In the car on the way to Battersea Park Christmas 5km I was trying to work out how long I’ve been taking part in RunThrough races for. It definitely goes back to before the company had medals, in fact I remember my mate Leah lobbying the founders Matt and Ben on social media to introduce medals for a Christmas race they were putting on in Greenwich Park. I’m sure if I had a dig I’d find that medal somewhere. All this is a long way of saying I’ve got a lot of time for RunThrough, it’s been great watching the company grow over the years and offer more people access to great quality, affordable race experiences, and it was really nice that Evie got to experience her very first race with RunThrough!

I’d quietly had all sorts of hopes for this race. Not in terms of performance, but because it was Evie’s first proper race and I wanted it to feel like an event. I wanted it to be special. I thought we’d have a good run, take some nice pictures with our medals and generally have a lovely festive time…but it didn’t quite pan out like that…

First up we woke up late. Toddlers have a habit of waking you up at the crack of dawn when you have nowhere to be, and then sleeping in when you’re relying on them to be your alarm clock. We had a mad dash to get out of the door (never easy with a 1 year old) and a slightly stressful drive over to Battersea Park. Mike ran off to collect our bibs while I wrestled Evie into a snowsuit and then into her buggy and sprinted to find the start. Naturally we were the last to get going (not a bad thing when you’re running with a buggy the size of a small tank and don’t want to risk running anyone over) and that’s when Evie decided to deploy her race tactic of choice - screaming.

Evie screamed pretty much solidly for 5km. I felt like I had a sign on my back that said ‘bad parent’ and I was sure people were judging me for running while my kid screamed her tiny lungs out. But sometimes with kids there’s nothing you can do, they just feel like screaming. Evie had everything she needed to be comfortable, we’d made sure she was fed, had a clean nappy and had some entertainment on board (big up Linda the octopus), she was cosy and warm and really there wasn’t much more we could do. Running or not, she’d probably have been screaming, so Mike and I kept going.

Perhaps a screaming child was good motivation, but in terms of performance this race really exceeded my expectations. I took things extremely easy and at points was pushing the buggy, but still managed an average pace of around 10:30 min/mile which was a really nice surprise! Since pregnancy I’ve not really had much speed in my legs, but seeing it creep up like this is a massive boost! I think if I’d been running alone I could’ve scraped in around the 30 minute mark, which is definitely something to aim for in the new year.

Taylor-Swaine Family drama aside, this was a great race and we finished in 32:33 with me getting the honour of pushing Evie over the finish line. The race itself was brilliantly organised, the marshals were lovely and enthusiastic despite the freezing temperatures, the course was scenic (how could loops of Battersea Park not be scenic?) and the medal was absolutely on the right side of extra (which is excellent as it’s going to have pride of place on Evie’s bedroom wall!). Really what more could you want?!