And the race… November 7, 2005
Posted by clayton in : , add a commentIt was full of mistakes but hey, it's my first race, I expected a lot of mistakes to occur. The first mistake…I forgot to take my medication for my cold. Now, this really made me worry…'Can I run with my nose stuffed up?' Second mistake, the last sip of drink I took was 2hours before the race, and my breakfast, 4hours before the race. I was already getting hungy just waiting at the startline. Really should have taken something to eat and drink. Third mistake, I lined up in the wrong place. I'm guessing I was in 3500th place? when I started…The guy next to me had the number 3500 on, I'm not really sure but I did see the 3. I was supposed to be 958, now that is a real BIG difference, isn't it?
The race starts: Well, it started but we only started walking 1min after the gun went off. I was squashed by a bunch of people running?(walking?) at a 7min/km pace. Tried to make my way through but couldn't see the end of the crowd. It took me 22min to run? (walk?) 3km. 37min and I finally got to the 5km point. Then, the hill starts…Everybody started walking so now the crowd is REALLY slow. I ran my way up and probably passed a couple hundred people, still can't see the end of the crowd. The 8km point was a tough one, it was SOOOO HOT!! but still passed a few people and yet, I can't see the end of the crowd. I'm guessing it stretched because I had more space than the start and it was much easier to get through. 9km, I started bringing my pace up…still in the crowd, it took me 1:09:30 to get there. I was more suprised than shocked. I thought it would take me 1hr20min after all that running in the crowd. Then comes the downhill, the bridge. I was finally able to see the end of the crowd on the other side of the bridge. I probably passed a couple hundred people here too. Then, caught up to what I thought was the end of the crowd at 13km but I noticed another crowd of about 500people? looked like a million though…plus they were another few hundred meters away. I was able to catch up to the back of the crowd at 15km and sticked there for a while until I drank lemonade thinking it was tea…Guess what? I got a stomach ache and got even more thirsty. After 17km, everything went fine and I finished. 2:16:42 1062/4822. I doubt that I passed 2000people…I guess everyone just lined up wherever they wanted to but still pretty sure that I was in the back. I've got a lot of homework to do till my next race;-) I should expect to see another crowd and then make a bet next time…But the biggest mistake was that I finished after my coach, who luckily got to line up in the front and was able to start right after the gun went off. He said he was worried if I already passed him…my 20km PR is 1hr24min so I guess that was a big deal for him:-)hehe…All in all, today was a nice day. Oh yeah, the temp was about 28C during the race…not much shade either….
Tomorrow: I'll go back to my training but will balance it out with studying. I have a test coming up in 3weeks and I know I don't wanna skip any workouts. My next race will probably be a marathon in February, just maybe.