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Bola - Mmm, I honestly have no idea. But I'm training on the assumption that I'm doing a 10K and will be aiming for under 57mins to compensate for the potential missing .5K. Still, annoying!

Thank you, I'll definitely do so.

Good luck with training and racing, everyone!

Thansk for the welcomes, everyone!

 Bola : Re. the Birkenhead Cancer Research 10K not being quite 10K, I'm going off this thread: http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/forum/forummessages.asp?dt=4&utn=110969&last=1&V=1&SP=

Several people ran it last year and their GPS devices calculated 9.5KM, and when I've done the Race For Life in Liverpool, several other runners have commented that their GPS was saying under 5KM. The only reason I can think is for ease of plotting the course and fitting in all the other things like the big finish line and stages/loos/food and such.

Or maybe they're being slightly more sinister and trying to guarantee more crazed excitement, (and hence good photo ops,) at the finish line wheneveryone finishes in a shorter time than expected! But at least now I'm onto them...

I also like Sefton and Calderstones Parks (and surrounding roads) for running. South Liverpool suburbs (where I live) are quite hilly - i.e. it's pretty much all downhill to Calderstones and Sefton from my house, which feels like cheating! - but the parks themselves are pretty flat.

Childwall Woods and Fields and the Black Woods (close to each other) are good for trail-type terrain. They're not huge areas but nice for variety. (L16 area.)

Like any city, you'll get to know the safer areas and more scenic areas pretty quickly, I'm sure, and in recent years I've noticed more and more people out on the roads runnng individually and in groups so there's definitely a lively running scene, even if I'm pretty out of it. (Funny schedules do not a social runner make!)

Good luck with the move and welcome to the city!

I'm in! This is totally my goal. Under sixty minutes, here I come!

Training for the Cancer Research Run not-quite-10K in October - turns out the route is only 9.5KM! - and it'll be my first race at that distance. Oh to be under sixty minutes on a 10K! (For the 9.5KM race I think this equates to a time of under 57 mins.) I finished a 10K today in 68mins 41secs - not a race, just a route plotted with mapmyrun.com - and could definitely have pushed harder, but I'd never gone the distance before so I wanted to be sure I'd last!

 I'm happiest as an intervals runner. I like to run fairly quickly for a shorter time, then chillout and walk fast for a bit. I struggle to run for twenty minutes straight at about 9.5KPH, that's tough for me. My heart rate often passes 200BPM towards the end. (I'm 25, female, 5'3" and just under nine stone, so this isn't crazy, I guess, but still pretty high?) But I can hold a 13KPH run on the treadmill for about 60secs and throwing a few of those sprint/walk interval sessions in at the gym seems to be improving my time on my regular outdoor runs. 

I've come to the conclusion that I don't get out onto the roads enough and that's really the way I'm going to improve, though I do get bored doing the same thing all the time and like to get different cardio/strength into my regime via the gym, plus I have a dodgy hip and shins which don't take kindlyto too much running. Maybe I should replace my runnng shoes!

 Anyway, long intro short, I haven't been fit for very long - I lost weight over a long period of time and my goalsonly recently became more about fitness, rather than weightloss - so this is a good goal for me, I think.

Any advice/feedback/similar stories etc. is always great to read.

Good luck to everyone else! Nice to meet you all!