I’m going to be honest and say straight away that this race was not on my running calendar for the year, or any year if I’m being honest. But I had some credit to spend on Runthrough‘s website and didn’t want to waste the remaining £10.

About The Organiser

I’ve spoken about Runthrough before. They put on very well-put-together events with fabulous volunteers and very tasty (and sometimes unusual) treats at the finish line.

The Course

The course is a one-mile cycle circuit – so you had best expect plenty of hills. Thankfully I was only doing the mile, so I only obviously only had to do one lap. But the event also had 5k, 10k, 10 miles, and half marathon races. Imagine having to do THIRTEEN laps of that course (something I did a couple of years ago).

How Did It Go?

The aim here was to scrape under 6:30. There was absolutely no way I was going to get anywhere near my PB of 5:55. I went straight to the front of the start line and was soon being elbowed in the hip by little kids. Letting kids into the mile race for free is a nice touch though.

The race started and it took me a couple of seconds to get into my stride because the kids were tearing off in front of me and I didn’t want to be pushing any kids in the back.

They soon ran out of puff and I slotted into a stride that I soon realised was too quick for my current fitness. It also didn’t help that I had to keep weaving in and out of other runners who were in the other distances.

I knew pretty quickly that I was in 2nd place and started to reel in the leader, but I just ran out of track.

My time was 6:00 exactly. So I was only 5 seconds away from my PB. Hmmmmmm if only it was a flat course.

Recommend?

If you are into multiple laps of a hilly course (they call it undulating, which is ambiguous) then I’d recommend it. However, if hills are not your friend then I’d check out one of the flatter races they offer like Victoria Park, Battersea Park, or Regents Park.