Wellington 10

The Welly 10 My first 10k race turned out not to be my finest hour (or 1 hour 14minutes and 4 seconds to be precise). I know the area well and was back on home turf. I knew it would be fairly hilly but thought my Devon training would be more than enough preparation. It would have been I'm sure, but something occured that I had not yet encountered whilst running. Heat. It became clear to me in the first kilometer that this was a whole new ball game. I felt drained, my stomach felt queasy and I really wasn't sure I would be able to finish. I had to walk quite a bit which didn't help my morale and I felt undeserving to be wearing my Strugglers vest! Anyway, after a good dowsing by a kind drinks station chap, I was temporarily revived enough to run a good stretch and felt better in the last 2 km. I didn't quite manage a sprint finish but it was the fastest I'd run all morning. So not a great run but I can only hope that for Taunton 10k it may have cooled down a little to give me a fighting chance a better time. Hats off to my fellow Strugglers on the day (Claire, Lucy, Naomi, Paul and Mike) you make it look so easy!

By Julie Young