I’ve been meaning to write a race report on the MoRun Greenwich Park 10k for a while, but never got around to it (procrastination rules!). So here it is! I ran this wonderfully organised event back in November 2016. It took place on the 27th, two days after my birthday, and I thought it would be a nice treat to myself. The 10k is one of my favourite distances; short enough to be over quickly, yet long enough to feel accomplished. Having not raced 10k since the summer, I had no real expectations and just wanted to go out and enjoy then run. I have only done one other run/race in Greenwich Park (BHF 10k back in August 2014), so forgot about the ‘undulating’ nature of the terrain. I was about to be reminded!

I arrived at the venue in good time for the 9:30am start, although it was a little walk from the station. The day was chilly, and I knew this would be a tough run. After engaging in a brief warm-up jog and some stretches, I made my way to the start line. A few other keen looking runners joined me near the front. After the gun went off, I got into the zone. The first kilometre had a long stretch going downhill which felt great! My pace at a quick glance was around 3:30/km; potentially unsustainable! We then looped around before returning, and now going up the same downhill part. My pace went right down to ~4:30/km. After battling it to the top, the rest of the course was quite undulating. There were a few ups and downs before getting back to the start line again for the 5km split. This was a two lap race, so I had to do the entire loop again! My 5k split was 18:56, which was well within my expectation to simply run the course in under 40 minutes. The second half was a little slower, and returning for the dreaded hill again was not appreciated. None-the-less, getting to the top felt good, and I pushed on for the remainder of the race, feeling quite comfortable. There was another final incline just before the finish line, and I powered up and managed to finish fairly strong.

I definitely was not cold by the end anymore! After a few handshakes with some other runners, I really wanted to go home. Sania told me that I had finished in 4th position (but it was actually 5th), which I was pleasantly surprised with! My Garmin said I had run 9.7km with a time of 38:39. But as always, chip time prevails, so that was my official 10k time for the race. Brilliant! We then went to Costa in Canary Wharf en-route home. I really enjoyed my final race for 2016, and can definitely recommend the MoRun. I’ll most likely be returning this year, too. The course is definitely tough, and I think one run in Greenwich Park per year is more than enough!