Hard work pays off at Sefton Park! Wednesday night was race number 7 Sefton Park 5mile in the Merseyside Road Grand Prix and Kelly, Mark and myself (Kylie) from PT track therapy were out representing St Helens Striders. We even had Dr Phil, Rach and Pete out on the course supporting! This is the 3rd time I have competed in this race and it's always a busy, well organised and enjoyable race! Racing after work is always hard for me I'm much more of a morning person but it was straight from work and off to Sefton park for a warm up before the race! I wasn't too ambitious for this race as I had already got a 5 mile PB in May on a flat course and although Sefton is by no means hilly it does have some slight inclines that take their toll in the middle of the race! It's 2 laps of the park and it was a very warm evening! Dr Phil sent Kelly off for her warm up and then asked why I hadn't gone on mine as women need more time to warm up that was his advice for the evening! So I followed orders! 😂 I really enjoyed the race I felt really comfortable all the way round and my pacing was good! Dr Phil was on the course shouting his advice to overtake runners ahead which I did! And Rach and Pete appeared on their bikes cheering us on and they both cycled in to the finish with me! I saw the time on the clock and my watch and I knew I had a PB I was made up and it showed on my finish line pic as I had a huge smile on my face! Mark also ran really well and got a PB of 31.42 taking 1 min 46 off his previous PB on the same course last year finishing 28th Senior Male. I think he should thank Phil for all those mile efforts he has been doing and maybe ask for more? 😜 Kelly had a fantastic race in her first 5 mile event finishing 2nd Female in 31.58. It's safe to say Kelly is only going to improve and has many more podium places to come! I finished 16th Female in 35.05 taking 27 seconds off my previous best in May. The key as always for us all is consistent training I don't have natural speed and talent and this is now my 4th year as a "runner" but I have worked hard over the last 7 months to get fit again and the results are showing! The plan Rach designed for me is working well it's about balancing the right number and type of sessions and unfortunately all us runners seem to learn the hard way what works after a stint on the injury bench by overdoing it! At the end of the day we aren't elites we don't eat sleep train repeat we have jobs, family and friends and even social lives to maintain occasionally! My motivation for this year is definitely "hard work beats talent if talent doesn't work hard!" Stick at it even when you want to throw the toys out of the pram you will see the improvements!