10K Race in the Bag!

Well I'm back from the first of my running challenges - the Bristol 10K race.  I don't have my official time yet, but it took me about 2 minutes to get through the start, and at the finish, the clock was at 58mins 20secs, so I reckon it was about 56mins, 30 secs, something like that.  I'll post my official time once it comes through.  It's been so long since I've run a race like this, that technology has really moved on - now you have a little chip that you thread onto your trainers, so you get an accurate time - it doesn't start recording until you pass the start line.

The race itself was good - there are so many good memories - seeing the elite athletes come through on the other side of the Portway and cheering them on, spotting some of my colleagues running on the other side of the Portway, and realising I wasn't that far behind them, realising I was smashing the time I wanted when I hit the half way point, stretching it out between 7-9km (which I planned to do), all the amazing crowds cheering when we came back into town at the end of the race, bumping into a friend handing out water once I'd finished, meeting up with my colleagues afterwards and comparing our war stories...

The course is almost all flat, and generally fast, with only one uphill which is steep, but not very long.  I managed to run it all, and although at first, I was getting overtaken by loads of people, towards the end, I was passing people left, right and centre!  I did get overtaken at 9km by a dude with a surfboard - he was looking very fresh - no idea how he did it.  I had carefully planned out my race strategy beforehand, particularly as the maps supplied were rubbish.  The first bit of the race is a really long road out of the city, where you double back after quite a long way.  The map made it look like a short hop, but it was actually really far.  I took it pretty steadily on this part, as it would be easier to overcook it, but still was ahead of schedule.

I found the second part of the course challenging, but that's because I was tired and pushing it to get a good time.  I found the last 1km really tough, and felt a bit sick, but once I could see the finishing line, I managed to sprint it.  I felt awful once I'd finished it, but after a couple of minutes, I managed to walk it off and felt OK.

It was quite a cold day, about 12-13 C, so I appreciated my foil blanket. There were a few spots of rain towards the end of my race and once I'd finished.  All in all, perfect running conditions! 

So now, I have to get in training for my next 10K, which is totally flat, but on uneven ground - wish me luck for July!

Thanks for reading and all your support! xx