Christine Dailey, one of Bermuda’s best long-distance runners, set a personal best in Atlanta on Thursday.

Dailey, who finished runner-up in the Bermuda Half-Marathon Derby this year, finished fifth in her age group in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race in a time of 38min 31sec.

Competing for the first time in the world’s biggest 10K race, the 37-year-old Dailey surpassed her previous best time of 39:14, achieved in the Ludwig Cann 10K on April 7.

The Bermudian finished fifth out of 2,047 females in the 35 to 39 age group and 42nd of 20,710 female runners. She also finished 341st overall, out of a total of 42,710 participants.

“It was a really good race and I got a personal best, so I was really happy with that,’’ Dailey told The Royal Gazette.

“It was my first time running this race and the first three miles were really chilled, flat and downhill. Miles four and five were pretty much uphill, so it was a bit of a grind in the middle, and then I had a nice finish.

“When I went into the race, I wanted to get under 39 minutes. I ran a 10K in Bermuda and finished that in 39:14, so I wanted to do better than that.

“It was really great having my children here with me supporting me. We got into Atlanta late on Wednesday and then I woke up early to do the race.”

Dailey’s next big race is the Tata Consultancy Services Toronto Waterfront Half-Marathon in October. Last year, she finished eighteenth in the women’s competition in a time of 1:23:48.

“I’m going to take the summer off and just work on my form,’’ she said.

“I've got a half-marathon in Toronto in the fall. I’ll do some Bermuda races in the fall, gear up for Toronto and take it from there.

“I’m really trying to chip away at my half-marathon time and trying to get faster for the distance.”