My first 10km race

I entered this 10km race as part of my half marathon training schedule. We were so fortunate to have a lovely sunny day so Mike could bring the children along to share in the experience.  The location was perfect and it makes me happy that we live in a country where there are such beautiful areas to just enjoy being outdoors.  The run was along the Thames river.

We got there really early so that I could register.  This gave the children a lot of time to play and climb trees.  We also got to see everyone arrive and the atmosphere was very buzzy and fun and exciting.

After queing in the biggest toilet queue ever, and thinking I might even miss the start, I managed to get to the start a couple of minutes before the start.  There were a lot of runners so they staggered the start times, I headed to the middle back not wanting to get swept aside by the hardcore fast runners.

At the start.

So happy to be running.

The children kept busy while I ran.

The run went along the Thames and then turned around and came back again past the start and then turned back again to come back to the finish, so I got to see Mike and the kids at about 7km. I felt fantastic the first few km's and was running faster than I planned, so I followed Mike's advice of "to just go for it", but from 7km I started to suffer.  I am not sure if it was because I started out too fast or if I just wasn't feeling great this day, but from 7km to the end was a struggle with bad stitches.

Niamh waiting at the end, camera in hand.

And finally the end was in view.  I was a little disappointed because I wanted to finish under 55 minutes, and I finished in 56:27, but I always have to remind myself that just a few months ago I couldn't even run the 10km distance, so actually I am really happy that I have now completed a 10km race.  Michael was bitten by the bug and that day we entered him in the next 10km race we could find close to home.