Saturday 20th September

Get ready for a wonderful write up from our club treasurer, Oli, running wild in Malta for the 5K whilst exploring on his holidays 🙌

I rarely run when on holiday. I seize the opportunity to have a total break from daily life, plus I tend to do a lot of walking. When I booked my trip to Malta (which is amazing, by the way!), I was going to go Monday to Sunday. However! I saw there was a 5k on the Sunday, so signed up for that and opted to stay Monday to Monday.

The Attard 5k is part of a series and there’s a junior race on the same morning. It takes place in the lovely setting of Park Nazzjonali Ta’Qali, not far from Mdina. We were supposed to collect our numbers in advance but they kindly let folks on holiday collect them on the day. The race started at 7:00 sharp – right around sunrise – so I had to be there nice and early with a 5:30 wake-up. I got a taxi there as buses wouldn’t be running early enough to get me there on time. Donning my Harriers vest, I got my number and they let me stow my bag in one of their vans (no bag drop!). I did a little warmup by myself but then got invited to a group warmup. It was great! Lots of dynamic movements, some jogging, and some bursts of speed at the end. It was already about 26°, so safe to say I was getting toasty.

Anywho, we got to the start line and it was busy but well organised. I didn’t place myself too far forward. I wanted to go with a steady effort (I put my estimated time as 21 minutes), as I’d attempted and achieved a PB the Sunday before (thanks Adam!). I’d also had a busy week walking, hiking, and diving, so had factored that in. Equally, I knew it’d be warm and I’m not a particularly good runner in the heat. I’d rather enjoy it than turn it into a suffer-fest!

We were off! I thought it was a two-loop course but it’s actually one loop off one way, almost bringing you back to the start, and another loop off another way. No tight turns, smooth underfoot, and well marshalled.

I was ticking over nicely, picking up the pace as I went. The sun had risen and so had the temperature. Malta is quite humid and I felt it! Honestly, the race flew by. I pushed with a comfortable effort the whole time, which was the goal. Crossing the finish line, they handed out some Powerade and water. I was dripping with sweat (lovely), so that was needed. We got a rather chunky medal that I believe fits into a holder if you’re doing the series. I think that’s my first medal for a 5k!

I finished nicely with a chip time of 20:24 (gun time 20:48)- perfect! First place finished with a gun time of 14:41 and chip time of 14:39. Wow. To put that further into context, I was 114th.

Once done, I tidied myself up and went about my day, plodding on to Mdina and Rabat after a walk around the park, all of which I’d recommend. Oh, and I also saw some Honey Buzzards later in the day and Malta’s national bird, the Blue Rock Thrush! 🦅

🎤 Thank you Oli and well done on a super race.    114th is still awesome in that rapid field.  So pleased you had a fab holiday and saw lots of wildlife 🐦 Love the medal, one for the running memories bank and thanks for flying the HH flag 🫶🏻 🖤♥️