Saturday, July 24, 2010

Able To Leap Tall Buildings


Life's pretty funny. One day you're feeling indecisive and unsure. The next you're flying high, feeling ten foot tall and bullet proof ( Sort of sounds like bipolar doesn't it?!)

I ran the 10k at Park to Park in Ipswich this morning. I'm NOT a fan of the route there. It's a 5k loop with four major climbs and a few smaller ones. It starts with 100m which is flat and then straight up a long slow hill, then down, then up, down, up...

I've only ever done the 5k there because of the hills so I left home this morning knowing that it wasn't going to be a quick run and it wasn't going to be pretty. It's a small event. Less than 1500 competitors over 4 races. But it's really well-run and has a heap of support from the local community. It even attracts elite runners from Tanzania who are in Australia in the lead up to the City to Surf in Sydney.

Quite a few of the squad were there and we all started off together. That didn't last long and I was left looking at my friends' butts as they pushed hard up the first hill. I hit the first k marker at 5:06 which wasn't too bad considering I wanted to run a measured race. The next k had more downs than ups and I hit 2k in 4:50 then it was up again but my legs were on a roll and 3k passed in 4:48. The fourth and fifth ks were remarkably consistent at 4:49 and 4:51. I ran through the finish chute at 24:24.

It was hurting now and I knew that the second loop was going to get ugly. I didn't dare look at my HR - I knew it'd be in the stratosphere somewhere. Up that first hill again and I'd slowed a lot. The 6k marker seemed so far away. It was my slowest split - 5:16. Then the down-hill reprieve to 7k - 4:55. Then up hill again. My shoe was feeling a little loose so I looked down only to see my laces flapping around. There was a few seconds of internal debate. Tie it and lose time or leave it and risk falling over. I chose safety over time and lost at least 5 seconds fumbling around with uncoordinated fingers. Hit 8k in 5:13, 9k in 5:10 then it was all down-hill to the finish line. I stopped my watch with a final k of 4:36 - flying! My total time - 49:47. Woohoo! A sub-50 run was way better than I'd expected and after checking the results I finished third in my category and tenth woman over-all.

I'm feeling much more positive about Melbourne now.

11 comments:

  1. Awesome time! Especially with the climbs and such.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hooray!! Nothing like a good race to make you feel even better about the next one. Congrats!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow! 10th overall and third in your age group is impressive! Nice confidence booster for sure especially with the hilly course!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great total time taken (49:47) considering the hard and hilly track.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nice race! So great when you surprise yourself!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nothing like a strong race to boost that confidence! Congrats!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Impressive result, congrats. Bronze medalist and a very good finishing time.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Brilliant time. Don't hills just suck.No excuses now for Melbourne.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to comment. I love hearing from you.