My misdirected second 5K race
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I had my second 5K race today. It has been raining all week in Auckland so I was a little concerned that it would be a wet race but the day dawned crisp and clear and frigging freezing! 8 degrees this morning apparently.
The race was Race 2 of the Run Auckland series as was held at Harbourview Peoples Park (there’s a communist sounding name if ever I’ve heard one) in Te Atatu. There was a great view of the Auckland skyline from the course.
There were over a thousand entrants but, like last time, most of the entrants were in the 10K race. We had about 300 or so in the 5K event. I got a good spot near the front this time as I was held up a lot by walkers last time as I had started near the back thinking that I didn’t want to get in the way of the faster people. This time I was determined to set a personal record. I was aiming for about the 30 minute mark but was hoping to go slightly faster. My official time from the first race was 31:01 and I’m definitely fitter than I was then.
The gun went and we were off. I started off way too fast (again!) as I did the first kilometre in 5:18 which is faster than I have ever gone before. The ironic thing about this is that I spent a good deal of the drive to the event telling my mate that I planned to do the first kilometre slowly as last time I had gone out too fast. Damn the adrenalin!
The second kilometre is where everything went horribly wrong. We arrived at a fork in the road and the marshall was missing. So the leaders took the wrong fork as they could see the 10K folk in the distance up that fork. About 500 metres in I decided that we had gone the wrong way and turned back. I kept telling everyone around me and most of us turned around. I never did find out what happened to the leaders of the pack. I guess they eventually realised and turned around. The official results will make some interesting reading as I’m fairly sure all the faster folks went the wrong way.
The rest of the race was good. I did great times at every split and hit the 5K mark at 27:45 on my Garmin which is a new personal best. Every single kilometre split was under 6:00 min/km which means I would have made my goal of beating 30 minutes quite handily.
Unfortunately I still had about a kilometre to go and as I knew my chance of a official PR was gone I just took the last bit real easy and jogged back slowly. My overall time was 33:48 for 5.95 km which I feel is still a great time overall.
Once I was done I went back looking for my mate and found him about 12 mins behind me. I jogged the last 500 metres of the course with him to cheer him on and then we celebrated a great event. We’d both finished and we’d both had a great time.
Here’s a photo of me afterwards looking mightily pleased with myself:
I figured there was no point getting annoyed by the poor marshalling of the event as I still had a great time and still felt that I had run better than ever before. My next race is in 3 weeks and is supposedly a flat and straight track that is designed for setting personal records! I’m looking forward to that one!
As an aside, it is my blogging buddy Marshmallow’s birthday today. Happy birthday Marshie!
As you say, no sense in getting upset, after all you got to run an extra km, that’s not a bad thing!
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those are pretty good times!
looks like next run auckland race is along a coast … so wonder how quickly you’ll knock it off …
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and happy birthday Marshmallow … didnt know which of your blogs to wish you on, so figured id just leave a message here (nope we’ve never met, just find your blogS interesting reads)
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AJH: Heh! Normally I would say an extra kilometre is a good thing but not in a race!
Izzy: It’s a straight and flat course…hopefully I can knock a minute off my time but that might be ambitious.
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Fabbo times Andrew, you must be chuffed, even if there was the extra confusion from the lack of marshall. Hopefully the next race is better organised and you can get a PB in the official race time
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yeah baby! congrats! what a great PB too…
dietgirl’s last blog post..Steamy Windows
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Awwww crap, I knew there was something I had forgotten to do in the morning; it was to wish you luck for this race! Looks as though you didn’t need it, though
The wrong turn would’ve been really frustrating; I’m disappointed that they weren’t more organised. Hopefully next time they’ll smarten up their act and you’ll be able to knock that minute off your time ^_^
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WundaLucy: I’m rather chuffed indeed. It’s great fun as well.
Dietgirl: Thanks a lot!
Marshmallow: I was bereft!
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YAY great job Andrew! I’m sure the rush of it all is just so overwhelming, perhaps as you run a few more of these you’ll find the best pace for you!
Diana the Scale Junkie’s last blog post..All is forgiven
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I hope so Diana.
It is just soooo much fun at the start.
AndrewE’s last blog post..My misdirected second 5K race
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I’ve had a run that was badly marshalled and it sucks, but sounds like you had a race. I look forward to hearing about your next race. Good luck
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AndrewE
reply on 22 April, 2008 9:39 am:
Thanks Kristy.
AndrewEs last blog post..Weigh-in & race results
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That sounded like great fun, even with the Marshall off at the coffee shop somewhere. Congratulations on the 5k personal best. I know what you mean about starting too quickly - when I ran my last race I ran with a pace group that was much faster, for the first 8 miles or so. It made the last 5 rather grueling….But I made it…
metroknow - AlmostFit.coms last blog post..Personal entry: The farm supply is a great place to pick up?.
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AndrewE
reply on 22 April, 2008 9:41 am:
That’s the main thing eh! You finished.
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You’ll get the PR next time! Chalk this one up to getting more experience and having fun!
Cynthias last blog post..Active Lifestyle Award attained!
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AndrewE
reply on 22 April, 2008 3:35 pm:
Yep. The next course is flat and straight!
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Way to go, Andrew. That’s a great time. Maybe you’ll break 25 minutes on the next one!
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AndrewE
reply on 24 April, 2008 5:37 am:
Slow down Jeff!
Although…hmm…I’ll have to have a think about what I’d like to aim for. Officially I still haven’t cracked 30 mins yet. So maybe 29 - 28sih.
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Good effort Andrew! I have just found your blog and your posts are well written and interesting.
I’m also doing the Run Auckland series and its been great so far. Its neat reading a perspective from someone else doing the same event. As you say it was pretty cold before race 2 all right!
Bring on race 3
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AndrewE
reply on 28 April, 2008 2:13 pm:
Thanks Aaron. I can’t wait for the next race. And I love reading other people’s race reports so I’ll be nipping over to your site.
AndrewEs last blog post..Weigh in
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Fab photo - you deserve to be quite pleased with yourself! That’s a GREAT time! (probably faster than I would have run it, too
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AndrewE
reply on 28 April, 2008 2:14 pm:
Thanks Moon. I aspire to be able to do the kind of runs you can!
AndrewEs last blog post..Weigh in
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