About a mile from home, the perfect substitute for a sunday morning training run in the park. A little too close to midday for my liking, the weather was hot, but breezy in the exposed open field course, but shaded during a good portion through the trees as we weaved through the figure 8 2 lap course. After 15 minutes of casual confusion finding the subtly marked start line, a group of about 140 runners lined up to hear our marching orders. The lady addressed the crowd saying, “if anyone expects to run sub 40 minutes, then please step forward” … the crowd laughed in unison and all took a step back! … my 10k PB was about 46 minutes, which was a year ago, and I hadn't raced anything less than a marathon or half since then... I had no idea how speedy I might be today, but I held my ground and hung with a couple other guys who did the same. The start was called and were off up a slight hill to the first turn in the open field, i'm shooting for about 7:30/m but, like always, I started out too fast and ran the first 2 miles about a minute quicker than that! … settling down, I can see the field in front of me, first place is obviously way out of all our league and had a big lead, but counting back, im in 12th place running with one other guy, and one a few hundred yards behind. I make it into the shade and through the first lap and im feeling pretty good, forgot to fill my water bottle, but took one at half way drank half and poured the other over my head. My pace felt good around 7:00/m and I started thinking about pulling ahead of the guy in front, whos pace seemed a little less steady... then my iphone and drivers licence fall out of my belt and I loose a load of time going back for the phone, and then the id also! (should have worn the cheapo iphone armband!) the marshall directing the course says “you have to make up that time now!” like I didnt know already. I pushed on, id lost 2 places, and had about ¾ of a lap to go... I pushed on, steady in the sun and faster in the shade, passing one more guy as I approached the final turn towards the incline up to the finish, I cheered on the fun runners as I lapped them, encouraging their efforts, which relatively are often as great as mine... with the finish area in sight I opened up to see what I had left in reserve, the great thing about these races is that you can make them as challenging as you like while having some fun, testing out your fuel tanks, I sprinted up through the finish and it felt awesome to know that I had more left in me... next time i'll use it on the track. A new PB and 11th place out of maybe 140, 3 minutes faster than my previous 10k PB, and only a minute off of third place, what could I have done had I worn the armband and pushed a little more!? … a real fun run, well organised, if a little casual, no complaints except for one sport where the course turned 90 degrees, could have used a marshal, otherwise, great race and another medal for the collection!
[Lining up with fellow +40m 10k runners]
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