Day 13 - Chase the Moon 10 km with Run Through

Day 13, Chase the Moon, Olympic Park – 8 November 2017

Three quarters of our team decided to mix things up for day 13 of the challenge, entering a 10 km race organised by Run Through.

This week has been one of the first cold weeks of autumn in London, and I for one have been wondering how I am going to cope with the challenge as the temperature plummets further. I also started the week quite achy from some hill sessions at the weekend and day 11 in particular was not easy. I therefore scaled back the distance in preparation for day 13’s big event. Come race day I was actually looking forward to running a bit further again and was feeling pretty fresh.

Zoe happily chasing the moon

 As Zoe, Louise, honorary team member for the night Laura and I took part in our warm up, grumbled about the cold and decided whether to ditch our outer layers, there was a great atmosphere around the park. Everyone was given glow sticks which meant Lou was even greener than usual. A few snaps by the red slide thing and we were off.

The course is four laps of a route through the park and it’s pretty flat and fast. I have completed it before as a 5 km so two laps and loved it, four was tougher mentally. Lou and Zoe knew what to expect having run the 10 km version in August.

Louise in green complete with glow stick

As we started, recent Amsterdam marathon runner Laura dashed off into the distance and was not to be seen again until the end. Lou passed me early on and stayed just out of my reach the whole way around. The route turns back on itself at one point and we ended up seeing each other each time and exchanged ‘the nod’ each time. Zoe was just behind me but despite looking I couldn’t see her at all throughout.

The supporters and Run Through team placed to cheer everyone on were on top form for this event. The other participants were really friendly, supportive and fun also. One of them, Mike, was set to earn his 200th medal the race and was assigned runner number 200 to mark the occasion. The enthusiasm of everyone involved really helped me get around the course.

Consider the moon chased!

A tough but rewarding run resulted in new PBs for the whole group. With our hard earned new medal bling and feeling on top of the world, we retreated to the pub for a well-deserved glass of wine and a post-race debrief.

Louise even made Run Through's round up of top social media posts from the event!

Chase the Moon really made me realise why I love running, and why I agreed to this challenge. I cannot wait to get back out there for an event and have signed up to a few other group events to keep my interest going.  It goes to show that everyone has off days and that perseverance is key to completing hard challenges. I will try to remember the great feeling I had after Chase the Moon when its cold, wet and early and I don't fancy running next.

Chase the Moon PB team

PB Times

Laura - 45:58 
Louise – 52:25 
Lydia – 53:11 
Zoe – 55:54 

Weekly mileage

Total - 123.98 km (or from central London to Southampton)
Louise - 36 km
Zoe - 38.5 km
Jade - 18.6 km
Lydia - 30.88 km

As a group in total we have now run from London to Sheffield, with just over 250 km logged.

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Event Info

The Run Through events are always really well organised, friendly and full of a supportive and fun atmosphere. There’s usually two distances, both 5 km and 10 km and you can decide on the day which one you run. After the race there’s flap jacks and bananas to help you recover. Amongst other events, they hold a really popular series called Chase the Sun each Wednesday throughout the summer months. This winter, they’ve decided to host similar Wednesday evening events called Chase the Moon and this was the first. The next one is 6 December.