With a few more races under my belt and a PB to boot I feel it necessary to give an update on my journey! The last time I wrote I was due to take on Tynedale 10km still searching for my sub 60 10km time. Someone had told me that the Tynedale course was pretty flat (I can hear the jaws dropping now) and I soon found out that that person was telling me a big fat lie! The first mile was pretty fast and downhill and since I had been warned of this I tried my best to hold back, the rest of the course was undualating with lots of ups and downs. It was a hot and sticky night and I wasn't looking forward to the race at all and this showed in my finishing time - 64:22.
It was a good night for my other club mates though with Steve Cairns winning the race and quite a few others finishing in the top 20!
I've been carrying a bit of an injury too recently and finally took myself along to a physio, I was diagnosed with plantar faciitis and a strain on the top of my foot. This has pretty much stopped me running for the past two week and I've hardly done any training at all since Tynedale 10km. I had a number for the Sunderland 5km but was unsure whether to run as the Great North 10km follows on Sunday and since the Great North 10km was my first ever race last year I really wanted to return this year to show that hill who's boss!
I've been carrying a bit of an injury too recently and finally took myself along to a physio, I was diagnosed with plantar faciitis and a strain on the top of my foot. This has pretty much stopped me running for the past two week and I've hardly done any training at all since Tynedale 10km. I had a number for the Sunderland 5km but was unsure whether to run as the Great North 10km follows on Sunday and since the Great North 10km was my first ever race last year I really wanted to return this year to show that hill who's boss!
After a few physio appointments I decided to go ahead with the Sunderland 5km. My foot was strapped up good and proper, I hadn't had much pain in it recently and I was desperate to run. We got there early and as always there were other members of TBH looking to set new PBs. This gave us some time to warm up and check the course out, the main advice was to not go off too fast as the first kilometre was downhill. The gun went and everyone was off, the field seemed heavy of fast club runners who were looking to get good times on this fast and flat course. I had in my mind what time I wanted to do and what pace I needed to keep - I hit the 1km mark at 5:09, faster than my aim but this ment I had a few seconds to play with later in the race when it got tough. As the surface evened out I settled into my pace and once the first lap was done I knew there wasn't much further to go, as I got between the 3 and 4km mark I could start to feel the two weeks off training. I stopped to catch my breath and my 4th kilometre was 6:14, I was going to have to pull something out of the bag to PB . . .
And I did it!! I knocked 40seconds off my previous 5km time back in March and I managed my last kilometre in 5:16! My hashtag could return on twitter #PBgirl! Lots and lots of positives to take away and as always things to learn from for the next race. I really enjoy doing shorter distances (they are over quicker after all) and I think I'd like to concentrate on shorter distances next year and target specific races. I also made it the whole way round with NO pain so hopefully a sign that the injury is on it's way out.
Next the Great North 10km and still chasing the sub 60 dream!