Aiming high

I had approached Bradford 10K like a carefully timetabled military operation. When to get up, when to go for a jog, when to eat, when to drink, when to warm up... But I was a girl who wanted a PB and following the advice I was given when in Snowdonia, I was damn well going to give myself the best chance of getting one. I even went as far as shoving a gel down my gullet (yuck).

Crossing the start line, I tried very, very hard to avoid going out all guns blazing, keeping my pace within a predetermined range. This seemed to work well and I felt pretty good for the first few Ks. Reaching the hill (well this is Yorkshire!), I managed to gain a few places, before I launched myself into a kamikaze descent. Back on the main road, there were a couple of further undulations until we turned at around 5.5 km.

The main road back into Bradford is a very gentle climb and it just felt like an absolute grind from 6K onwards and I had to give myself a good kicking between 8 and 9km, as my pace slowed and my body started to strongly object. However, comparing the scrawl on my hand to the numbers on my watch, I knew I was on target so I picked my feet up and tried that little bit harder.

Finally I found myself in the finishing straight and although I tried to end on a sprint, I'm not sure if I actually managed to move any faster, with the last few hundred metres feeling like miles. Eventually crossing the line, Martin from the club steered me to the water station and made sure I didn't pass out!

Finally at the line and totally spent.

The race atmosphere was lovely, it was a large event, but not too large, and the marshals were all members of local clubs or familiar faces from Park Run. I was even interviewed live on Bradford community radio before kick off! As I ran round, it really spurred me on to hear my name being called, to see a familiar face, or to just get a 'Come on Queensbury'. It was also great to run in club colours and to feel part of a super friendly and encouraging team. 

My time of 53:47 well exceeded my 55:00 target and meant I had bettered by Leeds 10K time, from July, by a massive 3:12! As a rather long legged, youngish woman, I know there is still huge room for improvement but I have come a long way since those cold C25K days back in January. As I tucked into a large slab of malteser tiffin after the race, for now at least, it was job done. 

Proudly modelling my finishers t-shirt!