No bling for this race.
It was a super fast course.
I ran a sub 60min 10K!
I didn’t quite train enough, in my mind at least. I would have liked to have been more consistent, but life is incredibly busy at the moment and I am doing the bare minimum to get me through right now. Excuses not reasons.
The lead up to this race was a little shonky but I was still confident in a good race and hopefully getting a pb. Knowing the course would be fairly flat I wanted to push myself.
As the day got closer the weather got worse and on the day itself there were thunder storms as I drove into the city. Ah well, might make me run a little faster. What was I thinking??
The atmosphere at the start line..who am I kidding, there was no atmosphere. The early arrivals (who braved the worst of the weather) were few and far between with most arriving a mere 5-10 mins before start time. Smart people those ones.
Chatting with a couple of ladies I learnt I wouldn’t be in the first part of the pack. All good. I am trying to not be so competitive but rather run the best race I can. That being said, I will still want to beat the person ahead of me. And really, who doesn’t? All my online running friends say the same thing – pace with the person/group ahead and then try to get past them at the end.
Even though it was wet I decided not to wear my jacket. I went with my go to outfit. Tank top, cap and sunnies. I run ‘hot’ so knew that within a few minutes I would be a roasted tomato and then start flailing. Even if I wear long legs I have to go sleeveless.
The starters horn went off and …It was fast. I started a bit fast but kept up the pace alright, ranging from 5.20min/km to 6.39min/km to finish with an average of 6.00min/km. I’m definitely happy with that.
As I mentioned above it was a fairly flat course so was a lot faster than the others I’ve done. I pushed and only walked a teeny tiny bit up one of the steep hills (I really have to work on that).
Mis-understanding where the finish was as I got closer (to what I thought was the finish) and wondered why my mapping app was saying still 2 kms to go…argh. We took a turn along the beach then up a set of stairs before heading back along the cliff path and round the corner to the sports oval finish line. Having worked so hard and being buggered at this point, to say I was happy to see the line (as much of one that it was) is an understatement.
As I crossed the line I spotted my friend who had done the 5km and was my return lift to the car. We got a couple of photos of the ‘aftermath’ before heading off to get her car. Silly me forgot I had a bag at the finish and was halfway to her house and had to turn back. I couldn’t get home without my car keys.
After a lovely chocolate milk followed by coffee with my husband, the rest of the day was spent chilling. And thinking about this weekend’s race.
To see my times, click over to the ‘challenge’ page.
Til then, happy running 🙂
Jennifer
Run. Ride. Eat. 