10K Run to the G
Woke up way too early. Must have been the nerves, although I think I was more excited than nervous. Anyway the toilet was used constantly before I left home.
Managed to get hubby and daughter out of bed, fed and ready to go. Only 5 minutes later than the time I wanted to leave, so that was a good result. I?ve got quite good at packing my bag too and knowing what I want to take with me. Just forgot the Melways, that?s all!!
The roads were empty on the way up to town and it was only when we were about � kilometre away that we saw people walking to the MCG. Traffic picked up as we turned into Swan Street, which is where the car parking was. So I did a U turn and parked in a little spot quite close to the MCG. I prayed that there were no parking officers on duty!!
Weather was cold and overcast, but at least there was no rain.
I was meeting up with three other runners from the Ausrun forum (Tigerboy, MichelleD and Astroboy), and found them no problems. We all had a bit of a natter, went for a quick last minute wee before the race and then headed down to the start line.
Today?s race was a huge difference to the Lest We Forget run that I did last month. There would have been at least 2000 people lining up for the 10K race, compared to about 150 for the 8k Lest We Forget run. Still can?t understand why more people didn?t run in it!
So we hear the siren for the start of the race and then have to wait a few minutes before the crowd moves forward as we were way down the back of the pack. Then it takes a while to actually get into a space where we can run without having to dodge people walking and slower moving runners.
I wasn?t sure how I was going to run without my music, but chatting to Michelle and the guys made all the difference. The 5k marker came around very quickly. Michelle checked her watch and we were on 23 minutes?.amazing!! The course was also pretty flat so there wasn?t any real effort with hills, which was great. It was only when we?d done another couple of kilometres that Michelle realised somehow she?d pushed the stop button on her watch as it was still on 23 minutes, so we had no idea what time we were actually running.
Only found out while we were running that the furthest Astroboy had ever run was 7km, and he was running really well, keeping up the pace with the rest of us. Just goes to show you that running with other people really makes a difference.
Anyway at the 8km mark there?s a hill, followed gladly by a downhill stretch, then at the 9km mark another small hill, but downhill again after that. And then at the last 500 metres we all decide to do a sprint to the finish. Lots of people clapping and cheering (not just for us of course!!) but a great way to end the race.
There was a huge queue to get our showbags. Felt like I was at the airport waiting to check in. Moving forward a little bit at a time! Not a bad showbag though.
We have no idea what time we did, but we were aiming for under 60 minutes. Will check out the website tonight to see if the results are in.
A great race, and a really enjoyable run. Can?t wait for the next one!
Here's the start line for the 10k race
Me, Michelle and Astroboy near the finish line. Tigerboy was way out ahead!!
posted by Jaykay @ 5/29/2005 01:44:00 pm
Comments: 1
