I did this women's-only 10K yesterday. The race was extremely well organised, with a smooth bag drop and pick-up. Even for this relatively short distance, there were loads of very encouraging marshals en route plus a number of water stations, more than enough direction signs and distance signs every kilometre, and two first aiders on bicycles making sure everyone was OK. The race was in the very lovely Bute park, with no traffic and no time limit. If all the other Women's Running events are like this one, I can thoroughly recommend them, especially to slower runners and beginners, who will meet lots of encouragement and kindness throughout.
On the basis of recent experience in my training, I decided to use Galloway run-walk-run intervals right from the start. I dropped down from my previous times and alternated 30 seconds running with 30 seconds walking from start to finish. Some of you may be thinking that is a real cop-out for a C25K graduate. However, while I expected to finish in about 90 minutes, I actually did it in 82:26!
My overall pace yesterday was about 13 minutes/mile; my Garmin recorded a little bit over 10K if you think the maths doesn't tally!. This is fairly similar to the best paces I have ever achieved in two parkruns. On those occasions, I tried to run for as long as possible (about 2 miles) before starting to take walk breaks. This time, I performed equally well but over twice the distance and walking for half the total time!!!
I remain a total convert to the Galloway method. It has transformed the running experience for this fat, older (60 years old) woman, who finds it difficult to push past her very low endurance/pain thresholds.
It was a very wet and not particularly warm day. The rain became really heavy during the second half of the race. Afterwards, I was VERY cold and hungry as well as being thoroughly drenched in rain. The wait for my hot sandwich and coffee in Subway next to Cathays station seemed endless despite probably being less than 5 minutes!!! I then had to wait 15 minutes for my train, on a platform with no waiting room, brrrrrrr. By the time I got home an hour later, I was shivering like crazy. Numerous hot drinks and a full meal later, I finally warmed up. This night owl then did something totally out of character by going to bed at 9.30 pm and sleeping for 11 hours!
First 10K in under an hour!!
My first 10k race
First official 10K 
First event - Brackley 10K Chicken Run
My first 10k 😃
