So this race report is a little overdue. Owing to some personal circumstances, I haven’t blogged since last year- this race report is a good way to start again! But before we do, let’s briefly rewind back to the Vitality London 10,000 from 2018. It was my worst performance, giving me a PW of 42:00. I run this event every year, and knew I had to make up for it in 2019.

I was joined at this run by Sania and making his supporting debut was Scruffy the Cockapoo (at just over 13 weeks old!). I met Jon and Karen before the start as well, as well as Ilia. I made my way to the start area and engaged in a warm-up with some strides and my typical pre-race dynamic stretches. I met Matt Jiggins in the start pen and we had a quick chat. The elite joined in and were just ahead, looking super strong as they warmed-up in their cordoned off area.

We started promptly on time at 10:00 hrs. It was a good start and I quickly found my stride completing the first kilometre in 3:47. The first half led us into the City of London and I felt pretty comfortable reaching 5k in 18:43. I pushed through trying to keep a relatively even pace/effort. I began to fade a little by the 7km mark, but kept going through. Kilometre 6-7 was my slowest in 3:58. I felt stronger just before I got to the 9k mark as I knew the end was in sight! I pushed hard and ran the final kilometre in 3:33, my fastest in this race. I also met Sunil Sharma here as he pushed hard to the finish as well. The course was slightly more than 10k on my Garmin and I crossed the line in 37:56, just coming in with a sub-38! I am pleased with that as it is my second quickest time on this course, 37:08 being my 10k and course PB from 2015. I will beat that one day, watch this space!

After the event I was reunited with Sania and Scruffy. I also bumped into Jamie on my way to Cafe Nero! We then had a picnic in Hyde Park with Sania’s sister before heading back home. All in all, great performance and an enjoyable day. I hope 2020 will be even better- cannot wait!