Oh what a feeling.......

We went to Smithfield yesterday and I ran the 10km with Deanne. Deanne has been out injured and sick with a virus so she was happy to plod with me. Ray looked after Chalrie and walked with Bernie- they had completed a really long hard run at 6ft the day before!

I felt quite nervous...I was not sure if I would finish the distance but was happy to walk if I needed to. Deanne and I did not talk about a time but I was hopping to do about 5:40 pace for the 10km. We started and felt quite puffy....but settled into a comfortable pace quite quickly. I was suprised to see we were doing 5:30 pace and Deanne and I decided that we felt comfortable so we would keep it up as along as possible. Hahaha there was not a lot of chatting....both of us need to work on our fitness before are back to chatting level :-) I felt really comfortable and we got to the 5km mark and we were still just under 5:30/km pace...woo hoo! Deanne and I felt confident that we could keep this up for the rest of the run. We huffed back up what ued to be a slight incline but now felt like a huge hill :-) We got to the drink station which marked 7km and I told Deanne that this was now the longest I had run in a long time. I still felt comfortable and felt excited that I might be able to do around 55mins. It was also motivating knowing that Ray, Charlie and Bernie were waiting for us at then end :-)

We started to pick the pace up and when we got to a km to go we picked up the pace and aimed to do the last km pretty hard. The last 50m did hurt and I started to feel like stopping but I looked at the time and new I just had to hold it together and were under 55mins! So I just focused on the finish line and Deanne and I crossed together in 54:30. We averaged about 5:24/km and the last km was 4:55! I am so happy with the run....it felt really comfortable and I did not feel like I was killing myself at any point. The last two kms we worked hard....but there was still more in the tank! It has been a long time watching everyone run and race....and I loved the feeling you get when you work hard. It was so nice to be able to run with Deanne and cross the line together! So now we have a benchmark to improve on.....only only 7 mins off my PB :-) I have pulled up today feeling fine. I thought my lower back might feel sore....but I am feeling great.

I am looking forward to putting in some more running and seeing if I can improve on my time in Canberra in April :-)