This might seem s stupid question, but here goes....

How fast do you have to be to participate in races ?. I have looked around on the web for races and have downloaded previous results to see the kind of times people are doing.

I am a beginner who plods along at just below 11 mins a mile. Looking at the longer races 13m and 26m you can see that in the popular races this is a time that will still be a long way from the tail enders.

That said I would really like to get some race experience and start of on some 10km races. Looking at the results from these it is obvious that they attract the "quicker" runners. My pace would mean a finishing time well past the time when most people would have packed up and gone home...

Maybe my research isn't perfect

What times have other plodders registered for their first 10km runs ?.

Richard

My first 10k which was 3 years ago now I completed in 62 minutes with the last person coming in at 80 minutes on a flat course.

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Usually around 45 minutes.

The shorter the distance the quicker the field I've found. Hence I don't do many 5k, 5m or 10k races....more of a tortoise!
It doesn't matter how fast you are though...as long as you can finish within any stipulated finish time that is.
Our club runners will always wait to see the final club runner come in and as he/she is nearly always one of the backmarkers he/she is always appreciative and in fact gets more attention than the quicker runners.

Just go for it rkavanagh - it will give you something to focus on and eventually you will get faster.

Someone will always tell you that the 'party is at the back'.

Enter as soon as you can, if you can do the distance, don't worry about your time, it sounds fine....you will not be last home. I did my first 10k on Sunday (just under the hour), I worried all week that I would be home 'after dark'.....shouldn't have done, it was fine. Some people looked out of shape and were in front of me, while others looked really fit, and were behind. It was good experience, met some great people........enter a race now! don't wait, you will wonder why you didn't do it earlier!

good luck

Lyn.

Hi rkavanagh

I have my first 10k on Sunday, I have been ill and hardly been able to train. My 5k time was 32 minutes but have been doing 2.5k in 15 minutes. I'm gona be at the back, proably last.
Just go for it, have fun and don't give up, there is a prize at the end for all who go over the finish line whether 1st, 268th or 1200th.

My 1st 10k in 10 days time,I want to do my best but I just hope to enjoy the day.Go for it and don`t worry about the time.

Think of it this way.The slower you run the easier it will be to improve next time.

Does the Course go past any decent pubs...that could always slow you down!

When I did a 5k in July it was boiling hot and running was slow, we had to run past a pub twice, where everyone was sat outside with pints of beer, it was torture, even if they had just thrown one over me, it would have been nice.

Lyn.

The southend 10k will take me past at least 10 pubs going out to Chalkwall and the same coming back.I will be visiting a few of them during the afternoon after the race.I`ve just got to ignore them in the morning.

Could be as big a challenge as the race itself.