These days, I’m on a path to try and increase my running endurance and distance.  I tend to run in excess of 300km each month, and many of my runs being between 21km – 28km.  My minimum “run distance” is a 10-11 mile loop around the local area.

In order to increase my endurance, I focus less on my short-distance pace.  When I know I have events coming up, I tend not to push too much on a Saturday morning parkrun.

Today was my second attempt at the Dartford Bridge 10K.  Last year I fought hard to do it in under 45 minutes and was overjoyed when the final result was 44:29.

A month ago, I did the Dartford 10K (not the same as the Dartford Bridge 10K), which is an undulating/hilly course.  Having not run a 10K even for some time, I took the opportunity to push hard for a good time.

I ended up with a 10K PB of 42:25, but I felt the hills took a little out of me and I would have more to give on a flatter course.

And that brings us to today.  I wasn’t sure how I would handle another fast 10K, so I started by doing a 5K warm-up lap around one loop of the course.

My km times in the first 5K were consistently faster than anything I’d expected, leading to a first 5K of 19:36 – significantly quicker than any 5K parkrun I’ve done (my parkrun PB is currently 20:00).

I couldn’t quite keep the pace up for the duration, but completed the Dartford Bridge 10K in 40:28, which turned out to be a plethora of Personal Bests:

• Half-mile PB of 2:59
• 1km PB of 3:46
• 1-mile PB of 6:05
• 2-mile PB of 12:20
• 5km PB of 19:36
• 10km PB of 39:50
• Dartford Bridge 10K PB of 40:28

To add to these achievements, I also came in the top three of my Age/Gender Category for the first time ever which, at this event, meant a trophy.

I just wish I could go back several years and tell the 19.5stone couch potato who couldn’t walk a half-mile, that he’d one day be winning trophies for running.

He wouldn’t have believed it.

I hardly believe it now.