Thanks for the advice Alison.   There are a few bigger races in Liverpool in the summer which I may consider and it gives me a couple of months to push myself hard before then.

Hi folks, started running 2 years ago with a race 4 life run & then stepped up to doing my first 10k last year.     Got my 4th 10k coming up this sunday.   I am 56 yoa and very slow despite trying desparately to get faster, from the races I have done am finishing in the last few runners & running 2 1/3rds of the race on my own because of this.   How do I stop becoming dispirited being at the back, when I know I am trying really hard.  Dont want to stop entering the races but find myself feeling more & more stressed before race day, I guess worrying about other people laughing at me being at the back.