Bourton-on-the-Water 10km

So I entered Bourton-on-the-Water 10km randomly as I had seen someone put a post up on facebook at 7am one morning, thought it might be fun to have a go. I had always been told it was a PB course, as it is a flat out and back.

I am not very confident at this distance as its so full on, I always misjudge the pace for a 10km, I either go off like a bullet and blow up by 5km or I go too slow and leave it too late.

I have been trying to turn up to Cirencester AC training sessions on a Tuesday night most weeks since Christmas which I hoped would have helped me as I hadn't done any speed work. Most my races this year are longer distances so I have mainly been running at a low intensity and longer miles, I would like to call myself an endurance runner, definitely not a 5km or 10km runner!

Race day and I was very lucky to warm up with a fellow runner that also runs with Cirencester AC. We warmed up well which was new to me, but I felt really ready for the race which was great. I placed myself not too far to the front as didn't want to get stuck with everyone sprinting off, there must have been over 600 people there.

My aim was to get a sub 40 minutes, this i had never achieved before, I think my PB was about 41 minutes.

I tried to keep a good pace looking at my watch every so often to check I was running the correct pace. I got to 5km in under 20 minutes which again was a PB for 5km for me! I only had to run another 5km PB and I would make the sub 40!

I got to 7km and felt my legs start to tire, I really thought that this meant I wasn't going to get that sub 40. Somehow I managed to fight with the voices in my head and run through that horrible feeling. I crossed the line and by the skin of my teeth got the sub 40 I wanted!

My chip time was 39.54 and gun time 39.57. Ok I only just made it but its still a sub 40. Think I was 13th lady and 4th in my age group which was good. I also think our ladies won the team prize.

I am super happy as I am not training for 10km distance, I feel like my running is finally getting there although I still have lots of work to do but its on the right track.

Roll on my next running race in 2 weeks which is the Gloucester 20 mile road race!