Leeds Abbey Dash

Well after pretty much a month off and a couple of weeks of getting back into training I thought the Leeds Abbey Dash 10k would be a good measure of how unfit I've got!  It was really nice to do a race with no pressure and no expectation, but more for a benchmark and a good bit of training.  My sister raced as well and so it was a good family day out!

Leeds Abbey Dash 10k

Having not been out training much I had forgotten how cold it was and so we hid in Wetherspoons until the very last minute before dashing to the start.  This meant we had completely missed the calls for the appropriate pens and with over 8,000 runners it made it hard to get to where we supposed to be! This made the first mile a bit hectic once we finally got going as I was weaving in and out but it broke the run up and the course itself was quite wide so plenty of room to overtake.

Last year's Jane Tomlinson 10k in Leeds

 

I clocked 43:36 which is actually a bit better than I was expecting.  Having only run a hand full of times since Nancy I thought I had lost a lot more form than that.  It also gives me confidence to go away and actually do some decent training before another 10k in a month's time, perhaps the Telford 10k in  mid December.  My sister narrowly missed her sub 60 target but finished with a massive smile on her face and as her training had been hampered with injury, I was really proud to see her finish.

One of my first road races....going off too quick!

Once upon a time I would have been overjoyed with a 43 minute 10k.  When I first started road running in my early twenties I just could not break 55 minutes.  I used to get 56 minutes or 55 minutes and so many seconds and it just seemed impossible to break.  I ran with a lovely bunch of girls at my local running club for about 6 years and although I loved it, and went on warm weather training camps, I never seemed to improve.  It wasn't until the winter of 2009, once I started tri and cross training, that I could put in any decent performances, recording a massive PB of 42:50.  To take such a chunk of time off after doing far less running was mind blowing.  2010 saw me running some 41s and 42s at the end of triathlons and in 2011 I got a new PB of 40:41 which still stands to this date.  Needless to say, I am now in pursuit of a sub 40minute run which seems to have evaded me for some time now (just like my sub 55min goal did!).

Running for my old club back in 2009, on the verge of improving

Current PBS -

• 5k - 18:49
• 5 mile - 33:51
• 10k - 40:41
• 1/2 marathon - 1:41:59 (end of a half-ironman)

It's funny that whatever your times, or whatever your goals, they are no more or less important, or no easier or harder to achieve than the goal before.  Although running remains my weakness, it's nice to reflect on how far my running has come in recent years (despite a particularly bad year for running this year) but I think a bit of perserverence and a bit of smart training will be the key to some running PBs in 2013.