Regents Park 10K - How I ran my "worst" 10K and still had fun

Today I took on the Regents Park 10K. It was a no pressure race as this years goal was always a PB at Silverstone which was achieved. This was purely a "I'm in London so why not" sign up. With that in mind I had no real strategy other than go off too quickly and see if I can last. In short, I couldn't. After lap one I was well on course for a PB but the heat had knocked every ounce of energy out of me and I knew I couldn't sustain it. At that point, I made a decision to not try for the PB but to slow down, take the odd walk break and enjoy the scenery and a sprint finish. It was really hard going in the sun and I'm not great in the heat anyway. I used to not care if I completed a 10K unless it was a PB but you have to respect the distance and the conditions. No shame in accepting early on it won't be your day and enjoying the run rather than killing yourself getting a time you're not happy with anyway so a time which is over 5 minutes slower than Silverstone had to do - 53:53. Considering that got me 280th place out of 760 I think I wasn't the only one that wilted in the heat!

While I'm here I might as well give a quick review of the actual race...

Positives:

1. Really scenic route
2. The guy doing a warm up with everyone who was also the race announcer was an absolute legend!
3. Great PB potential (on a cooler day)
4. Marshaling was superb and course easy to follow
5. Good bling and nice selection of goodies at the end

Negatives:

1. Only one working toilet cubical. Had to hope there would be no "bear in the woods" incident!
2. Probably the least 'friendly' race I've run in. Usually there's someone you end up running with who helps get you through when you're struggling or likewise someone you can drag along. Everyone had headphones in and there was very little support around the track so no one encouraging you in the tough moments.