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.