Wilmslow 10k Road Race, 27 Nov 2022

Leading up to this race I was not feeling overly positive as I had struggled to put together any solid training and my fitness levels were not great. Despite this, I decided to give it a go and use the race as a benchmark for my winter training.

On the morning of the race, the weather condition was perfect with a cool temperature and no breeze. I decided to stand between the 40-minute and 45-minute pacer hoping to finish close to/under 43 minutes. The start was very congested and it was difficult to settle to a fast pace as I tried to move through the crowds ahead. I settled into a pace of around 4:23m/km and at the halfway mark felt I was breathing a bit hard for this point in the race. However, knowing I had nothing to lose I decided to try and hold my pace and see where I ended up.

As I approached the 7km mark, my legs started to really hurt and I was fighting to keep the pace. Then out of the blue, an older male ran up to me and encouraged me to go with him, telling me he had not altered his pace and for me to just run with him. I ran behind him and concentrated on just holding on. The 8km point came and so did the only hill in the race which I powered up telling myself that once at the top it was a little over 1km.

With 1km left I quickly checked my watch and realised I needed to run a 4:22 km to finish under 44 mins. At this point, my lungs were screaming and my legs felt like they were not moving as fast as I was telling them to. However, with the encouragement of my new friend and the thought of a mince pie at the end I dug in and managed the last km in 4minutes.

Not the time I should be running but considering the lack of focus and consistency recently I only have myself to blame. This was a much-needed wake up call and hopefully a kickstart to getting back on track!

Alli Connolly