Well I bit the bullet and got my racing vest out for the McAndrew relay today. I woke up feeling pretty rotten with the start of a head cold.(..just in time for returning to work.)
I pitched up at 14.20 feeling slightly nervous as it's been over a year since I last did a race (not including the mugdock one which was too much fun to count!)There were tons of Garscubes there, I think there were 5 women's teams alone.
I was on the last leg of three with debs doing second and Emma taking first. That meant waiting around in the stormy conditions for a good 20 -25 minutes at least..Of course with 15 minutes to go I realised I really needed to p but I was a bit wary as I know Deb's has turned into a real speedster and I didn't want to underestimate her time. So I just crossed my legs and hoped that I would finish the run before I p'd my pants.
I had a good chat with loads of folk I haven't seen for ages. A really good atmosphere. Kept my mind off the race and the course which I wasn't sure of!
As the third leg runners were called into the pen it felt like the wind whipped up and reports were coming back from those who had done the first-or in some cases the second- that there was a hellish head wind throughout most of the course. Great!
Rain, snow sleet I can handle but wind...yuck.
So as Debs wee cap appeared over the brae, Jill confirmed my vision with a back up call, I readied myself at the starter..and went.
Round the first two corners...keep it steady..don't kill yourself in the first mile (I know but remember I haven't raced for a while...you forget basic race rules and start doing stupid things if you're not careful!) as I turned onto Anniesland Rd the full force of the head wind hit me...and it was definitely there! I glanced at my watch..thinking I would be happy to be doing 8mm and to my surprise I was maintaining somewhere around 7:15..would I be able to keep it up though..had I broken the 1st rule already?
Concentrating on keeping it steady I realised that I was closing the gap on the runners ahead and so I focused on them.
It wasn't long before i heard the sound of footsteps closing in behind me...the first on the men, on their 4th leg! Oh well to have legs THAT long and THAT fast...
I was feeling quite good, believing that I could keep the pace up for the 3.25 miles..then the hills started. it was on these that despite slowing I manged to pull in the two women in front..as hit the final stretch they put up a bit of a fight which brought out that little competitive edge that rears it's head occasionally and forced me on to stay in front of them...I hadn't worked that hard to loose in the last few hundred yards!
I have no idea about places but on a personal level I was delighted with the run and really quite surprised that i had it in me to pick up the pace. The will hasn't been there for a while and I hope that this really is the start of a new running phase!
Splits: 4:24, 4:35, 4:32, 4:37, 4:33...(last 0.15m 1:01)
3.26m 23:43 average 7:17mm
1 comment:
That's a fantastic time, Rach! And well done for not pee-ing your pants! We came in 12th out of 27, which is not too shabby xx
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