My race went well. The first time I’ve competed in a twilight race.
It was kind of wierd not getting up and racing first thing on the Sunday, and a little hard doing my usual Sunday stuff knowing I had a race coming up in the evening… By about 3pm in the afternoon, to tell you the truth, I kind of wanted to give it a miss altogether!
But I fronted, and the atmosphere at the UQ starting area was sensational. It was a real family affair, which I guess is the bonus of staging the race late on a Sunday afternoon.
They even had a kids 1km dash to begin with which was great to watch and inspirational. Seeing those little tackers run their hardest past the finish really helped me shake some of my own nerves.
My hip and groin were hurting all day, and I was pretty worried I wasn’t going to get through this race. That being said, I’m a stubborn man, and still lined up with the 1hr 35min pacer. I figured that at least if I started well I could limp it out… There was no 1hr 30 min which was a shame, as that was the time I was really chasing (injury aside!)
Started out ok, although I found the crowded conditions to begin with as usual a real challenge. I find it hard to keep my correct pace and ended up getting slowed down quite a bit. The 1hr35min pacer was long gone.
So, once I was out of the heavy traffic, I started my short strides and my chase. Found the short striding worked really well and I set a good pace doing this. Caught the 1hr35min pacer and continued on ahead. However, I also found the short strides hard to keep up throughout the entire race. So I just concentrated on short strides on the hills, and then longer strides going down the hills and on the flat. It worked well and kept my injury to a minimum amount of pain throughout the run.
Once I passed the 1hr35min pacer, I tried to keep an even distance ahead, hoping I could get to my dreamed for sub 1hr 30min. But the start was too slow. The good news was, I felt exceptionally fit despite my 2 weeks off from running and managed to up my pace to around 4min/km for the second 10km. I sprinted it home for an equalling of my PB time – 1hr 33min
Very happy with the time, and hope that the next 21km race in June I can crack the 1hr 30min barrier.
I’ve still got my 2 goals for 2010 ahead of me with a sub 40min 10km just missed by 1 min and a sub 1hr 30min Half just missed by 3 minutes. But all things considered I know I can get there with these times so early on in the season.
The best news is, my hip and groin aren’t hurting too bad today. How is that? Sometimes I find these longer runs do my injuries good rather than bad. It seems the shorter runs are the ones to worry about…
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