals and we grabbed some water as the poor little thing was turning beetroot and running very hot from all the effort she had put in to run the course as fast as she could without stopping.

Posing with her well-earned medal.

My two daughters together... My youngest is a dancer and gymnast, not a runner/ sports girl.

When the result came out, it showed that she finished 21st of 65 in her age group of 8-11 year old girls, and 51 out of 233 women runners of all ages, which no matter what way you look at it is a terrific achievement and makes me incredibly proud of her... Not long till she will be beating her old man!

The two of us with our finishers medals as taken by my youngest daughter.