Rocky River Run 10km 2012

What better way to spend the eve of the Michelle Bridges 12wbt then at the annual Rocky River Run!
I am not a morning person, and my training runs are always in the afternoon.  Not that there were many training runs!  Last Sunday was my first 10k in over a year, and my last race was way back in September of last year!
I’ve been doing a bit of running lately, just not actual training.  Luckily though, some of that running has been doing intervals on the treadmill!  It seems to have paid off though with my general speed greatly improved!  My last 5k race I scraped in under 30mins – just!  And now here I am waiting to find out if I managed to crack the 1hr for the 10k.  But back to the beginning of the story.. back to 6:30 am when I woke up this morning.
I did not wake up feeling 100%.   I managed a cuppa tea and about half a bowl of oats with honey but honestly, I was so nervous my tummy was doing strange things!   But I was pumped and ready to go.  Hubby took the shot above while we were waiting for race start.. chewing my bottom lip! 
I saw Kama and said hello, and then saw Camilla and Mel up on the starting line.  We were chatting away when suddenly the start siren went!  Bit of a jumpy start!  I had to fiddle with my phone to try and get it started – didn’t work!  I lost Camilla and Mel in the starting rush so after 5mins I pulled out my phone again to see if I could get my music going.. and off I went!  
I was way up the back of the pack at this stage and feeling a bit rough.  I held it together with my music keeping me focused on pushing myself.  I spotted someone ahead and just aimed for that shirt with the goal of overtaking.  I could see the main pack way ahead.. I was going to catch them!  About 3km in I hit my stride, my Runkeeper announced I doing 10km/hr as my pace and I was stoked, I might just make 1hr!  The battle at this stage was ‘don’t wear yourself out’ ‘you need fuel for the end’, ‘don’t push yourself too hard’.. but I was doing okay.  I was pushing my speed but it was maintainable.  Runkeeper kept me at a steady pace between 9.5 and 10.5km/hr for the rest of the race. 
The last 3k was hard.  It was getting harder and harder to pass people, except for those who were starting to drop to a walk.  There were a few moments when I was moved to tears.. between the music and the hormones… the song ‘I choose’ by Stan Walker came on and at that moment.. it meant a lot!  I chose to push through, for me.  Because I need to love who I am, and I deserve to be the best I can be.
So I just kept running, and running, and running.  My feet just kept moving.
The last km had a lot of uphill, and we had the 2km group merging in with us, along with the a few bottlenecks – the first being crossing the railway bridge (1m wide) and I got stuck behind a guy with pram. 
It’s insane though.. I have never crossed that bridge before.  It fills me with fear and dread – anxiety, images of my children drowning, panic attacks – yup, I have a bridge phobia.  But you know what.. I didn’t even think about.. I was running and that was all that mattered!
I made it to the end though.. smiling when I realised my hubby was there to take a picture.  This was the first race that I had family there for and I appreciate it and love them all the more for it!

So here I am, waiting and waiting for my time.  My PB for a 10k is 1:15mins but that was just a training run.  So this time will be my official first Race PB for 10k.
Updated with my Time:   1:01:55 (place 62 in womens 10k)