Preparing for the 10k

I have my 10k race at the weekend. The timing is quite good as the start of school term is a natural time to taper, and the 2 weeks of Easter holiday was a good chance for a last boost to my training. I'm capable of running it all, so I've been trying to concentrate on that 6 min km pace to try to reach my goal of an hour. I've been close, so I'm hoping that the race day atmosphere, flat course (compared to my training) and lack of roads to cross will make that subtle difference.

I've had some good sessions. On one, I ran the 10k, and just felt really good. I came in slightly off my target, but it was a really enjoyable run with little resistance from my body. I went for a longer run/ walk into the countryside on another day, 8 miles in 2 hours, bearing in mind, it's hilly, muddy and lots of gates and stiles to slow me down. I wanted a hit of countryside, and thought a longer session would be good for stamina. I also drove to an interesting park and ran a couple of laps. I normally run from home to maximise my time, so a change of scenery is a nice novelty.

My main gripe at the moment is tight calves and thighs, so hopefully a visit to the osteopath will ease those out. It's the time of the month when my body reminds me I'm due for a visit with random niggles and tension.

My 4 year old wants to go and spectate. He's getting into my fitness bug. He's even been in the local paper! A couple of weeks ago, our Buggy Babes class were working out as a reporter for the local paper passed by, so he took some pictures of the class, and last week we had a spread of pictures including one of me pushing the pram, accompanied by my son jogging along with us. I hope this is the start of a long term love of active living, because fitness helps you get the most of life in all areas. It's good for me to have the motivation of my time goal for the race, but in the big picture, the key thing that matters is that I am fit and able to enjoy my life much more than when I am not. But I won't argue with the bonus of meeting some goals along the way!

I have also achieved my 100th run. Permission to feel smug please.