Battersea Park 10k, 14 Apr 2024

It’s January: I haven’t raced in months, I’ve been struggling with a knee injury since August, and have only just started building my running back after what has felt like endless setbacks following a very long, pretty successful season the previous year. I decide to sign up for a race to motivate myself and chose my historically worst distance – the 10k.

The only 10k I had raced before today that wasn’t at the end of a triathlon was the previous year’s Town and Gown, where (maybe I backed myself a little too hard, or was just super fatigued after many back-to-back weekends of racing (Ibiza, Varsity etc.)) I blew up at about 6km.

In some ways, choosing my absolutely least favourite race distance was a really good idea for my first race back post-injury, because the stakes were very low, and I basically knew that as long as I didn’t race like an idiot, it was a guaranteed PB. So, I went into the race feeling calm(ish) and confident(ish), but with a friend (Tim) running as well and boyfriend and friends spectating, I felt that the positive energy from those around me would be enough to pull me through.

The plan had been to run negative splits, starting at 4:10-15min/km and working my way down hopefully to squeeze in under 41 minutes (required avg. = 4:06min/km). But then when does a race ever go fully according to plan? I even felt that I was being conservative in the first k, but I guess that’s just because people were running past me and I was choosing not to go with them, but when I looked at my paces after, the first k was significantly faster than planned at 3:58 min/km!

I settled down a bit after that, running splits of 4:03, 4:01, 4:04. Pretty even given the amount of weaving required to overtake some of the 5km runners who had set of some minutes before us. I was feeling really good. The weather was warm, but not stifling, the course was super flat and each loop was only 2.5k, so I passed Alex, Jenny and Emma frequently. Their shouts energised me with every lap and told me that Tim was running just a few seconds behind. Around 5km I grabbed one of the water bottles from the drinks stand and took a sip. Almost immediately I felt a strong stitch start to take hold. I get these occasionally in hard track sessions or races and once it comes on it’s really hard for me to shake it. I started to slow. I was feeling sceptical now – is this another blow up? I tried not to let it shake me too much, not wanting negative thoughts to take a firm hold with so much of the race still to fight for.

At that moment I felt more than saw a familiar presence beside me. It sounds corny, but feeling Tim next to me was such a boost. As he came alongside me, I gasped “I have such a bad stitch”, and he told me to focus on my breathing and settled into a pace next to me. Running stride for stride carried me along until the stitch had passed. It probably took 1.5km for it to go away completely, but once it did, I felt so comparatively good that I started to speed up again.

There was no more drama after that. Counting down the kilometers and seeing that we were still making good time, I let the excitement carry me to the finish. After dry-heaving for a few seconds (TMI, sorry), I managed to take a look at my watch – 41:02 was my official time, Strava reckons 40:53. Whatever it is, I’ll take it. I am proud of myself for dusting off the cobwebs, smashing my PB by over 3 minutes, and fighting through when the going started to get tough. More than anything I’m really grateful to have such supportive people around me, who make events like this joyful and stress-free!

So looking forward to the rest of the season of racing. Now excuse me but I really have to get back to my Ben & Jerry’s.

Emilia Miller