On Sunday, I ran my third Hospitality vs 10K – an idea started by Tani Hasa and the team at award-winning cocktail bar Lab 22, back in 2024.
That first year there were 62 of us running it. Last year there were 100. This year, 130 people took part, representing more than 30 hospitality businesses across Cardiff.
And this year, the team raised more than £13,000 for local charity, Dreams & Wishes.
I’ve been lucky enough to run all three (swapping my place for some pro-bono PR support, to generate coverage like this) and I’m genuinely so grateful to Tani for continuing to put the ridiculous amount of time, energy and money into making it happen; he funds all of the places in the challenge, to make it as easy as possible for people from his industry to get involved.
Because it isn’t really about running a 10K
Hospitality is an intensely social industry, but it can also be quite insular. The hours are weird. People work while everybody else is out having fun. And historically, a lot of industry socialising has revolved around finishing work, having a drink, sleeping, then doing it all again.
This gives people another, healthier way, to be together.
They train. They bump into people from other venues. Running becomes something people talk about across the bar. Someone who did it last year convinces somebody new that they can do it this year.
And for me, one of the things I love most about running is that, usually, running is something I do entirely by myself.
The last few years of my life have been… messy. And running has honestly helped save my brain through some of the harder bits. It’s become one of my favourite forms of solo self-care. But once a year, Tani’s Hospitality vs 10K turns it into something completely different.
A massive gang of people from across Cardiff gets together on a Sunday morning and does something really fucking wholesome. People from bars, restaurants and venues all over the city. People who’d never thought of themselves as runners. My clients past and present. People who started because of this event and now run regularly. And people finish it hugging, laughing, knackered, emotional – and very ready for the enormous post-race feed waiting for us at Pasture.
And for an industry built around looking after everybody else, there is something really lovely about creating a day specifically designed to look after the people doing the looking after. That has always been Tani’s philosophy with Lab 22: “looking after the people who look after the people.”
This feels like one of the best examples of it.
And after the race, suddenly nobody particularly cares about splits or pace or whether their Garmin said they’d run a PB. I came home in 1:01 this year – tantalisingly outside the sub-hour I wanted, and yes, I was mildly gutted – but it’s hard to stay annoyed about a minute on a day like this.
So – a huge thank you to everyone who donated to my own fundraising effort and helped contribute towards that £13k team total. Whether it was a couple of quid or considerably more, I really appreciate it.
I’m already looking forward to next year – and perhaps I’ll get my bloody sub-hour back!
