The only problem was that I was running a half-marathon.
So the last 11.1k were a bit of an ordeal. I managed to finish in 1:20:50, and felt happy to have hung on as well as I did after the unfortunately fast start.
Right before the race I had advised teammate Sam to start slowly - slower than goal pace if possible. Then I positioned myself too close to the front and was swept out -- almost getting knocked down as the fast field exploded out along the narrow opening stretch. At 500 meters an extremely elderly runner went by and I foolishly kept pace with him continuing my suicidal pace even though I absolutely knew I was going too fast. Other runners in the fast, deep field kept pouring past me as I tried to slow down, still I hit the 5k mark in 18:05 and felt sense of impending doom even as I tried to convince myself I was feeling strong.
The whole experience was the opposite of most of my recent races where I have started slower than overall race pace and realized a confidence boost from overtaking other runners.
Well...congratulations on a good 10K!
ReplyDeleteThanks Bob
ReplyDeleteWell it was encouraging to run nearly as fast as my 3 recent 10k events even in a half-marathon.
Despite my belated recent effort to do half-marathon focused training i seem to be in better 10k shape