I was slightly (a lot) nervous going in to this one as the official cut off time is 45 minutes and it was only a couple of months ago I got under this time, and only by a few seconds.

I didn’t enter last year as my 5km time was still over this so this was a step forward!

I caught up with some people I knew and some I met for the first time, it was lovely to meet people from my running club and/or the internet.

The Final Countdown started playing and soon we were off.

There were two starts (either side of a dual carriageway) – that was a great idea!

The first couple of km were great (I did laugh as I got passed by a t-rex), after this I started to overheat. I had double layer and gloves, this was a mistake! It was arctic when I left the house but it had warmed up and I was trying really hard.

I felt strong, and only had to walk a couple of times. I was really pleased with my performance and got a PB! The km ticked by nicely and at no point was I worried about the cut off or not being able to finish.

I used to wonder if I could run any faster than 10 min / km – two of my km were below 8 min / km and the other three were below 9 min / km so I am very happy with my progress!