I had a bright and early start today as Run Auckland Race 6 kicked off at 7:30 rather than 9 AM as is normally the case. Normally each of these events has a 5K race and a 10K race, but as this was the final race of the series, the organisers had put on a half marathon option as well.
When I got there it was still dark but there was already quite a crowd. I took my camera but didn’t really get many nice shots so I won’t bother listing too many of them. I did like this view of Rangitoto Island though:
As regular followers of my blog will know I’ve been doing the 5K events but seeing as this was the last race of the series I decided that I would do the 10K. Truth be told I was feeling a bit nervous about this distance as I haven’t been training for about a week and the only run I’d had was a gentle 5K on Friday.
The 10K course looks quite scenic when you look at my route map.
It started off with a loop around Lake Pupuke (I think that is what it is called) and then a blast down the beach, up a rather steep hill and then back to the start/finish line. In reality, the scenery was a bit more prosaic. I never even saw the lake as we ran through the suburban streets surrounding it.
The race organisation was a bit of a shambles for some reason. A few things went wrong. Firstly, we started off about 20 minutes late. This wasn’t a biggie but it was a bit annoying. The second problem was that the walkers were supposed to start off 15 minutes before the runners but they started with us. Walker management has not been great the whole series unfortunately. This meant that the first 100 meters or so were a bit of a shambles. The third issue I had was the lack of water stations. At the race briefing we were told water stations would be available every 2.5km but I think the announcer got it wrong as the only water station I saw on the course was at the 6.2 km mark and the finish.
Anyways, back to the race. I was loitering near the front trying to get closer to the back as I didn’t want to get in the way of the faster half marathon and 10K runners when the organisers just started the race. It took everyone by surprise as we’d all expected the walkers to go first. I suspect most people would like to start reasonably close to the front but I found it a bit demotivating as I quickly got passed by first a wave of men and then a wave of women. At one point I was wondering if the walkers were going to pass me too but that never happened. 
After about a kilometer I started to enjoy myself. The first half wasn’t really too bad. It was lots of fun with lots of people around. I always get a buzz doing the races as normally I run by myself and it’s just not the same. Nice but not the same. I started to get really thirsty at about the 5km mark and that was when I noticed that the drink stations were missing.
At about the 6 kilometer mark I started to feel a bit sorry for myself and started grumbling under my breath. I really needed a drink and was feeling rather grumpy. Then, like a mirage, I saw the drinks table and things started looking up. The sun shone a bit brighter, the birds started to chirp and my favourite song started to play on the ipod. I picked up the pace a bit, got to the table in record time and no cups and no drink! The volunteers said “look they’re coming” but the clock waits for no man so I kept on going. The odd swear word was muttered. To compound matters the route headed out onto the beach at this point and I found running on the sand a bit difficult. It was reasonably firm but rather soft in places.
For a few minutes I got very grumpy and down about the whole race but then I saw the I AM A RUNNER wrist band that Amy from The Runner’s Lounge had kindly sent me via Wee Little Me and I remembered that I was supposed to be having fun and so I kept repeating I am a runner! and just like that I picked up my pace quite considerably. The last kilometer or so was lots of fun as I set about hauling in everyone in front of me and I definitely overtook more people than overtook me so that was great. The scenery was fantastic too.
I did a real hard out sprint to the end and hopefully the official photographer got a good photo. They are not out yet but I’ll be sure to post my crossing the line photo when they are released.
So, to the results. I was hoping to do the race in under an hour and normally would have been quite confident that I could have achieved that as I’ve done a few sub 60 minute 10K runs in practice now. According to the provisional results I did the 10K in 53:14! This is my fastest 10K time ever so I’m really happy. I also finished 15th out of 43 runners in my age/sex group which is a lot better than I thought I would do.
I took my wife and daughter out for a nice walk when I got home (we did about 4K) and have been slacking off ever since. Life is good. :)
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Tags: PR, running by AndrewE
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