Race Day - A 10Km PB - 48:14

Warning - long post!!

While I am still a beginner I am going to relish these PBs as I am sure in a couple of years they will be much harder to come by!! I love running Sri Chinmoy races, they have such a great atmosphere, no stupid aerobics or "showbags" full of junk mail, give me a moments silence and a feed of pancakes anyday. Well, sitting here typing, still enjoying my runners high - complete with the occasional moronic giggle, anyone would think I'd been smoking joints all morning, but no, just endorphins, I really do love running :-) So, to the race report........ I picked CJ up in South Yarra at about 6:30 and we headed over to Willi, very nice to have some company on the way over, a good chat kept the nerves in check. Caught up with Beki, Rogo, Stu and Tony at the Aths track for a bit of pre-race natter. Good to see Tony out there and give him a big hug after his tough week. Also saw another friend Mikey, I was raving about Sri Chinmoy events when we were having breakfast after the MDC so it was good to see him turn out for another fun run, I'll have him doing 10Kms before he knows it. Long queues for the loos as usual, but my 2 litres of Endura the day before then nothing on race morning strategy held me in good stead so I didn't need to line up. My Polar which had been doing so well decided to crap itself 5 minutes before the start so I had to do a quick reset on the way to the start line. I think it was more to do with my cold hands pressing the buttons too many times than any fault though. Down at the start line caught up with Paul and got to meet Steve which was cool to put a face to the name, Steve was doing the Marathon so will have to check out his blog later and see how he went. As expected the start was congested and I panicked only a little, aghhh, if I don't get off well here I will be playing catch up, bugger it. Tony shot past me very quickly in his usual style and I could see Beki and Rogo just ahead of me. The crowd cleared soon enough and I was on my way, the first Km went by in 5:15, about 15 seconds slower than I hoped for but no too bad considering. So I settled in and tried to keep the pace consistent, I did find myself surging during the first 5Kms and kicking up to 4:35 pace, but I checked myself and backed off to 4:50. My aim was to run consistently and to negative split the 5Kms. Also I like to target people ahead of me and try to reel them in. 5Km came up in 24:33 and about 500 metres past that I saw Michelle and JayKay in the opposite direction and got a big cheer, they were both backing up from the GOR half (23Km) last week and were looking very strong considering. I was really surprised by 7Km that I still felt good and was expecting the pain and nausea to kick in, but no, it held off. By 8Km I had reeled in a girl who had been in my sights for the last 3 Km, I had no intention of racing someone to the finish but she started to run quite aggressively and seemed to think I was challenging her, well she wanted to bring it, so I did :-) 9Km came up in 43:53 and by this point I realised I would have to trip over or die to not come in under 50:00 so I was feeling really positive. Coming up to the Aths track was hard because the track was narrow and there were some bloody 4Km walkers with prams all over the place, aghhh, get out of my way!!!!! and that chick was just in front of me. But I hit the track strong and thanks to a big cheer from who I later discovered to be CJ I found some kick over the last 150 metres and managed to finish with a strong sprint, stoked to see the clock under 50:00 AND I beat that chick. So, final time by my watch (started as I ran under the start banner, stopped as the official ripped my little tag off the race bib) was 48:14, I think the gun time was just on 49:00, bummer that is what shows on the results page but it was still under 50:00. Oh, and that chick I beat, tried to muscle her way in front of me as they put the tags on the spindle, cheeky cow. This time I smiled for all the cameras so hopefully I get a piccie this time, then again, maybe if I couldn't smile I would have run a faster time. OK, this is a long post, but this was such a positive experience on my first 10Km race 2 months ago. So here are my splits, now I had my Polar set to 1Km autolap and it was ticking over about 10 metres past the official markers, I didn't want to think about taking manual splits. 1 - 5:15 2 - 4:50 (10:05) 3 - 4:51 (14:57) 4 - 4:48 (19:45) 5 - 4:48 (24:33) 6 - 4:44 (29:17) 7 - 4:52 (34:09) 8 - 4:50 (38:59) 9 - 4:54 (43:53) 10 4:20 (48:14) To save you doing the maths the 5Km splits were - 1st - 24:33 2nd - 23:41 (YES, 5km PB!!!!!) so I managed a negative split. It was a great day for a few others as well, CJ ran a very respectable 45 something, Beki made it in under her 55:00 goal, Tony ran 95 something for the half (well done mate) and the indefatigable two, Michelle and JayKay finished the half in 2:03:XX, a top effort after a 23km "half" on the Great Ocean Road last Sunday, I just pipped Paul who I think came it just under the 50:00 so well done to all. Poor Stu was beating himself up over not getting his sub 40:00, but I am still impressed with his time and he had a crap lead up so don't be so hard on yourself. Positives for me

• 5Km PB
• Nerves under control at the start, no jelly legs
• NO negative thoughts during the race what so ever, no so much as a whisper
• A very controlled finish, still a bit nervy but nothing as bad as I have had in the past. Guts churning a bit after I crossed the finish but that is fine.
• Good steady pace
• Recent track work at Croyon proved to be invaluable as I felt great hitting the track at the end and kicking for a big finish.

Finally, I know I can do better. I am still testing the waters with this distance and getting a feel for strategy, but I know I can do better and am extremely excited by the thought. I think today I gave about 95%, only because I am still learning to pace and did not want another messy ending.

I think this is going to become my favoured distance and as I mentioned am really looking forward to challenging it in the future. I will do the marathon for "fun" and then will concentrate on 10Km and 21Km for PBs.

YAY, feeling good, feeling very good.

PS - Beakus, kept my eye out but didn't see you, hope you had a good one