Get ready for an essay, Simon!
Firstly, thank you so much. It’s amazing to see all the training paying off, and I’m so proud to have achieved a PB!
That said, I think it was one of the hardest races I’ve ever done. I found Queensway really tough—the 2-hour pacer was right near me, and I could feel people constantly running past, which got into my head a bit. At one point, I genuinely thought I might not even break 2 hours.
When I finally pulled away from the pacer, I was hit with a really painful stitch (probably too many jelly babies!) that lasted from the ridge all the way to the seafront. I almost gave up on my target pace because of it—but I had this little voice in my head telling me to keep pushing, and somehow I did. Also, whenever I slowed to a walk, other runners were so kind and encouraging, which made a huge difference ❤️
Around the 10-mile mark, I checked my time and realised I might be on for about 1:55, which really motivated me to keep going. By the time I reached the seafront, the stitch had eased, but then the heat and exhaustion kicked in. Still, that same voice kept saying, “keep going, keep going.”
I stopped looking at my watch and focused on maintaining my pace. Before I knew it, I was overtaking people and actually speeding up—800m to go, then 600m, then 400m. On the final stretch, I saw the clock and felt so happy. I’m really proud that I kept pushing through to the end!
And of course, I celebrated afterwards with pizza and a beer 🍻
Sorry to hear you struggled. A stitch is the worst. I’ve only had that a few times and it’s so painful. The fact you kept going is amazing. There’s no scientific evidence to suggest why we get a stitch but from experience I think it might be dehydration. The year it was particular hot, loads of people moaned about getting a stitch. I got one, but then when I stopped to have a bottle of water, it soon cleared. So perhaps something to consider going forward, try and stay hydrated. As for the other 2 hour pacer, they went off too quick so you were unlucky as that gave you a false indication of how you were actually doing, but what makes me really happy about this is your mental strength, this could easily have gone the other way, but you kept going, so never forget this race and how you dug deep. Hopefully you won’t have to experience a stitch for that length of time again. Congratulations on your PB Emily, every reason to be proud of yourself.
Coach Simon 🍊
