Added to that, my neighbour, Susi challenged me to beat her
in a race. I have never beaten her in a race so far, but I am getting closer
and closer.
I hadn’t done much speed work if any, but challenge aside I
wanted to run as hard as I could and go under 22 minutes.
The weather this year has been amazing, with temperatures in
the teens already, but on race morning it was decidedly chilly with a mist that
was hanging in the air, giving very little visibility. I opted for shorts and a
thermal top with my singlet on top, a normal running cap (rather than a toque)
and no gloves.
After the 10km has started I spotted Rick (airforcerunner)
and chatted to him for a few minutes as we warmed up and then I was joined by
Susi in the starting corral about 3 rows from the front.
Soon enough we were off and Susi went off like a rocket, I
checked my Garmin and saw sub-4:00 so I dialled it back a little bit and hit
the 1st km in 4:15. I felt good at this point and continued to push
at the same pace, then I saw that the 1km marker in the distance, “looks like
someone put that down in the wrong spot” I thought to myself and didn’t give it
any more thought as I had my Garmin. My 2nd km was done in 4:25 so I
was slowing a little but I still felt good and tried to keep my breathing deep
and even and my legs nice and relaxed as the course took on a slight incline.
My hands were freezing though and the turnaround at 2.5 km seemed to take
forever to get to, and with the mist that had moved off the still partially
frozen canal I couldn’t see it in the distance until I was almost upon it.
After the turnaround I could feel my pace starting to get
tougher and was starting to hurt, for me this is the hardest part of any 5km race,
knowing that there are over 2 kms of pain ahead but not wanting to stop until
you hit the line. Sure enough my pace had slowed and when my Garmin beeped it
showed a 4:32 split for the 3rd km. I still couldn’t see Susi, but
Rick was just up ahead so I pushed on and picked up the pace a touch and willed
myself onwards, sub-22 was still in the offing and I always seem to finish
strongly so I just focussed straight ahead and kept the pace and was pleased
with a 4:26 for the 4th km.
Now was the time to decide when I would start my sprint for
the finish, I decided on when I got to a particular junction near the canal
that I had spotted earlier, I am not sure why, but then I could see Susi in the
distance so I picked up the pace. I realised that I wouldn’t catch Susi with
about 300 meters to go, but I saw that with a strong sprint I could catch and
pass 2 guys ahead of me.
I caught them easily and continued to accelerate and stopped
my Garmin as I flew over the finish mat, surely it was the sub-22 I had planned
for.
After catching my breath a stole a look at my
Garmin…..22:31? I was confused, I was sure I’d have been sub-22 when I did all
the math in my head as I was running (to forget about the pain), and I sped up,
“there must be some mistake” I said out loud to no-one in particular. Then I
checked the distance screen on my Garmin and it read 5.15kms. Could l
In search of a bottle of water and a banana I got chatting
to a guy who was asking me about my race, and then he said, “We never know how
much water to get. The weather is so variable in Ottawa in March”. “Oh are you one of the race
organizers?” I asked him, “Yes, race director actually”. “I think the 5km
course was long” I told him, “yes, so I hear, by 150 meters, sorry about that”.
So there it was 22:31 for 5.15 kms which works out to
4:22/km or 21:50 over 5kms. I also had a very strong finishing kick with 3:32/km
over the extra 150 meters. Obviously my sub-22 isn’t official, but knowing that
I ran a great race and improved my pace has given me a lot of confidence for
the next race. I am heading in the right direction and have plenty of time to
go sub-22 (or better) in the next 5km race.
