I signed up for this 10K race not long after I graduated, at Easter. I remember being quite nervous about making the commitment. It felt like quite a serious challenge at the time, a bit of a stretch.
I went on to MyAsics and made myself a training plan, which I sort of followed at the beginning and then... well not so much (you're not the only one Anniemurph ).
A couple of weeks ago, as MyAsics was encouraging me to do longer runs, I thought I'd try Jeffing it (suggestion of someone on here, sorry can't remember who). I picked a loop near where I live that I knew was challenging (plenty of hills). I thought it was around 7 or 8K. As per Mr Dalloway's calculations I completed the circuit by doing 60 seconds running followed by 30 seconds walking, all the way round. And I managed it quite comfortably, despite the fact that it ended up being 10.8K! All the vibrating and beeping nearly exhausted my Garmin's battery too, but thankfully it puttered on to the end. And that was the furthest I'd ever run. Ever. Except I wasn't sure if it really counted, given that I'd walked a third of it.
ANYWAY.
I was in two minds about whether to Jeff today's 10k. But looking at the route, it was on the lakeside, which meant it had to be flat, and the start was significantly higher than the finish, which meant that where it wasn't flat it had to be downhill. So I decided I'd try to run the whole thing.
Having exhausted all my podcasts on a 7 hr drive yesterday I went for a musical accompaniment. I dialled in 160 bpm to my Spotify running playlist and off I went. I was in the tail end group but clearly there were plenty of people still behind me, and all of them passed me in the first km or so. At least that's what it felt like. But I kept to my 160 bpm and slogged up the first hill (yes, the course wasn't flat at all). By the time I passed the 2km mark I was on a gentle downhill and feeling great. Breathing fine, legs fine, all fine. Kms 3 and 4 were harder, but just the usual kind of "I'm running" harder. By 5km people had stopped passing me, and I started passing a few myself. The course turned around at this point: I no longer had the sun in my eyes, but I did have a nice breeze. Kms 7 and 8 were a bit of a slog but I knew I was nearly home, and I also knew by this point that there was no way I was going to walk. The home straight began with a nice downhill and then it was "oh well I suppose I'd better try and run a bit faster now since everyone's watching". And then just like that it was all over.
Time was 1:09:26 - just under the 1:10 I was aiming for. Strava told me I'd nabbed a few PBs along the way - fastest 5k among them. BUT to my disgust my Garmin had measured the route at 9.97 not 10k - so I didn't get a 10k record! Bit gutted about that... But I suppose I'll just have to do another one.
For my next trick, I'm thinking of doing a 6K fun run in the woods in a couple of weeks.
Obligatory bling picture included.
Where are you, though? Do tell me that's not a shark fin in the water behind you!
Good planning with the route and your Spotify playlist - a great strategy that paid off well. Congratulations! So when is your next one? 
My First 10K - Oh Bullocks!
My first 10k!!!!!!!
My First 10K Race
My first 10k race
At last my first non-stop 10k! 
