My best mate works for one of the main sponsors of the event and managed to get us both complimentary entry to the event. It is one that i have contemplated doing for a while and have done the 12km walk with my wife a couple of times but never run it, i am not really built for running.
After getting the call up to do it i had about 8 weeks to focus on the event, the trouble being that i also had to prepare for the Adelaide Dirty Dozen bike ride which was on the week before. A bit of a balancing act ensued.
Having not done a 12km run since True Grit in April of this year i decided i had better see how i my body would respond to that.
I got myself down to the Seacliff hotel one early Saturday morning and decided to run to Glenelg and back. I had mapped this out and knew it was just on 12kms as a round trip. The first 6 kms i did fine, with little trouble from my body. The way back however i started to get quite tight up through my groin and had a slight hint of pain in my left foot but pushed the whole way back and completed the 12kms in 55mins. Awesome! i was stoked with that.
The day after however my left foot was extremely painful on the outer bone. I thought a brisk walk to the post office to collect the mail would help. It didnt. I got to the post office and called my wife, who i work with, to come and pick me up. I was beginning to get worried as it was sore right up to the week of the event. I was wearing my sneakers to work (great look with suit pants, shirt and tie) =)
2 days before the run the pain had subsided and was able to walk without any discomfort. This was a relief. One downside i find in preparing for an event whether it be cycling or running is the hydration factor. i am for 3-4L of water per day in the week leading up to the event, but also find myself running to the toilet every 30mins! oh well, a small disadvantage but i know it works for me.
My dinner the night before was the same as the one before every event. Pasta with my home made tomato sauce. something i know will sit in my stomach well and not negatively impact my event.
Alarm goes of at 0530 knowing that David will be there at 0630 i decided to get a light breakfast in and do some stretching. Now punctuality isnt Dave's strong suit so i was amazed when i heard him pull up at 0620! =) i wandered out the front and the first words that he spoke was "dude why the hell are we doing this", haha took the words out of my mouth. There was a light sprinkling of rain down south which got harder as we drove to the city. We parked at my office and planned to walk the 20 odd minutes to the start line. As we were at the office we could hear the rain outside, not a good sign but we just had to suck it up and head out. Luckily the walk to the start is mostly sheltered which was fortunate as the rain was persistent.
It was amazing, just as we got to the start line on King William road the rain suddenly stopped and the sun came out from behind the grey clouds! P.e.r.f.e.c.t!
We were stunned by the sheer weight of numbers lining up for the 12km run and walk, the buzz around the place was palpable. There were groups together and teams stretching. David and i found some room where we could continue to stretch as we were a little worried about cooling down after the walk and pulling a hammy! That would be my luck.
0800 BANG the first group took off and i could feel my pulse quicken, however we were that far back it would be another 20mins until we started! The race organizers let groups of (im not sure how many) go off in 5 minute intervals but this was not graded in any way so was completely pointless! When our wave was due to go everyone walked to the up the chute and didnt start to run until crossing the start line, no need to waste precious energy. I turned to Dave and said "lets do this bro" and off we went up the slight uphill and found ourselves in a good rhythm and did a 4:31 first km which was a little quicker than we anticipated. I put it down to nerves.
The biggest difficulty with an event like this is the large cross section of varying abilities and we constantly found ourselves dodging slower runners and groups of walkers, increasing the chances of a rolled ankle or collision but this certainly adds to the specter and appeal of the event.
We knocked off the first 5 kms with little trouble and we constantly checked in with each other and gauged one another on the pace etc. Dave had had some trouble with calf muscle cramping in the lead up so he was cautious of that but so far it hadnt caused him any issue.
Checking the time at the 8km mark we had dipped to an average pace of 5.33 per km which meant we would be just over the 1hr mark we set ourselves but with still 4kms to go we could easily peg this back. As we crossed the 9km mark i asked David "whats the longest you have run before" to which he said "10kms so this will get interesting". And interesting it got. We both started to shorten our strides and David got held up at the last drinks stop by the crowed which i elected not to stop at and although i slightly slowed he could not close the gap. I made the decision to continue on and upped my pace again. Running down Jetty Road i managed to see my wife and kids along with Davids wife and kids which was great. 500m to go i kicked again until i rounded the final corner, 100m to go i gave it all i had and crossed the line in 1.03! BUGGER! just over my goal of 1hr.
After i filed through, got my free Sunday Mail and Powerade i managed to meet up with Dave again. high fives were exchanged and we wandered up to the Pier hotel to meet the girls. David had a decent blister on his heel and i had 2 across the top of my toes. meh, nothing too bad though. Cool down stretches were done and a quick shower had (not together!)
To top off a great day we all ventured to Brighton for some lunch, a walk on the jetty and indulged in some ice cream at Copenhagen.
Overall i was really happy with the run on the day. I would do things differently next year. Start training earlier and not let the winter "CBF's" take hold of me. Make sure i run in decent shoes is a big learning!
It was a special event as it allowed a great friend and I to reconnect and enjoy each others company, it was more than just a fun run.
I am looking forward to making this a yearly event and have penciled in a sub 53min run for next year!
No comments:
Post a Comment