I was dropped off near to the start, with a small warm up walk to wake my body up. I got into conversation with another runner on the way with a pleasant 10 minute friendly chat of runners' small talk. It was rather a chilly start, overcast with a bracing breeze. Fine once I got going, but I was rather grateful for the foil blanket I'd saved from my HM, especially as it folded up into my belt.
On my way to finding the assembly point for my wave, I bumped into my friend also in the same wave, so we stayed together for a little while, ending up at the front of the wave. The glitch of this was that on setting off, many people were passing me out, and no one slower ahead to pass. A little demoralising until I looked at my watch which showed a pace between 5-6 min kms, which was the right league for my goal. Slightly faster than I anticipated, but I felt good on it so kept going.
The first couple of kms were a bit uninspiring around a commercial park, with a there and back loop before heading off to town. The return leg was better as I appreciated seeing the wave of people behind, coming up in the opposite direction.
By the time we got to town, my body was in the flow and feeling very grateful for my osteopath beating, dragging and "massaging" the tension out from my legs earlier in the week. Before too long it was the halfway point and the drinks station. This was the more interesting section through the city centre. My pace was still consistent. At some point early on, S Club 7s "don't stop moving" started rattling through my head, a pleasantly distracting motivation that I was suprisingly happy to keep there.
The last zone out of town, the runners more spaced, people begining to flag. I was doing more passing than being passed. My thigh began to whinge so I lied to myself that pain is just muscles saying more please! " It was just a tired muscle ache, and the end was drawing nearer. It was mildly annoying, but wasn't looking likely to be a hinderence. The final kilometre, my family standing on the corner to cheer me. My plan of psycadellic leggings for easy spotting worked! I had enough breath to enthusiasticly greet my children. The stadium came into view. I ramped up into my final gear, the finishers sprint. I was feeling good, my pace had been consistently better than my intended 6 min km. I passed the line. I stopped my watch as I walked the lap around the stadium. My chip time would be better than what my watch told me, and I was more than pleased with the watch.
The official verdict was 0:55:35, 24 seconds better than my watch's recording. My target of 60 minutes was smashed! The aftermath wasn't bad, a couple of days of routine muscle tiredness, not enough to put me off Buggy Babes the following day. I really enjoyed the experience, a good combination of managable, yet remaining a challenge. My next event is the 8.5 mile fun run in a month, so this will stand me in good stead.
Postscript
Later in the week, a Brownie parent who had also been in the race commented that she'd seen my picture in the paper. I thought she meant the Buggy Babes picture, but no, it was the 10k. I'd noticed a gaggle of photographers near the start, and being about 3 peopke deep in the wave, they'd got a clear shot of me and published it in the suppliment. Two photos of my athletic prowess in the local paper in a month! Not bad from the girl who came in a lap behind in the 1500m on sports day 20 years ago, wheezing over the finishing line as requests for a first aider were made!
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