Adidas City Run One Hour 17.6.18

My mum always says that “it’s better to be born lucky than rich” and honestly, I think she has a point. I had no intentions of running the City Run One Hour event as I literally haven’t been running at all never mind consistently for as long as I remember due to my studies.

I think I can recall running a ParkRun at some point and the London Winter Run back in February so it kinda was time for a comeback. And as luck would have it, I won two places in a Fitbit Facebook competition along with a Fitbit Ionic Adidas Edition.

Outfit deets: Sunglasses: Sungod custom Sierras™ | Trainers: UA HOVR Phantom Running Shoes | Smart Watch: Samsung Gear Sport | Shorts: lululemon speed up shorts* | Socks: Stance Feel 360

Life being life, with just a couple weeks to go, I needed a running buddy. But someone who would stick with me and help me get as close to 10km as I could in the one hour.

Because that’s the point of the City Run One Hour event. It’s a one mile loop in the city of London and you get 60 minutes on the clock to run as far as you can… measured with timing mats at each 0.1m location.

Here’s what went through my mind in the hour…

Do you get one full hour if you start at the back of the wave?

Making our way to the start line, with no idea of how many people would be in our wave, I wondered if you started at the back and say it took 5 minutes to get over the line, then surely you would be at a 5 minute disadvantage, right? So, rather than risk it, Michael and myself weaved our way to THE VERY FRONT and awaited the start gun.

Now, we didn’t quite start on time (11:30am) and at one point I nearly ran off after a count down which turned out to be for a crowd photo (a ploy to keep us occupied lol)… but eventually, we were off… well, I was off with a sprint start for this awesome photo taken by James Carnegie …and then I slowed down to find a comfortable pace to maintain for the next 59 minutes and 40 seconds…

…and in answer to my own question? You’d have to ask someone who didn’t sprint start from the front of the pack! But in terms of the amount of people, I never had an issue with the course being too crowded.

Why walk the course when you can do parkrun for free?

On the start line, again when trying to keep us occupied, we were told we could run or walk the course and part of me thought why would you bother? At walking pace, I estimated you could do between 3-4 miles which is literally a ParkRun… which you could do every Saturday morning for no cost whatsoever.

But then I realised, actually, what events are there you can take part in and not have the pressure of wondering if you can complete the whole distance? …have the support of the crowds (albeit lacking by the third wave we were in) …enjoy running / walking in the city of London …and feel part of something a little bigger, and a little more exciting than normal?

And of course, you don’t get a big heavy medal from ParkRun now, do you?

With no finish line, you’re guaranteed a medal

No medal from ParkRun brings me nicely onto my next point. Another reason that this event was so inclusive. When you challenge yourself to a marathon, half marathon or even 10km if you do not finish, you do not get a medal.

And to be honest, if you don’t finish the race for whatever reason, you probably don’t want a medal anyway. But with this event, your medal is earned by you pulling out the best distance you can in the time.

So each persons medal means something different to them in terms of distance and their achievement, which I think is pretty damn special.

Would I take part in the City Run One Hour again?

Well, I liked the event based on the fact that it was innovative. Right now, innovation is lacking in fitness overall so this was something a little different.

If I did take part again, it would need to be a different course, in a very different location. The concept is great for those looking to smash a new personal best (they had a wave specifically for those who wanted to run super fast) while also being inclusive to every pace of runner!

Their first event last October was the Shoreditch 10km and they just announced the next event which will be a 10km route in Clapham. The Fulham 10km got rescheduled to take place in November 2018. Unfortunately, I have plans to take part in a cycling event on the date of the Clapham event so I won’t see y’all there…

Did you run the City Run One Hour?! What did you think of it?! 

Elle