Run Auckland Race 4 (My 4th 5K)
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I had my fourth 5K race today. The venue was at Milford on Auckland’s north shore and it was an extremely hilly circuit.
I had a cheer section today as my wife, baby and parents came along. :) This meant that I had people who could take photos!
Here we all are at the start:
The start finish corridor is too narrow so they started us on the road. The following photo cracked me up when I saw it. Everyone setting their time as we set off!
It was a really tough course in terms of elevation. There were some long steepish hills but having said that it was a lot of fun.
I started off really quickly (as usual) and quickly left my dad and other friends who were doing it behind. I was feeling quite strong and managed to power up the first two hills. At the turn around point I was about 100 metres ahead of my dad and made the fatal mistake of “encouraging” him to run faster. He took it personally and sped up!
Here I am about 600 m from the end. You’ll notice that I lead my dad!
Here I am about 10 seconds later. You’ll note that I no longer lead!
My dad’s superior fitness kicked in! (note he did admit to cutting some corners! He’s calling it race craft!) He’s doing a half marathon next week so he’s way fitter and faster than me.
The last hundred metres I could hear the pitter patter of little feet behind me and I thought I was going to be “chicked”! Fortunately I wasn’t!
Funnily enough I got a new Personal Best today: 24:38! Even with all the hills. Unfortunately it turns out the course was only 4.5K so I wasn’t really that fast. Having said that, I’m going to take it! A new PR! My mate Rick set a new PR as well. He finished in 32 minutes something which is great. About ten minutes off his last time.
Something else I was pleased about is that I finished 3rd in my age group which is better than I did last time when I finished 5th.
It’s about 4 weeks to the next race and that should be quite flat so I’ll try and aim for a new PR there as well. I love these races!
It was really great having my family there today and I’m hoping my wife will come along to the next few. It was really awesome being able to share my running with my family. 
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Well done again, you just seem to be going from strength to strength which is awesome. Your dad sounds hard core!
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AndrewE
reply on May 26th, 2008 7:07 am:
He is!
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Good effort Andrew! The 10km version was a bit short too (about 9.4km). The hills were a bit fierce eh? I saw a few people decide to walk some of these. The thing with hills is you get the view at the top as the reward. Race 5 has “slight” hill up Great North Road.
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AndrewE
reply on May 26th, 2008 7:07 am:
Oh bugger. I should have examined the map more closely.
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Andrew sounds like great fun and so nice to have a support crew. I wish I had a support crew for my races, but no one yet, sadly…
Nice photos and looks like great weather.
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AndrewE
reply on May 26th, 2008 7:07 am:
It was great having them there.
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Like Kristy, I never have support crew from family either, but there is always a great band of running friends around, so that makes up for it.
How great to be running with your Dad, just think how great it will be when you’re both running marathons together
I hate it when the courses are not accurately measured - that is one of my pet peeves.
Well done today!
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AndrewE
reply on May 26th, 2008 7:09 am:
Thanks Andrew.
I’ve been cultivating some running buddies too. I always enjoy reading about how you run with your friends at times and it sounds great.
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Very VERY impressive.
The first thing I thought? What a great fit role model you are as a dad.
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AndrewE
reply on May 26th, 2008 7:30 pm:
My little monkey is too little to know I’m a role model yet! But hopefully one day.
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Congrats on a new PR! Looks like a nice race!
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Thats awesome Andrew! New Personal bests are always great!
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AndrewE
reply on May 26th, 2008 7:30 pm:
They are indeed.
AndrewEs last blog post..Weigh-in
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Love the finish shot! Great job!
Cynthias last blog post..The time is always NOW!
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AndrewE
reply on May 26th, 2008 7:31 pm:
That little girl behind me seems rather determined!
AndrewEs last blog post..Weigh-in
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Always great to have family there. Glad you were able to run with your dad. Must have been a special day.
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Congratulations on your time! I love how you and your dad did it together. I bet you feel good!
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AndrewE
reply on May 26th, 2008 7:31 pm:
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runauckland.co.nz updated the results today. Some of those 10km times looked like people were wearing rocket skates - but they were really doing the 5km event. Pushing the race craft a bit far
The photo with everything starting their watches is classic.
Good stuff running with your dad
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AndrewE
reply on May 26th, 2008 7:35 pm:
My wife took that photo. It’s brilliant.
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Yay, you!
I was thinking about how happy running with you must make your Dad. If he’s super fit, as you said, I bet having you along side (or even a bit behind) him in a race of any stripe, has been a long time dream of his. He must be so proud of the changes you’ve made to your life and of how far you’ve come.
Anyway, great job and congrats on your superfast finish.
PS: “Race Craft” cracked me up.
j
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Well the babysitters will be back before your next run. So hopefully would be there to take photos!
Have to make you wear something easier to spot though. Everyone with their running gears and whatnot, so hard to tell who is who from a distance!
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