In May 2007 I finally had a chance to visit the United Kingdom on vacation, along with my dad and younger sister.
Before we left I determined that I would find an organized race in the country while we were there, because a)I was training for my next marathon and b)how cool would that be? Little did I imagine how popular the sport is over there. According to the Runner's World UK website, there were some 80+ organized races in the country during the nine days I would be there. Of those, 30-some were at least a 10K and within 100 miles of central London.
I finally settled on a 10K in the little village of Hackney, about 20 minutes' drive from central London. I went with this race for two reasons: there was a 3K fun run that I knew I could sign my father and sister up for, and every finisher got a medal--practically unheard-of for anything less than a half marathon.
(Okay, so the finisher medal is a plastic job, but it's still pretty cool.)
Anyway, the race was through this very pretty park called Victoria Park. It was a pretty small event (compared with major city races; there were still a few hundred runners), and everyone I spoke with was curious to know how I found out about their race. My dad and sister ran the 3K and made pretty decent time, and I finished the 10K in 57:47, beating my BolderBOULDER time for this year.
I have lots of great memories of my trip, but the race is definitely in the top 3.
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