The best inspiration is not to outdo others, but to outdo ourselves

It was nice to be back for my 6th running of this race. I missed it last year and was very sorry to have broken my run of completing this event. I got myself into Leeds bright and early this morning, something that turned out to be just as well. It was quite a bit busier around the race area than it has been in the past. This appeared to be due to there being road closures in the area for roadworks as well as for the race itself. This is when a little local knowledge goes a long way and I was able to find a very handy parking space tucked away and very near to the start area in front of the town hall. I was there far too early, but I knew I needed to be to make sure I was parked and sorted. Mind you, by the time I'd spent an age in the queue for the portaloo, there wasn't such a lot of time to go anyway.

As usual the atmosphere before the race was really good, lots of friendly chat. So the fact that I had gone on my own didn't matter at all. I had a nice chat with a guy who did the Edinburgh marathon last year and then chatted with three ladies who were just getting into running in events like this. One of them wanted to try triathlon, so we had a bit of a chat about that too. The start area was set out with predicted finish times, I didn't really know what I was likely to do, so opted for putting myself behind the 60 minute board. there's nothing worse for all concerned than putting yourself too far forward and just getting in the way. Not that it seems to stop some people from doing it!

The start itself made me very glad for chip timing. They had announced the leaders already through the 3K mark before I'd even managed to get to the start line. I was determined just to run my own race and see what I could do and was happy in the knowledge that the chip would record my proper time for me. Mind you, I had my own watch going too. I wanted to be able to check my progress as I went on and to know as soon as I finished how I had done. The weather was okay for running, it was chilly but not horribly cold and there wasn't any rain until I was on my way back towards the start. Even then it wasn't all that heavy, enough to make me glad I'd put my contact lenses in though!

I was checking my time at each K marker and knew that I was making good time, it was taking me less than 6 minutes to get from one to the next. So I knew that if I kept it up I could get in under an hour. That was what I wanted and what I haven't been managing in 10K races recently. I knew I'd trained pretty well this time and that certainly helps, but you still never really know what will happen on the day. As it was, I felt pretty good. I knew I was pushing myself, but it felt sustainable too. I was getting tired by the last couple of kilometres, but I was hardly about to let it make me give it up by then. I had the goal very much in sight and every intention of achieving it.

I did it! I completed the race in 58:33! I am really pleased with that. It's not the fastest I've ever done it, but it's better than my last 2 runnings by quite some margin and it's better than I have been doing in general. A much more positive note on which to end my racing year. Woohoo!