Lands End 10km 34:36 (1:23:55)

Sunday, Sept 20, 2009

We sure got a beautiful day to run a race !  The conditions were absolutely perfect with sunny skies, a light breeze and cool. I slept like absolute crap last night, not because I was thinking about the race but because I was  thinking about stuff I needed to do next week…just stupid thoughts that I couldn’t seem to get out of my head. The night before was a good night though so I was ok. I was just grumpy when I woke up.

Juice and I got to the race an hour before the start. We hung out and chatted with friends then did the warm-up with Ian and Kerry. My legs felt a bit flat but that’s nothing new on the warm-up especially after a few days of less running. The strides for me are a better indicator of how things are feeling down there and the strides felt just fine. I looked around to see who I could hang with during the race. OCal was running a tempo run and was planning on 35 minutes . Right, so stay in front of Ocal…he’s the Sweeper! Jon’s advice was to get to the half-way in 17:20 – 17:30 so that’s what I was aiming for. He and I knew I could do that and hit that time pretty accurately on a flat course. I just needed to stay strong and do the same thing on the way back. I thought I would let the first km roll on its own and then start to focus on holding 3:25-3:30 pace. I ran 3:17  for the first km. It felt quick but comfortable. OCal and Keith pulled up behind me 500m into the race and stayed there as I focused hard at holding a consistent pace. The gradual climb up to the turn-around lost us a bit of time but I didn’t want to push too hard and I was sure I would make that up easily coming down the same slope on the way back. We hit the halfway in 17:28…perfect. OCal made a strong move to take the lead right after the turn-around. I figured he was going work the lead over the second half to help me out. Yay! I found out after the race that that was his intention but I could feel him slowing up as we headed back down the decline. I wasn’t sure if it was just a temporary lapse or if he was really struggling but this was not where I wanted to slow down so I took the lead again. I was on my own for the rest of the race. I concentrated on one km at a time, keeping the effort going and made it into a game to hit the kms on pace while holding my form. I saw with 1km to go I was at 31:23 and knew I was going run my first sub- 35 minute 10km! I picked it up and ran my heart out to the finish. I did it!!

I jogged back in time to see Juice ran a 20″ PB (!!) as well as Shan running under 40 minutes and a new PB for Lis’! There were a lot of stellar performances today. There were so many PBs which could point to the course being short. It was a measured course but to my knowledge, not certified. I can say with confidence it was a very fast course, with perfect conditions and my effort did feel right for the time I got. Also I should have been able to run under 35 today based on my recent 5km time.  In any case, if the course isn’t certified, I think they should do it and just get it done properly. The timing was a bit off from what I gather. Everyone I spoke to who timed the race on their watch got a faster time on their watches by 3 – 5″ from what the results read, me included. Also, Shan, Lis’ and Juice’s results on-line were given to the runner in front of them. Race Day Timing is looking into the problem, so that’s good. There must have been others with the same problem unless it was just a strange coincidence.

What a complainer.

Here are some pics from the day!

Juice and Mar

Lis' and Shan!

Messing Around

Calves: Shan's vs. Juice's

After a cooldown with Juice, Lis’ Shan and Kerry, we all went to this amazing café on East Saanich Rd, called The Roost. We hung out and ate and drank coffee outside on a beautiful day. It was perfect!

Race splits:

3:17 – 3:31 – 3:31 – 3:28 – 3:39 -

3:20 – 329 – 3:31 – 3:32 – 3:11