I’m sure every running coach in the world would advise against doing a 10km race just six days after a marathon, especially after a full-on week at work, but I really love Nike events!
The After Dark series celebrates women’s running and gives females the opportunity to run safely after dark. For the £45 entry fee, not only do you get a Nike Tech T-shirt, but also a host of other goodies including a sturdy bag, make-up products, gels, a protein bar and period products. The downside is that you have to travel to London beforehand to collect everything. Nike also offered three free coached track sessions in Birmingham before the race, but unfortunately I was too busy working to take advantage of them.
I travelled down to London by car with fellow Massey member Claire and my friend Jane. On arrival, it was immediately obvious that we were old enough to be most of the other runners’ mums! The whole event aesthetic was geared towards a younger crowd: low lighting, loud bass-heavy music and trendy presenters. Annoyingly, everyone seemed obsessed with filming content for social media, so there was a constant challenge of trying not to bump into people or wander into someone’s video. That said, we embraced the experience and even enjoyed a free pre-race make-up session, although we ran out of time for hair braiding and temporary tattoos.
It was seriously chilly and damp in the start pen. I was still undecided whether to race hard or simply jog round and enjoy the atmosphere. From the moment I crossed the start line, though, I went for it. Initially, that was partly to avoid the crowds, but I was also loving being part of a huge wave of women running together, most of whom were dressed in fairly skimpy gym kit despite the weather!
The first 5km took us around the Docklands. It was flat, fast and well supported. We then ran onto the London City Airport runway. As both a plane and travel geek, I thought this was amazing. British Airways and KLM aircraft were parked nearby and we literally ran an out-and-back along the main runway. At the turnaround point there was a DJ and strobe lighting, which made the whole experience feel incredibly special.
Once off the runway, there was around 1.5km back to the finish. There wasn’t a hill in sight and the route was lined wall-to-wall with spectators cheering us home into Nike’s impressive finish area. As you can see from the photo below, I took full advantage of the finish-line theatrics!
I stopped the clock at 57:06 and ran hard from start to finish. My heart rate peaked at 192 bpm, with an average of 174 bpm, which for a woman in her 50s probably means I should have died on the course. On a more positive note, I paced the race exceptionally evenly, something I rarely manage. All of my kilometre splits were within 15 seconds of one another.
Like last year, this event is far too cool to give you a traditional medal. Instead, finishers receive a necklace. Unfortunately, the combination of poor lighting and the fact that it was a bit fiddly meant that none of us could actually put it on afterwards. So, here it is being modelled by my dog Bella the following day.
The post-race party is a big part of the race, this year Jorja Smith was performing and there were various food stalls alongside some rather strange Nike cubes that people could pose against for photographs (some influncers taking ages for a single shot!). However, given that it was rapidly approaching my bedtime, we decided to head home as quickly as possible.
I’m slightly conflicted about whether I’d do this event again. I love the Nike merch/free stuff and the opportunity to run such an amazing route at night alongside thousands of other women. However, it is clearly targeted at a much younger demographic and with that comes influencers, noise and feeling like everyone’s mum.
To our female Massey members, I’d definitely say keep an eye out for this race next year. It’s a fantastic experience and something very different from the standard road race calendar.
– Lisa Jay