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A Winning Week

A week of running, sunshine and smiles!

This week was a busy week with three races; 2 x 5k and a 10k in Gosport and Bedford respectively. 
I started the week doing the Gosport Summer Series 5k Race 2 on Tuesday evening after a day of Police training. This was an exciting race for me as I had looked at the the results of Race 1 the previous month and knew that if I ran as fast as I thought I could, and the other competitiors were the same then I stood a chance of winning my age category. This was the first race all year where there was something more to gain than just a PB or a medal and so the adrenaline was pumping as I stood on the start line. So much so that when the race started I went off at a blistering speed thinking that I was Mo Farah or something and was leading the pack for a good 5 metres! And then my body caught up with me and I realised that I couldn’t possibly keep up that pace and had to slow down a bit whilst what seeemed like the entire field passed me. However I managed to keep pushing myself forward and kept up a decent pace and finished the race with a PB of 24:01. I had spent a great deal of time playing the age guessing game as to who would be in my category and was pretty convinced that I wouldn’t have won my category but hung around for the presentation at the end just in case. The winner of the female race was announced in a time of 17:34- HELEN FRANCIS! I looked around thinking there must have been someone else with the same name and then realised that they meant me! I had to put my hand up and admit that although that was my name, I definitely hadn’t run a near world record time and there was obviously some sort of technical glitch! In short, someone had run with last months number and caused the cock up meaning my official time was amended to 24:01 and I was confirmed as the Veteran 35 group winner. Result! Especially as wine was the prize!


The coveted prize of rose wine!


The week continued with me running as a pacer at the Parkrun on Saturday along with my friend Amy who joined me for the second time. I found pacing much easier this week as I had already done it before and found myself ahead of the pace just to ensure that I definitely came in on time this week. I got to slow down right at the end and let about 6 people pass me to get sub 35 min times which was great. I definitely think pacing and coaching is something which I want to explore further.

The week ended with the Bedford 10k on Sunday with my father in law, Trevor accompanying me and I had high hopes of getting another PB as the course was supposedly flat and fast. It also helped knowing the area as it always seems to go faster when you know exactly where you are and where you are going. The race couldn’t have gone better really. I had a target of running at least 8:28 minute miles so that I could get a decent PB but managed to run an average of 8:17 minute miles giving me a massive PB of 51:34 and knocking 4 minutes of my previous PB. I was also 15/115 in my age category which I didn’t think was bad.  I was also able to cheer on Trevor at the finish who got a time of 62 minutes. From there it was time to go home, have a quick shower and finish packing before heading on a flight to Cyprus where I have been mostly lying around since then.

Enjoying a well deserved rest!

I am only £235 away from my £2000 target. It would mean so much to me if I could hit that target before I am deployed in 4 weeks time. If you can spare any money then please donate at:

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/HelenFrancis10

KM Complete: 222KM
KM To Go: 78KM 




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