I have run two 10km races in the last two weeks, and each time I genuinely had a chance of beating my personal best time, writes Hannah Webster. But both times, my attempts were thwarted by ridiculously steep hills on the course.

The first race was the Bromsgrove 10k Fun Run, organised to help raise money for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research. This involved the kind of hills where you have no clue where they end. I could see through various hedges that the incline was continuing up and around corners, with no signs of relief until I had actually reached the peak.

The problem I have with not knowing how far a crippling hill will take me is mental more than anything. It’s not that I’m defeatist, I just get irritated when I can’t tell what I’m up against, which slows me down. What made it more interesting, however, was that a few people I know were running the race as well. And I had a small chance of beating one of them.

The trouble was that he was better at running uphill than me, and I was better at running down hill than him. This led to an incessant game of catch-up for the second half of the race, with both of us continually over-taking each other. Pleasant chit-chat was passed between us as we ran alongside each other, but both of us sensed the subtext of “I want to beat you, but I’m not going to show it” running between the lines. In the end, he pipped me to the post by about 40 seconds and I crossed the finish line in three seconds short of an hour.

Brilliant fun though. I’ll beat him next time.

The second race was the Cobra Classic 10k in Halesowen. I ran the first 5km super fast and thought I was in with a chance of getting a decent time, before I realised that the first half of the race was on a slow decline, and I would spend the rest of the race struggling up three mammoth inclines to compensate. I came it at one hour and 37 seconds.

It was a lovely race all the same, particularly when I found myself running through a farm as part of the route and everything went silent with lovely views across the countryside. There was no one I was hoping to beat in this race, besides of course the person who remained in front of me for most of the race (I overtook her in the last kilometre), but it was still great fun.

And in all honesty, with the high proportion of club runners taking part, I was just pleased not to come last.

* I’m running the New York Marathon in November, with Sports Tours International, to raise money for Walsall Hospice. To book a place in the New York Marathon contact Sports Tours International by visiting www.sportstoursinternational.co.uk or telephone 0161 703 8161. Visit my fundraising page at uk.virginmoneygiving.com/HannahWebster