BUPA London 10k 2009

Yesterday saw 9,000-odd people descend on Birdcage Walk in London for the 2nd annual BUPA London 10,000. This was my first ever 10k (and road race, period) last year, so it holds a special place in my heart, and it was with much nerves that I returned to it this year. It took me over 90 minutes last year, and with little training this time round I wanted to get at least a 1hr 20 finish.

From my review on Runners World UK:

I did this last year, where we basically had to swim around the course thanks to the rain. This year, despite a few drops while waiting for the start, ended up being nice and dry and not too warm.

The course, of course, is brilliant – through the heart of London with all the sights. With over 12,000 runners the atmosphere was brilliant, and it was great seeing a crowd of people ahead and behind.

Organisation, as with last year, is spot-on. Baggage reclaim quickly and friendly, and even down to having the timing chips removed (again, quick and friendly).

It’s quite expensive to enter, but I think if you have one special race per year, and you’re not one for marathons (I’m definitely not) then this is the race for you.

I managed to get ’round in 1hr 18m, so I’m very pleased. It was bloody heard going, but I managed to run most of the first 2km (the first 1.5 or so non-stop), and kept my walking breaks as short as possible (unfortunately there were quite a few of them!).

Now I have to decide whether I should continue with my running, or pack it in… that sub-60 still eludes me though.