NI Masters - 10 km Road Race

My glutes were feeling sore before the race started. This could be due to Friday's race, my 5 sets of tennis yesterday or standing for a few hours at a party last night using my core to stand up straight rather than slouch as I am often tempted to do. I guess it was a combination of all three things.

The course was 8 x 1.25 km laps on a lumpy course with a small rise at the top end. The weather was hot with a light breeze for which gave some welcome cooling. I was happy with my pace at the start. I went through the first two laps in the same times at around 6:11 pace. I was in second place for the first half of the race and passed the half way mark in 31:16. My glutes were really starting to hurt. It goes to show that there is still plenty of training needed to get them into condition but I was pleased to be aware that they were being engaged! I received my first warning in the 4th or 5th lap and another warning in the following lap. At the end of the 6th lap I saw that I had 2 penalties on the board and so slowed up to an easy pace to concentrate on keeping myself upright through the core. I hadn't seen any other warnings so I was pretty confident that I could get through without receiving any more cards. I lapped Philip (my husband) about 20 m before the finish and completed the race in 5th place in 64:20. It was not a great time (my PB is 61:00) but at least I was not disqualified.

NI Masters - 10 km Road Race