I had a very relaxing day, snacked pretty well through out the day and drank loads of water and Gatorade. Getting out to the race site was easy, the traffic was perfect and parking was easy. I left the car and jogged a long way around to the start warming up and feeling good about my calf which had been tight and uncomfortable for a couple of weeks (since getting a bad dehydration cramp on a Saturday morning LSD). Funnily enough, none of my running friends had signed up for this, so i didnt see anyone i knew, but i wasnt going to let that spoil the day.
The atmosphere at the start line was cool, and the race seemed well organized and set up. I immediately moved into the race corral and waited patiently for the start. Unfortunately I was a little eager to get to the front and ended up packed in without a lot of room to keep moving or stretching for about 25 minutes, but it was a warm night and the music was pumping so it was ok. A nice little old lady kept interrupting the music to give instructions to no one in particular, which dampened the mood of some people around me, but then we were off.
When the gun went, I was very close to the front and had plenty of room. I set off at a about a 5:30 minute km knowing that I have gone off way too fast in the last couple of races I have done. Dozens and dozens of people were sprinting past me in the first km, which didn’t surprise me. By the end of the second km I had settled into a routine and felt pretty good. I was running on the shoulder of an older guy who was maintaining a pretty steady 5:25 minute per km pace and a couple of other guys jumped on my shoulder.
The bridge and convention centre both offered a bit of a hill that challenged the older guy so I left him and pumped my arms a bit to get to the top and realized I had left the whole group and was sitting comfortably in a very thin line of fairly spread out runners.
For the next 5-6km I kept a steady pace around 5:25, drank lots of plain water at both water stops and consistently picked off runners one by one. I think two people passed me in that section and I must have passed at least 100 people, most of whom I recognized as having sprinted past me at the start and had burned themselves out.
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| courtesy of blogger, Me, The Contradiction |
At the 8km mark, with only 4.5 to go, I was feeling good but my heart rate was rising and I knew that I was just not fit enough to maintain the pace for the distance. I slowed down to about 5:50 mins per km for a couple of km until the 10km mark at which point the race flattened out. Feeling better and with my heart rate under control, I thought about the Chi running book I have been reading and straightened up my hips, leaned forward a couple of degrees and upped the pace to 5:29 for the next km and then 5:16 for the last. I crossed the line feeling great with some (but not heaps) of energy in the tank, but not feeling sore in anyway. I came in in just a smidge over 1:06 which was enough to place me in the top 150 in my age group (top 8%) and to get a medal to add to my collection.
The race organizers deserve credit for a well planned and fabulously executed event. The marshalling was good, the water stops (always my big concern) were properly spaced, manned and accessible and the after race service, goodies, water etc were all superb. It is by far the best stocked goodie bag I have ever gotten in any race in any country ever. Well done them!!
All in all, a fun race, a time I am happy with and a few lessons learned for my NY training plan.
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