This was a milestone for me (or should that be kilometer stone?). Anyway I finally feel like a fully-fledged proper runner and it’s a joyous feeling after being stuck on a couch for so long.

I was nervous about the race as it seemed fast looking at last year’s results. But I needn’t have worried, although I was relatively slow, I was far from being last … and even if I was, so what?!

I had read that I shouldn’t get overly swept up in the adrenaline rush so I took it at my usual pace and didn’t surge ahead with the crowd at the start. I didn’t let myself get discouraged as many people passed me by even though I’d started towards the back. But I kept going, just a little faster than my usual pace but at a pace I knew I could sustain. As the kilometers passed by, many of those who had raced past me fell back and I just kept on going.

On the last stretch I knew I had plenty of juice in the tank and I sped up … that was a real blast!

And so that how I survived my first 5k and fell in love with racing! I’ve already signed up for my next one at St Patrick’s weekend – bring it on!