I’ve mentioned before on the blog that I participate in a running group at work. Each season’s session ends in a race, meant to be the culmination of the now-complete training regime. I was looking forward to the race just as much as I always do, though I knew I’d missed more training runs than I would have liked.
The race was scheduled for Friday, December 7th, and on Thursday night I dreamt of running. I was going fast, and it felt good… effortless. Which is a great way to head into a race day, I have to tell you. I was still struggling with the right way to wear my Jaybird Freedoms, but I did get lucky, and though I was nearly late for the race start, I got them locked in, and was able to focus on running instead of fiddling with electronics.
We started the race, and I got off to a fast start. Maybe a little too fast, but it’s hard to beat yourself up (even after the fact) because I was having fun. Around the 1.8km mark (the course is approximately 2.5km out and back performed twice) this unfortunate scene was visible. Luckily, I had seen the crime scene tape on my commute in, Googled it, and warned everybody that it would be there so nobody would waste time rubbernecking.
Completing the first leg, I still felt good, though I realised my speed would need to be adjusted to keep from crashing. I also took off my hat and gloves and had a few sips of water from the cups provided (I was wearing a water belt, with an empty water bottle – OOOPS). Off I went on the second half; I soon realised it was only men who were braving the 10k – BOO! One of our faster runners Mr. N (who recommended me the Jaybird Freedoms) had been acting as a pace bunny for another runner, but apparently that was only for 5k, so he soon passed me; what are you going to do? The guy’s an Ironman! I had been chased by Mr. B for the entire race. Mr. B has been faster than me on just about every training run, but our speeds are comparable, and I like and admire the guy because he doesn’t seem like a ‘natural’ runner and has built up his speed through hard work… he’s gone from being a non-runner to 10k in a little over a year (I think). At any rate, I still wanted to beat him that day.
For me, being chased is better motivation than being the chaser, so I managed to keep a lead. Mr. B told me later that he felt like he was 100 yards behind me the entire time – from my perspective the lead varied more than that, still we were both happy to finish around 49 minutes… me just under that, him seconds over.
It was a great day to be outside running, a day when all the little elements you need for a good run (body, music, gear) came together, and the perfect springboard to launch into training for the Chilly Half-Marathon!
Triathlon training, equipment and tips from a wannabe/dilettante/family man.