Race report!

I am here, proud to report that I have survived the Glenelg Classic fun run 2010!

The lead up was a bit iffy - I ate badly yesterday (well, very badly actually. WTF was I thinking doing a pile of baking when hormonal and hungry? Seriously.) I went to bed too late and didn't sleep well. I was kinda disorganised too, I didn't know exactly where I had to go for the start of the race until this morning. Oh, and the pants I wanted to wear (because they have good zip pockets for my ipod and car key) didn't get dry in time, so I had a change of wardrobe decision at the last minute.

Despite the dodgy lead up, the race went surprisingly well. I left home about 6.30 and got to the meeting point in plenty of time, about 50 minutes before race time. I had a wander around, did a few stretches, got intimidated by all the super-runners around. After a while I settled down and looked for people who perhaps looked not quite so fit, and convinced myself that I could beat at least one of them. I really really didn't want to come last.

10 minutes before start time, someone on a microphone started talking, but I couldn't understand a word - it was a really crappy sound system they had happening. People started walking up the street, so I did the sheep thing and followed them, assuming we were headed for the start line. We stood around for a while longer, the microphone woman started up again, and all of a sudden people started running - I guess it's start time then!

I did really well with staying to my plan at the start of the race. People everywhere were taking off very fast, but I made sure I kept the pace moderate and kept looking at my watch to make sure my heart rate was staying in the 140's. I think we had only gone about 1km when a few people started to walk, puffing like crazy, so I'm thinking maybe they should have moderated their start a little too.

I found a rhythm pretty quickly today, and for a lot of the race I felt pretty good. It was slightly demoralising to see some of the elite runners coming back the other way (it was an out and back loop course) when I was only at about 3.5km or something, but I kept plugging away at it. My heart rate hit the 150's about the 4 or 5k mark and stayed there, but I was still feeling good, so I'll know for future events that I can sustain that level without tiring too quickly. I paced myself with several other runners who were ahead of me, and managed to catch and pass the majority of them, which is always a nice feeling.

Over the course of the race, I distracted myself by thinking about what goals I wanted to achieve (OK this might have been a rather late time to be thinking about race goals, but better late than never). Before I started, my goals were to run the whole way, and not come last. It became apparent fairly early on that I wouldn't come last, so then I decided I'd like to not be last in my age group. I don't know whether I achieved this or not, I'll check when the times are posted on the website, but I'm pretty sure I will have succeeded with that. I also thought I'd like to finish within 65 minutes for the 10km.

Now I didn't achieve the time goal - I think my time will be around 1:08:30. However, in the aftermath of the race, it was revealed that they stuffed up the course and sent us along too far along one road before doubling back, so the course was actually 10.95km. Hearing that, I was absolutely stoked. I would have smashed my 65 minute goal... and not only can I run 10km, I can run 11!

So all in all, a successful day out. I'm a bit tired, but I'm also really excited about training for more events next year. My next planned outing is the resolution run on 9th January, which is 7km around the Torrens. It could be pretty hot for that one, but otherwise it shouldn't be too tough. There's a 10km Dolphin Run in February. I can't remember what happens after that, but I'll post my 2011 race plans some time soon.

Just a quick shout out to Jess - thinking of you in your race today, and look forward to hearing the full report soon.