10K race should I enter, love the setting but feel I would be rubbish.

[cheltsam83]

I took up running a couple of years ago an love it. I even joined a local running group. I have entered a handful of 5K races best time 27 mins and a couple of 10K. 10K is the limit of my ability and takes me about 1hr 15mins to plod that sort of distance. I haver seen a race over Easter for 10K which is set in beautful grounds of a local country house. However I am scared to enter. Looking at the results over the previous 2 years for both Easter and Summer races so 4 races in total, there are normally 300 ish people running and I would be stone dead last with current times. Should i enter it scares me that everyone else will be zipping ahead inclusing those who aee a lot older than me. I know its stupied but it brings back memmories at school of being the worst in class and thats why I only recently started to exercise again. All the other events I have done have had at least a 1000 people taking part so I have felt less of a fraud. Should I book on, part of me wants to another part makes me want to run in the opposite direction.

I didn't start running until I was pushing 50.

If I'd known then what I know now, I wouldn't have given a toss about being last. Because with years of experience under my belt, I know that it really, really doesn't matter. But at the outset, I didn't know that, and would have minded very much indeed.

I still want to tell you to do it.

I was terminally unsporty at school, didn't believe that C25K could possibly work unless you were one of the sporty girls who has lapsed a bit, though I was the wrong shape to be a runner (excuses and insecurities ad nauseam). But I ended up running quite well as a veteran. Much to my amazement!!

And finding that running communities contain lovely, friendly welcoming people (OK, there are still a few over-entitled weirdos, but really not many). And we all have shockingly bad days out of the blue - I went from one race winning my age/sex category to coming last in one on the same course only 4 weeks later, because the wheels all came off that day and I'm still not sure why. And it was a bit shit on the day - I wanted to tell everyone that I wasn't crap really. But that was my insecurity speaking. Every single runner has had an off day. Everyone has had The Fear of making a fool of themselves. And it takes time, a lot of time, years of time to fully grasp that it really doesn't matter

You don't have to do this race, you know. It's not a sign of character or testament to your ability or whatever. But loads of us do events because it gets us off our arses, running somewhere pretty where we might not otherwise bother to go, hoping to have fun, get a respectable time, maybe see running mates. And 1hr15 is fine as a time. Yeah, there will be lots of people in 1hr or less, but the course will still be open, and absolutely no-one will be judging you for being slow.

As an elite friend of mine put it I'm running my threshold for 40mins - you're doing it for an hour. OK, I've e covered the ground faster, but you're the one making the same physical effort for longer - well done.

I'm not sure now where all this is going! It's come out a bit stream of consciousness! I think I'd say "do it" - other runners are overwhelmingly likely to be supportive - we all have good and bad days, great form and total loss of form

BTW: do you have any running buddies? If being alone at the back is daunting (a totally reasonable reaction, btw) then being with someone else might make it less scary

Do it! Sounds like a lovely event. Maybe you can use it as a little motivation to increase your training for a bit and try to set a new PB?

I did it once and was second last. I am still proud of myself. Don't worry about what others think of you, just do what makes you happy. Good luck.

Everyone's just running their own race. There's always someone faster and always someone slower. And there's always people who do not finish because of injury too!

I've always found the running community quite welcoming and diverse in terms of ability, age and body shape.

1hr 15 is a perfectly reasonable time! It's just over a 7min kilometre which is very respectable. I've been running for nearly 5 years but I'm still to break under an hr for a 10k.

I ran a couple of 10ks

I was dead last each time

I didn't give a shiny shite. I was just very proud of myself for doing it.

Someone has to come last. Just remember you are brilliant for doing it in the 1st place.

1:15 seems quite a fast last position. At the local.10k race, there's people still coming at 90 mins+

Give it a go, and enjoy it.

10km is still 10km regardless of the time you do it in. Most people aren't doing it to 'win', they are doing it for fitness. And there is a statistic somewhere that says only about 5% of the population can even do this distance, so you are an elite athlete just for going out and completing it.

One of the guys I run with is a genuine world class athlete. He still comes out with us middle aged plodders. Its about the community, participation and achieving your own goal, not someone else's.

Go for it.

Thanks for all the encouragement. Booked on

Fabulous!

Have fun!!

Sounds like a gorgeous place to run.
Plus Id be thinking 'hey, if I come last I bet I get extra cheers!!' LOL😆

You're lapping those on the couch!

Medal is the same for those coming in 4th or last.

Enjoy
I completed three half marathons so far, two were disasters, I got a tummy bug on one, started to fail on second mile the second time, heat & emotional stuff got to me, the third one I did really well on, I was close to last, I didn't care I completed it, that was 7 years ago and I signed up for that one again for this year. I've barely run since, almost have C25K done, there's a time limit of 2.5 hours for completing

I'm always more impressed by those at the tail end of the race than those at the front. They're working a good deal harder than people who are naturally fast.

One thought on training: it sounds like you may need to build endurance before focusing on more speed. I'd do plenty of long, easy runs at a comfortable pace, building up overall mileage and long run distance. Long runs of 15k or so will make 10k races feel like a very manageable distance.

Throw in a bit of speedwork once or twice a week and you should easily get below 60 minutes, judging by your 5 k time.

Good luck for the race OP!!

Good for you! 1h 15 or so is respectable. Many smaller races will have a time limit so as long as you’re aware of that you’ll be fine and the organisers won’t care. I’m a pretty keen runner and always cheer on people finishing after me. You won’t get in anyone’s way, I would just advise starting near the back of the field.

Btw 5k in 27 minutes really is very good. Most ladies I know (in their 40s) finish somewhere between 28 and 32.

you’ve def got potential to run within the hour if you want to, try practicing 6, 7 then 8 k at a faster pace

27m is about the fastest 5k time for me these days. And yet I did a 55m 10k earlier this year.

in terms of this particular race, you have nothing to worry about.

Re time limit I’d be very surprised if it was less than 90 minutes.

How did you get on OP?