“Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.” -William Faulkner
It never rains but it pours. So race 2 of the year. Sunset series at The Tan. 8Km this time. This series is a bit mysterious, it is billed as an 8k series but its seems it depends on which race you go into. The zoo run was a 7.5km and tonight’s was the 8km. Makes it a little hard to compare times but not impossible.
The weather was a bit inclement. We had rain storms during the day, and I was keeping my fingers crossed they wern’t going to hit tonight. Even when riding down to the event with a couple of friends, the weather was dry. But within 2 minutes of arriving at the start, it was absolutely pouring down. So much so I took cover on the stage, which seemed to be one of the only dry places at the event.
Started in the second wave which I really would have preferred to be in wave 3 but to be honest it worked pretty well. Got a decent start and the course after 800m took us straight up Anderson Street which is a decent 200-300m hill and a steep one at that. Definitely sorted out the men from the boys in the first kilometre
It was one of those runs that I really enjoy, where I thought as I was running I was going to make a personal best. After seeing the time 35.29, I’m not completely sure I did however it nice to have the bounding along like a deer feeling and the knowledge that if you want to put your foot down on the peddle a bit harder, there is plenty of fuel still in the tank.
Two laps round a course I know very well is always fun and once you get the lie of the land on the first circuit you know in your mind where you can afford to speed up and the section you can maintain pace and recharge the batteries a little.
I felt like I was flying tonight, and that it is probably representative in my finish which was 61st out of a field of nearly 600. On top I felt I could have pushed a bit harder but I did sprint the finish line as usual.
Its funny with a bit of perspective, at the time I finished I wasn’t that impressed with the time. But having had a few days now of thought, working it back, its under 4 minute 30 seconds kms and I really should be happy with that considering my normal training and running in general tends to tilt towards longer distances.
There is something a little amusing about the night after the run as well. When I say amusing, I mean amusing now, not quite so at the time. I’d cycled to work that day and so cycled home after the run. I got a little confident on the bike path close to home with no-one around and pushed it probably a little faster in the wet than I should of. Turned a corner and managed to skid and come straight off the bike onto the concrete. Made worse by the fact, I hadn’t got changed out of running gear because it was raining so hard. So I ended up with grazes from my shoulder down to my ankle of the right hand side of my body.
As I say at the time it wasn’t funny but looking back now, its taught me an important lesson. Cycle slower.
Anyway onto Princes Park 8k, the last race of the Sunset series in a week and a half’s time.
23/02/2014
