A good debut!

Well after a week or so's solid training, it was time to race.
I think it was mere curiosity rather than anything else which has driven me to enter a 10k. I’ve been on the look out for a local one which doesn’t cost a bomb to enter for while; Harrogate Town Centre was to fit the bill perfectly.
The course has been changed in the past couple of years to eliminate a sizeable hill in the route (typical road runners!). Still, I wasn’t to complain as the eradication of a hill would surely mean I could get a faster time.
As I lined up, the atmosphere was reasonably friendly but equally intimidating as people jostled to get to the front of the grid. Without any warning, the horn sounded and my first ever 10k was underway. I set off steady but soon got into the pace of the race and started pushing on, passing the early high flyers seemingly effortlessly. The organisers still seemed to have picked an ‘undulating route’ as we seemed to be forever gaining and losing height; there was certainly a lack of flat running. I hit the first mile marker in a time of 5:37 (!). I definitely felt as though this pace wasn’t sustainable for a further 5 miles.
It was as we neared the 3 mile mark that it became apparent that the race was 2 laps! I now started to feel the strain of the early miles which were all sub 5:50 and the tedious nature of 2 laps began to damage my psychologically. Still I fought on, up-down-up and round the houses of Harrogate.
I tried to hang on to the couple of runners in front and despite losing a little bit of ground, they didn’t get away too much. I was relieved to see the 6 mile marker; only 0.2 miles to go! All I focused on now was getting to the line and so all the pain could be relieved. As I lunged over the line, I looked at the big timer which showed 36:50. So, a pace of about 5:54 per mile over 6.2 miles.
I didn’t really know what this meant but as I had set out with a goal of 38 minutes, I couldn’t complain. Had I paced it better, I may have earned something more respectable. Still on a hilly and windy course I felt fairly satisfied, and even more so by the fact that I’d actually done my first 10k. Will this be my last? My last for a while I think! Don’t get me wrong, it was a very well organised event with a nice goody bag at the finish, but I don’t think I could pound the streets with minimal enjoyment week in week out. I’ll stick to the fells from now on, until I pluck up the madness/courage to try and beat the time I set today!