Monday, February 20, 2006
SMC 10km
19/2/06
With my right knee stiffening up after Friday's trip to the mountains, I was in two minds yesterday with how to approach this run. Was I going to do my best or settle into running with Plu for a more relaxing morning? On Saturday night, I popped a couple of ibuprofen and rubbed some Voltaren Gel to the affected area, went to sleep and would make a decision in the morning. I was happy to wake up with the knee feeling a lot looser. When I arrived out at Smithfield, filled in my entry, got my number on, did a few stretches then a warmup lap of the track. I was moving quite freely so I thought I would treat it the same as last month and try to run under 45 minutes.
Arrived at the start to be greeted by Plu and Chunderbolt, a quick chat about our plans for the race and the weather. Then we were off with the pace being quite a bit quicker than usual. This was caused by having a lot of new runners out here who obviously decided they were ready to race. Went through the first km in 4:19 which was 15 seconds quicker than last month and was feeling good. The second km out here is one of my favourites and I usually pass quite a few runners that have gone out too hard as I start to ease into the race. I was surprised to pick up a runner at the first drink station who I passed at the turnaround last month so I knew I was going a fair bit quicker than then. This was later confirmed when I hit the turnaround in 21:31 which had me on track for a 43. But as I started to feel the effects of the oppressive conditions, I could feel myself slowing but I just concentrated on holding my form and slowly gaining on this female triathlete who was gradually coming back to me. When she went past the third drink station at 7.5km without taking a drink, I felt more confident about reeling her in in the last 2.5km. At 9km I had shortened the distance she was ahead by 10m and it was here that I was joined by Cool Runner Barefoot who was doing his warmdown after finishing the 5km. As he pulled up alongside me, he started the motivational talk and all of a sudden I forgot how buggered I was feeling. I went past the triathlete with barely a blink and Barefoot made sure that I kept the foot on the pedal all the way to the finish line. I was very happy to finish in 43:52 which made this the second time I have run under 44 minutes and beaten this rival I have out here who I like to call the Prank Caller because of his very heavy breathing. So it was a very pleasant morning and one that set up a great day to follow.
With my right knee stiffening up after Friday's trip to the mountains, I was in two minds yesterday with how to approach this run. Was I going to do my best or settle into running with Plu for a more relaxing morning? On Saturday night, I popped a couple of ibuprofen and rubbed some Voltaren Gel to the affected area, went to sleep and would make a decision in the morning. I was happy to wake up with the knee feeling a lot looser. When I arrived out at Smithfield, filled in my entry, got my number on, did a few stretches then a warmup lap of the track. I was moving quite freely so I thought I would treat it the same as last month and try to run under 45 minutes.
Arrived at the start to be greeted by Plu and Chunderbolt, a quick chat about our plans for the race and the weather. Then we were off with the pace being quite a bit quicker than usual. This was caused by having a lot of new runners out here who obviously decided they were ready to race. Went through the first km in 4:19 which was 15 seconds quicker than last month and was feeling good. The second km out here is one of my favourites and I usually pass quite a few runners that have gone out too hard as I start to ease into the race. I was surprised to pick up a runner at the first drink station who I passed at the turnaround last month so I knew I was going a fair bit quicker than then. This was later confirmed when I hit the turnaround in 21:31 which had me on track for a 43. But as I started to feel the effects of the oppressive conditions, I could feel myself slowing but I just concentrated on holding my form and slowly gaining on this female triathlete who was gradually coming back to me. When she went past the third drink station at 7.5km without taking a drink, I felt more confident about reeling her in in the last 2.5km. At 9km I had shortened the distance she was ahead by 10m and it was here that I was joined by Cool Runner Barefoot who was doing his warmdown after finishing the 5km. As he pulled up alongside me, he started the motivational talk and all of a sudden I forgot how buggered I was feeling. I went past the triathlete with barely a blink and Barefoot made sure that I kept the foot on the pedal all the way to the finish line. I was very happy to finish in 43:52 which made this the second time I have run under 44 minutes and beaten this rival I have out here who I like to call the Prank Caller because of his very heavy breathing. So it was a very pleasant morning and one that set up a great day to follow.
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Well done Horrie.
Sounds like a great run. It's great when you get the opportunity to beat those 'Prank Callers' heh.
I hope the knee didn't stiffen up again after your race and is not going to cause you any more grief this week. :)
Sounds like a great run. It's great when you get the opportunity to beat those 'Prank Callers' heh.
I hope the knee didn't stiffen up again after your race and is not going to cause you any more grief this week. :)
Congrats Horrie, great time! Goes to show the couple of seconds you lose grabbing a drink is worth it.
Great going Horrie. It's tough while you are out there, but what a great feeling when you finish. The effort was all worthwhile.
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