This 10K course turned out to be exactly the same one I ran in October - Dulwich Park, 3 laps mostly on the outside of the park. I was hoping to at least beat my previous time on the same course (47:08), but it did it to me again! It looks mostly flat, but in reality it is constantly undulating, up and down, so not a very fast course. It was also very warm today, easily 75F and probably warmer in the sun.
There were no markers of any kind, mile or kms, so I could only watch my pace on Garmin - and it wasn't telling a fun story. I started at a good comfortable pace, but by the end of the first lap the average pace was 7:20. It proved to be too fast, apparently. And the same exact thing happened to me in October, I died after the first lap! At the beginning of 2nd lap I started feeling the lead in my legs, and had to slow down. By the end of this lap, the average pace slipped to 7:30, and I was really feeling the heat. And so it went till the end, I couldn't pick up my pace at all, it was just a survival race, and I kept slowing down more, especially on the uphills. I passed a few people, but only because they died even worse than I did. No one passed me, although I fully expected it. On the last lap, my average slipped to 7:40, so I thought I'm going to be around 48:00, but when I finished, I saw 47:06 on my watch. Then I saw that it measured 6.12 miles. Not sure if the course was a bit short, or Garmin lost signal somewhere, but I assume the course was a bit short, and I ran equivalent of 47:45. I almost puked when I was done, then proceeded to drink like a gallon of water and felt better. Really bad time, but that's what I get for not pacing myself right. It's also my first race back after the marathon. Well, as bad as it is, it's a start for the summer season. Hopefully, I can improve on this.
Afterwards, there was a relay that I got recruited into. It was 4x400m on the grass. There were only 3 women's teams from different clubs, and I was given an anchor leg! When it was my turn to run, I was second, and shortly after, the third woman passed me. I decided not to battle with her right away and tucked in right behind her. With 150m to go, I still felt pretty strong and started passing that woman. She sped up as well, and we both passed the woman in first place. Everyone was screaming their lungs off, because it was really close. I ended up in second place, just a half step back from the first. It was a lot of fun, and I felt better than I expected after a 10K. I was surprised I could still run almost all out for 400m. In 5 minutes after I finished I suddenly noticed that my legs were quite wobbly, but it passed after some walking.
With all this going on, it was already 1PM when I was done, so then I realized there was no time for cooldown since I had to get home! So a little short on mileage, but not on fun! Also, it was the cheapest race I ever ran in, it was only 1 GBP! There were no race numbers or registrations either, each club made a list of their runners, and each runner got a tag with a number at the finish, and club captains recorded who got what number. So now, all they have to do is reconcile the tag numbers with times, and we'll have full results. They'll probably publish them online either tonight or tomorrow. There was also tons of food after the race, ironically much better than any "big" UK race I participated in - the hosting club provided all refreshments, and they were good and plentiful. | 