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April 23 Holy PR Batman!Race Report - Brisbane Marathon Festival 10k race - 22 April 2007
On a message board elsewhere in cyberspace, someone had written "It was a perfect day for the beach...", and they were right. Bright, hot sunshine, no wind to blow sand in your face, not a cloud in the sky. It was not, however, a perfect day to run 10k! When the race started at 9am, it was already nearly 25degrees, and climbing. But even the heat couldn't dampen my excitement, and my dread, of racing 10k for the first time this year. Not wanting to fight my way through with parking, I walked the couple of kilometers from home to Southbank nice and early, leaving myself plenty of time to grab my morning wake-up long black coffee and drop my bag off in the baggage tent before meeting up with some friends for a quick hello before the race. After taking care of pre-race business, we went our separate ways to prepare for the start. With a little squeezing, I managed to position myself in the edge of the top third of the pack so I would have a reasonably clear run once everyone started moving. The excitement was reaching peak point, my heart rate was already through the roof, and the race hadn't even started yet. When the gun went off, I think I nearly had a heart attack, but managed to shuffle along with the rest until we were able to break into a proper run. I was passing people left, right and centre for the first 1km, leaving me thinking I was going out too hard, but a check of my watch at the first marker showed me I was bang on pace, so I just tried to settle into it. The first part out to West End and back was definitely my favourite, running right next to the river with the sunlight reflecting pretty patterns off the water would have been relaxing under any other circumstances. On the way back after the turnaround I was so busy watching for my fellow runners Sarah and Graham that I nearly had a wipeout on a bump in the path, but thankfully just managed to keep upright. While I must have missed Graham after the turn, it did give me a bit of a boost to give Sarah a cheer on the way past. From there it was smooth sailing until the Victoria Bridge. The ramp up to, and then the Bridge itself, was the first real hill we had to face and I'm proud to say I conquered it in style. Knowing there was a downhill stretch straight after gave me the energy I needed to push it to the top, and then cruise down the other side. This part of the course I had run regularly in training, but I could have sworn it wasn't as long as what it felt during the race. By the time we hit the 5k marker my legs were quite vehemently insisting we had done at least 8k. Unfortunately, they were very much mistaken, and we still had the hardest section of the run to go. The Botanical Gardens. I had run the Botanical Gardens as part of my 5k race a couple of months ago, so I knew it was going to be a challenge. As if the first hill up into the gardens wasn't bad enough, there were a few other undulations in there to really throw us off. Ever since the Victoria Bridge, I had been playing "Cat & Mouse" with a tall guy that would keep passing me, only to slow down and have me pass him return. This little game kept me distracted for quite a while, which was definitely a bonus as I was really starting to tire. Part way through the gardens, I was dismayed to feel the beginnings of a massive stitch in my left side. Despite my best efforts with controlled breathing, it steadily escalated until I had to slow right down to ease it. That alone probably added 30seconds to my overall time, so while I was unhappy with that, I was very glad that it did finally ease and I was able to kick up the pace again in time for the Goodwill Bridge. Many people slowed to a walk on the Goodwill Bridge, but I'm ecstatic to say I wasn't one of them. I put my head down, concentrated on my breathing, and plodded my way up it. From there I knew it would be smooth sailing along flat ground to the finish. The last 2km I put a faster song on my ipod and tried to kick up the speed, going from average 5:45/km to 5:30/km. I was flying past people, and that in itself gave me a massive boost. Checking my watch at the 9km marker, I realised I was a little behind schedule, and I really needed to push it to make my goal time. I kicked up the speed even more, running faster than I even thought I could, somehow maintaining a 5:15/km pace all the way through Southbank. My legs were burning, my stomach was feeling distinctly queasy, and my breathing was ragged as I came towards a finish line that felt like it was getting further away with every step. I somehow had enough energy to give the camera man a big grin as I passed, but after that I think my face was contorted in a grimace as I dashed for the finish. Hitting the stop button on my watch gave me a time of 58:04. Hello goal time. A new record for me on a 10k run. Yes, I was ecstatic. Exhausted, but ecstatic. With bright yellow race t-shirt under my arm, I grabbed a drink and an apple and parked myself next to the finish line to cheer Sarah and Graham across the line. It was great to catch up and hear their stories at the end. And so, despite it being a very tough race, I feel great. Its always exciting to have a new PR, and I can't wait until next year to beat it again. Now I just have to get my head around doing the half-marathon down the Gold Coast in July! April 18 Of mice and men, among other thingsWith only four sleeps to go until my 10km race at the Brisbane Marathon Festival, I'm currently alternating between frenzied excitement, and abject terror. No, there's no in-between or moderation here whatsoever (somewhat like my chocolate consumption over Easter, but that again is a whole 'nother kettle of fish). Have I run a 10km race before? Sure have! In fact, my race report from that one can probably still be found in the July archives from last year. And heck, I even did the Bridge to Brisbane last year, a whole extra 2km, so what am I worrying about? The same thing I always worry about of course! My own freakishly high standards.
Last year, I struggled over the finish line with a time of 1:03:03, which was really quite respectable for a short-legged former-fatty that had only been running consistently for about 4-6 months. This year my goal is obviously to beat last year, but not just that... I'm hanging out for a sub 1hr 10km. Can I do it? My recent 5k race results seem to suggest that I can, but I'm somewhat doubtful. I'm still terrible at pacing myself, and I'm really concerned that I'm going to head out too hard then crash and burn. Or, worse yet, go out too easy and end up finishing short of my goal. I loathe, hate and detest feeling like I didn't give something my best shot.
Oh well, guess I just need to suck it up, get my racing playlist sorted on Poddy and dive into the race head first. Stay tuned for the update on Sunday! |
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