Owning the 10k Distance

I'm on top of the world right now!

Yesterday, I broke a goal that I have been working towards for weeks, if not months.

I ran 10k in under an hour. 59 minutes, 22 seconds to be exact. YAY!!! :D

To give you an idea, since I finished my half marathon training, I have been running 10k most weekends. I go round the same route every week, up and around Arthurs Seat. A prettier route in Edinburgh you will not find. (Think I'm wrong? Tell me in the comments!)


I missed it by 14 seconds last week. 14 SECONDS. I was devastated. I owed it to myself to crack it this week - and I am so glad I did!

This is a huge milestone for me, but I still have a lot of work to do. I've signed up to a couple of autumn races this week, and both of them are 10k. While they're less than half the distance of the half marathon, I still expect them to be pretty challenging. Instead of developing my endurance, I am switching the focus of my training onto increasing my speed.

The first one is the Loch Ness 10k, which is part of the Loch Ness marathon festival (despite several attempts by Mr MFC and other interested parties to persuade me otherwise, I will not be running the marathon. yet.). It's a pretty flat course, much flatter than my usual 10k jaunt, so I reckon that scoring a PB there is pretty feasible.

My second race is on my home turf: the Bupa 10k run in Edinburgh. It's a lot more up-and-down but I'll still be looking to get a decent time in. I have signed up to my work's running team, and we will be competing against other companies to get the fastest average time. Last year's winners clocked in an average time of around 47 minutes - eek! While I know I probably won't do it that fast, I don't want to drag down our team's time too much. It will be my first competitive race, and I refuse to let my team down.

Look at me - in a sports team. I'm like a proper jock! HA!

So yeah, being able to crack the 10k in under an hour is a huge achievement for me, but hopefully this is just the beginning. You ain't seen nothing yet!