I made my way out to Coatbridge on Sunday, October 18 to run in the Scottish Vet's 10,000m championship race. I hadn't been at the outdoor track before and it wasn't well signposted, so I was later arriving at the stadium than I had planned. As I parked the car, one of my running buddies informed that I better hurry as the race started in ten minutes. I got to the registration desk and convinced the woman that was packing up to give me a late entry and after I got changed and made my way out on to the track, I was paired with a lap counter and the race started. No time for a stretch and no Garmin to monitor my time, I decided to run behind Marie McChord. However as soon as the gun fired there was a lot of pushing and I ran out and ahead of her to get away from the scramash. However as other ran behind me there was a few accidental heel clippings and I was wondering what I'd let myself in for. Marie overtook me and as my legs were still tired from Saturday's PB, I decided just to sit behind her and see how I got on.
The race consisted of some 25 laps and the role of the lap counter was to shout at me every time I passed the start/finish line to advise me of how many laps were remaining. I had heard that there were sometimes mistakes and thought that at least if I stuck close to Marie then there would be less of a chance of me having to run an extra lap. I noticed that she increased the pace every time we turned around the bend and entered the straight to the start/finish. I kept with her and although I was forced to run shoulder to shoulder with her for some parts as we either lapped other runners or were overataken or or lapped from the inside, I decided not to push on but to resume my place behind her. As the laps dissapeared one by one, I kept my mind busy by converting the remaining number of laps into actual distance or percentages of 10,000m.
The bell rang to indicate that the faster runners were now on their last lap. We had lapped Gordon McDonald a couple of times and the slowest runner a lot of times. I noticed that fellow Bella Road Runner and friend Al MacLachlan was sprinting over the finish line as my lap counter was informing me that I had three laps remaining. I was feeling OK and had noticed that Marie's faster pace down the home straight seemed to have decreased. I was wondering how best to finish the race. If I could out sprint her, or cross the line together but as it happens as we commenced our last lap, I was forced on to her shoulder and decided to go for it. I heard her say something as I passed her and presumed it was words of encouragement. I couldn't hear her or anyone else behind me as I completed the rest of the race and crossed the line to the cheers of the officials and those already finished. I caught my breath and turned around to thank Marie for the run and to ascertain what time she had taken. She informed me that she thought that there was no way that I would be able to keep up with her for the duration of the race as we exchanged hugs. Marie had completed the event in a new 42:59. I was guaranteed a PB as this was my first 10,000m but it was also only the second time that I had ran 10k in less than 43 minutes. I later discovered that I had finished in 22nd place with a time of 42:53 (wava 71.35%), which meant that I had made six seconds on Marie in that last lap. Marie had finished second women, to Marina McCallum, and first W50+.
I had enjoyed my run and was pleased to know that my recent good form was still paying dividends. A free race, hot showers, tea and biscuits and a new PB, not a bad Sunday afternoon. The race was followed by the SVHC AGM where I agreed to join the committee in order to help promote the organistion.
No comments:
Post a Comment