This Father’s Day the original plan was to run the Shrewsbury Half, the UKRUNCHAT organised and marshalled event somewhere in the Midlands. But, after the ankle injury sustained three weeks ago I had to cancel that trip and rest up.

Sleeping in a boot, exercises, pain killers and NO running at all since the London 10K and somehow I found myself signing up for a charity 10K in Southwark. The Go Dad Runs are 5K and 10K events raising awareness and funds for Prostate Cancer UK.

It is a week before Race to the King and so I thought a slow joggette around a local park would be a good test for the old ankle. And so, knowing that we would be running with underpants over our shorts I thought I would go with either Superman or The Thing.

I put it to a vote and Superman got the nod from the crowd. And so I found myself walking to south east London on a hot and humid Sunday with a S on m chest.

The Route

Four laps of Southward Park. It was nice and mostly on the path, other than a dodgy patch of wood chips that worried me.

How I did?

This was a lesson in how not to prepare for a race. I ate very early the night before. I didn’t sleep well. I I did not have any breakfast. I walked from Westminster (so 4 miles) to the start in the heat and humidity so by the time I got there I had crashed, felt dizzy, panicked about my ankle, the heat, drunk a Lucozade, washing down a Boost and a Mars which caused a bit of a sugar surge and subsequent crash, and all this before getting there and getting in my giant blue pants.

I was starting to think there was no way I could have run Shrewsbury Half today, and felt I have little or no chance of completing Race to the King.

But then I had some water before the start, and joined the boys for the first of four laps of the park.

I got better over time. Took it quite easy, stopped at the water table to drink and dump a cup over my head each lap, walked a bit and somehow ended with a quite acceptable 56 minutes.

The Bling and the Pants

Not only did you run in big pants, you also got a tshirt and a nice underpants medal.

The bling is unique, clearly designed for this series of races, a nice big pair of pants.

Oh and there was a gift bag too, that contained a tape measure? From the sponsor.

In Summary

This was a charity run. It was not a race. People were walking, jogging, oh, come on, we were wearing giant pants. Nice medal, atmosphere, support, water, Haribo, great Puma tee, and the pants… well, enough pants.

Would I run it again? Probably not, but it was nice to tick off another of the London parks. I am glad I did it, I needed to test my ankle before King too. And it held out.

Would I recommend it? Sure, why not. It is a guy version of the Race for Life, with the boys, men and children, multi generations of the same family running and walking together.

NEXT UP:

RACE TO THE KING MARATHON