Big 10K Race Report

On Sunday I did what felt like my first race for AGES! It was great and I really enjoyed racing after nearly 3 months off.

We arrived in Bexhill at about 9.45am in time to register Robbie and Emma for the kids' race. Their race was 500m and exactly the same as last year. Robbie ran by himself, while I stayed with Emma to make sure she was ok. It was great. Robbie ran off ahead, and Emma and I were a little distance behind. They had to run down a road, round a traffic cone, then back up to the start / finish. At the turnaround point, it was slightly uphill, and Emma really impressed me as she sped up and overtook some other kids who slowed down on the hill! She ran really well and I loved running alongside her!

This was actually before the races...

I don't know any of the results as unfortunately the race website has had some technical problems and they haven't posted the children's results yet. ETA - results now up! Robbie ran 2m34s (as opposed to 3m03s last year), and Emma ran 2m49s (3m40s last year). They came 9th and 11th out of 26 runners, and Emma was 1st 4-year-old! I'm so proud of them! Anyway, they got a medal each and both said they enjoyed it. I'll probably buy some official photos as there are some great ones, even though they are outrageously expensive as usual...

After a couple of other races for older kids, it was my 10K. The weather was perfect at the start - dry, overcast and cool. The route was a little different from last year, and we ran down to the seafront, West along by the beach, turned round and back to the start, then East along the beach, up a hill, then down and back again.

As I ran the first few kms, I could see my time was pretty good, and I was around a 50min pace at the first km markers. However, as the race went on, I lost a little speed. I was still around my PB time though, and then I got to the hill. It was short but steep, and slowed me down a bit. Finally, on the run back to the finish after the turnaround, the wind had got up and it was quite a blustery headwind on the last 2 km.

As I got to the final stretch, I kicked for all I could, and overtook a woman in front of me. I ran really hard to the finish, and felt like I'd had a great spurt of speed! I was really happy with my finish. When I checked my time though, I couldn't believe it. My last 10k and PB was 51m17s. This run was 51m18s. I didn't know whether to be pleased or gutted! I didn't think I'd get close to that time, taking the hill and wind into account, so I was really impressed by my speed, but then frustrated that I could have got a PB... Aaaargh!

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with it, and it's definitely a big improvement on last year's (injury-affected) time of 57m16s. In fact I was 102/246 runners overall; 9/80 females, and 2/14 in my age group! I'm really pleased with those numbers, although it's a pity there was only a prize for the 1st in each age group! I'm glad the kids had fun, and the t-shirt I got was pretty cool. Hopefully we'll all be back next year.

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