Old Deer Park 10km – Cat McGuire

Here is my run report for the Old Deer Park 10km from November

This time last year I was pregnant but I also made a pact with my mother in law to run a 10k race with her this autumn, her first ever run. She has never run before so she set herself a target of a year to build up to 10km. We originally said we would run the Dovedale Dash but the dates didn’t fit so we signed up to the Old Deer Park race in Richmond park in London.

Race day was a beautiful combination of rain and wind, being the hardcore Yorkshire woman I am, vest and shorts were the answer, one of the only ones brace enough to do so!

We originally thought the race was on roads and paths but when we arrived found that it was fields and trails so it would have been better to wear trail shoes. The atmosphere at the start was great, the Marshals and volunteers were friendly and there were plenty of toilets! The race was small with less than 350 runners racing and I’ve never witnessed a start like it! The started called Runner’s to the start line based on their predicted finish time so you moved to the start when your time was called.

I have never run as a pacer before, except as a leader at run club so it was strange to start with to adjust my pace to suit my mum in law and brother in law but it soon adapted. The first part of the run was a lap of a field with a lovely boggy bit resulting in wet socks and soggy (new) trainers within the first kilometre! It then led out of the park on to a trail path along the side of the Thames. It was beautiful scenery, a mix of London sights in the distance and a run through a woodland. Upon reaching the 3km mark the first of the speedy Runner’s were returning for their final 3km where as my little group had to carry on along the river before making a loop around a village complete with a water station and returning back to Richmond park and crossing the finish in 1 hour 13 minutes, a fab time and experience for Liz who had run every step of this, her first 10km and who has now caught the running bug and is planning to do more 10k races in 2017!

For me this was a fab event, well organised and brilliant scenery. The goody bag was good too, fruit, chocolate milk, water, orange juice and a medal with the option to buy a tshirt. Definitely a race for the Calendar next year.

Cat McGuire