A scrappy final few weeks of training, a knee injury, as well as incredibly warm weather, weren’t ideal circumstances for my first ever race, the Bupa London 10K. Nonetheless I approached the start line aiming to head out at my target pace of 8 min/mile, for a 50 minute finish time, hoping that I’d be able to hang on despite the weather.
Thankfully the crowded start tempered my usual habbit of starting out way too quick, but the field soon spread out when the road widened as we headed towards Admiralty Arch. The first few km went well, varying between 7:45 and 8:15 pace. I overtook quite a few people, probably due to a combination of my longer estimated finished time when I entered the race, and the heat slowing others up. However by 5k I was starting to feel the heat and almost began to question if I could manage the same distance again at the same pace without stopping for a breather.
Running along familiar streets past so many London landmarks was great though, as were all the supporters along the embankment, and after another few km my breathing came back to me and I started to look forward to the finish. When I got to Horse Guards Road a glance at my Garmin told me I was on to hit my 50 minute target, so I dug deep and picked up the pace as much as I could for the last 1000 meters.
In the end I came in at 49:49, bang on my target time which I’m pretty pleased with given the troubled final few weeks of training, and the hot, hot weather. I really enjoyed the race, thought the organisation was excellent, and think I’ll definitely be signing up to do it again next year. All in all a pretty good first running race.
| KM | Time | Pace | HR | Elev |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4:44 | 7:36 min/mi | 178 | 29 ft |
| 2 | 4:48 | 7:43 min/mi | 191 | -9 ft |
| 3 | 5:01 | 8:03 min/mi | 164 | -14 ft |
| 4 | 4:58 | 7:59 min/mi | 181 | 56 ft |
| 5 | 4:56 | 7:56 min/mi | 186 | 1 ft |
| 6 | 4:38 | 7:26 min/mi | 178 | -15 ft |
| 7 | 4:36 | 7:25 min/mi | 187 | -36 ft |
| 8 | 5:04 | 8:08 min/mi | 184 | -2 ft |
| 9 | 5:10 | 8:20 min/mi | 187 | 7 ft |
| 10 | 4:52 | 7:49 min/mi | 186 | -1 ft |
| 11 | 1:05 | 7:00 min/mi | 195 | -19 ft |