Yesterday brought a rest day in the A-Z blog challenge and while my creative mind took a break, my body had no such opportunity as Sunday was my first running race of the year – the Wexford Town 10k. The weatherwoman had forecast rain but we woke up to a stunning sunny morning for the early two hour drive from Dublin to Wexford Town on the south east coast. My company had a corporate involvement in the event which was also in aid of a charity and an extra vacation day was promised to all staff who took part in the 10k or half marathon. This was a no brainer…run 10k and get a day’s holiday!

After injury and illness had blighted my running training early in the year, a personal best was never on the cards but at the same time I was excited about the prospect of getting back to competitive action and seeing what the standard would be like. And how I would fare against the field. As it turned out, the standard wasn’t bad at all and the hilly route was certainly challenging. But the gorgeous weather and my lively playlist kept my spirits up. Though I didn’t push myself to the limit, I managed a mixture of brisk kilometres and a few where I needed to hold back and catch my breath. I usually like to wind up for a sprint finish so as I went through the last few kilometres back into town against a difficult headwind, the thought of sprinting over the finish like kept me going. The sprint finish was a nice way to finish the race and pick up a few places while clocking a time of 45 mins. 28secs. Four minutes off my personal best, but hopefully that can be broken later in the year! I was delighted too that my knee had held up during the race without any pain; the weeks of physio and exercises are finally paying off.

The sun stayed out as we enjoyed the buzz at the finish line while rehydrating and exchanging tales of the race with work colleagues and other local participants. Overall, a super start to the racing season. Now I need to sign up for the next few and step up the training!