Cobweb crawl
Finally, the end of 23 weeks of my first OS. Had a great FTP test on Friday and was looking forward to my first stand alone 10K in probably 20 years. My last 5K test was a 20:05 so my goal time was a real wag. I had set a 51 veto goal so 40:39 was my real goal. I did not pre register so I showed up an hour and thirty minutes early to make sure I would not have to wait. As it was 37 degrees I was early enough to meet the set up crew and promptly signed up and settled in for my long wait for race time. The race attendance was a bust as poor promotion and the cold temperatures took its toll. 30 minutes prior I started my first real race warm up, two miles with 6 30 second pick ups. Everything felt good and it gave me a great deal of confidence that I would be able to put in a good effort. 41:30 seemed like such a stretch but I was ready to give it a go. The horn sounded and off we went. For the first time in my life I was headed out leading the pack and feeling solid. Quickly I was passed by two younger fellows and vowed to keep them in sight but to run my pace. Unfortunately the course was not marked with mile markers and I was truly running by RPE. As we came to a a fork both boys in front of me(50 yds) turned left and I stayed the course unsure who was right. It was a long couple of moments until I saw the aid station and knew I was on the right path. All the while I just kept trying to keep it on the edge of as hard as I could go still thinking I could finish at this pace, all the while wondering what my pace really was. Trying to remember the race map I felt like a logh straightaway meant one mile left or was it two. I promised that once I hit the straightaway I would ramp it up and just hang on. Turns out it was one mile and one more turn I could see the finish. Headed for home I crossed the finish at 39:53. I was shocked at the result, in my wildest dreams I never thought I could run a sub 40 10K. This stuff really works. I rarely overachieved on intervals and never did more than the prescribed work interval. On a side note the two short course runners that cut the course were awarded first and second much to my dismay. The race director knew they had inadvertently cut things short as well as the runners in the end. I was disappointed to watch them accept their awards. I guess they plan to stand by their sub 34 times which seems awful fast to me.
Comments
Nice race David and congrats on the sub 40.
Gordon