I did it!
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I have my first 5K race under my belt!
Preparation started 10 weeks or so ago when I first started the C25K program but you can go read all the posts about that if you want to know more!
Preparation for this specific event started yesterday afternoon when I went to Takapuna to get my race pack. I’d never been to the Takapuna Athletics Club before so of course I went to the Takapuna Rugby Club instead. Luckily my darling wife (navwoman) steered me right. It was an honest mistake as the two buildings are next to each other and share a carpark.
It’s funny, but I was quite nervous going in. It’s almost like you expect the person handing out the packs to say Oi! You! You don’t look like you can do it! Get out of here. I guess I have one or two insecurities still. Anyway, needless to say it was fine, they had my name on the list and I got my pack no problems. I went home with a grin on my face, runner #66.
That evening, I spent quite a while going over all my gear, checking my Garmin was charged and so forth. I had to attach the timing chip to my shoe laces and, believe it or not, it took me twenty minutes to figure out how to do it. It should be relatively straightforward but it wasn’t.
Anyways, I went to bed about 10:30 and woke up at 12, 2, 4 and 5:20. Nerves, you ask? No, baby I say. My poor little girl had done some rather nasty power chucks all over her cot and didn’t sleep well. Neither did my wife and I.
I got up at 5:20 and had breakfast and spent some time reading up on the Running Ahead forums looking for some last minute tips. I didn’t really learn anything new but it still felt good reading about how others had done it.
At about 8:30 my wife dropped me off at the race venue. As soon as she drove off my spirits sank a bit - everyone looked so fit and professional! However, I walked to the start area and realised that the people I had seen were all part of a club and were fit and professional! Fortunately for me, there were heaps of normal looking people around and everything was good.
I bumped into one of my colleagues who was going to do the 10K event and we chatted for a bit. The safety briefing was at 8:45 so I thought I had better relieve myself before the event (as you do). 1000 competitors and 3 portaloos. Let’s just say the trees got watered a lot. Men went into the bushes on the right and ladies the bushes on the left.
The safety briefing was over quickly. Basically they just wanted us to be aware that the roads weren’t closed so we had to be careful. The funniest thing they said was that if you don’t think you are fit enough to complete the event then please get professional help. I somehow doubt anyone decided then and there to give up but you never know.
5 minutes before the start a rather attractive lady stomped off with her partner in tow. She’d been disqualified for having a bare torso! Against the rules even if it was a very nice torso.
The folk doing the 10K event were off first and there looked to be about 650 (a mixture of runners and walkers) of them but that’s just a guess. It took about a minute and a half for them all to get through the start but then it was our turn. At this point I gulped down a energy gel pack as I hadn’t had any food for a few hours and I thought it would give me a boost.
I lined up closer to the back of the pack than the front as I figured I wouldn’t be setting any records. We then had about a five minute wait as we had to give the 10K runners a ten minute head start. About 20 seconds before we were due to go the sound system died and the support crew were frantically trying to get it up so that we could hear the signal to go. The lady who was doing the countdown just screamed go as they clock hit 0 and we went!
The first section was a mad rush as everyone tried to get through the start gate as quickly as possible. As I went under the gate I remembered to activate my watch so that I could have all the stats at the end (whew!).
The course started off in a park and for the first 500 meters we were running through this park. There were quite a few little bridges that we had to cross and I was nervously looking at the max weight limits as there were a lot of us on those bridges! I passed a lot of people in the first 500 meters and I think I was probably going too fast but, having said that, I was passed by a lot as well so it was probably just the field sorting itself out.
The next bit of the course wound around the Remuera golf course and it wasn’t too bad. I was feeling pretty good and I had picked my bunny, a rather fit looking girl. About 500 meters later I picked a new bunny as my bunny was gone. Unfortunately she started walking about 250 meters later so I gave up on bunnies.
The first hill came as we left the golf course surrounds and went into a residential area. I was quite pleased as I actually passed some rather fit looking individuals. There was one guy in particular who always walked up the hills then sprinted past me to the next hill where I would overtake him again. I eventually left him behind about 3.5 km in. I think I found the hilly bits easier mentally as I sort of expected them to be tough. When I got to the top of the hilly bits then I felt buggered for a bit and let my mental focus slip somewhat.
I hit the first water break quicker than I had expected. I was on track to come in under 30 minutes at that point. My aim was to come in in under 32 minutes. I told everyone who asked 35 but I was thinking 32 would be good. I had been faster on the treadmill but always ran slower when I ran outside so I thought under 32 was reasonable.
The third kilometer was tough as we climbed quite a ways. At least it felt that way to me. I’ve avoided hills in my training so far but I think I shall be adding them in the future.
Let’s pause the story of my run for a little rant. What’s with the walkers walking three or four abreast and chatting! We runners kept having to run out in the road to pass! It was really annoying to say the least. One of the things I have learnt from reading other people’s race reports is that it is polite to keep out of the way of the faster people wherever possible. Oh well, end rant.
At the 3 kilometer mark the leading 10ker lapped me (The 10kers did 2 laps of the 5K circuit). He was motoring! I didn’t see another 10ker for about a minute (or so it felt). That guy was fast! I was most impressed.
The 4th kilometer wasn’t too bad. I think it was mainly downhill so I was feeling alright. However, there was a sharp uphill right at the end of it that annoyed me somewhat. I apologise to runner #458. The swearing wasn’t directed at you.
The last kilometer was tough! I was pretty much out of gas and the little voice inside me was saying it’s ok, you can walk but I didn’t. I’m rather proud of that. I really wanted to but one of my goals was to run the whole race.
Then I did it! I hit 5K but, to my utter horror, I discovered that the finish line was another 400 meters away! I had semi expected it as I had read on another blog that the course was slightly longer than 5K but I didn’t think that the organisers were that bastardly.
That last 400 meters was very tough. They say you should sprint the last bit but I had no sprinting in me. I focused on the runners ahead of me and tried to haul them in and to my pleasure I did manage to overtake two of them. Most importantly, I was not chicked at the end! It was such a great feeling to hit the finish line. I felt such a great surge of personal satisfaction and vindication. And boy was I buggered. I pretty much just sat down on the grass to take my timing chip off. My colleague was there and congratulated me which was great. He’d had to pull out of the 10K at the halfway mark as he’d gotten a really bad headache but had hung around to see me come in.
The time on my watch was 30:54 which I was very happy with. 5.4 km in 30:54 meant that my pace was 5:44 per kilometer which I think is great! According to my watch I hit the real 5km mark in 28:46 which I am extremely pleased with.
Afterwards my brilliant wife picked me up and she had my snacks that I had forgotten in the car with her! She is a legend. Thank you darling for all your support.
I’ve still got a stupid grin on my face. I’m amazed at how far I have come in such a short time. One of my commentors, Chief Wahoo, said something along the lines of how he finds races times of reflection where he thinks about how far he has come and where he would like to go. I understand what he means (I always understood, but now I feel it!) more deeply now.
Thank you all of you who have helped me along the way. You guys rock!
As an aside this also means I’ve completed week 02 of the OHR program.
Hmm…now this is looking very tempting for next Sunday. 
I worked it out and it meant that I would have to set my treadmill to 12 kph which is faster than my normal 10 kph. But nothing ventured nothing gained so I did it.
