Hello again, my loves!
WARNING: Long update time -_-Sorry for not updating yesterday - I found it hard to piece together coherent sentences lol
So - I deferred from my plan last week a) because I was sick on Tuesday and b) had an irritated ITB on Thursday. Friday and Saturday were then dedicated to rest, so I actually only ended up running 9kms for the entire week. Resting for so long turned in my favour though - as my longest race ever was on Sunday!
It's been a hot minute since I ran 7kms or more continuously (as opposed to a session where it's stop/start) so I was pretty certain I would have to walk at some point. Leading up to the day I was really nervous about my performance, so used my best coping strategy: denial. It was only when waking up at 4AM on Sunday, and leaving the house in complete darkness, that I allowed myself to think about actually racing. And you know what? It kind of worked!
I had to get up and leave super early in order to get some heavier food into myself (a banana) and leave in time to meet with Erutepa, who was running the half marathon. We left his house at 5:15AM and arrived at the site at around 6:10. It was bitterly cold and still extremely dark out. We saw him and another runner in the squad off at 7:15, before I "warmed up" (IT WAS TOO COLD TO WARM UP) for the 8AM 7km start. For the first 1.5kms I was very comfortable (but very cold) running at around 5:30 pace behind some other runners who started off at 5:20. They slowed down, however, so I overtook them and went into the 2nd km at 5:14 pace (which is the average pace for my 5km PB). I settled into a rhythm at 5:36 pace for kms 3 and 4, before starting to pick it up a little at 5kms. It was around here that I started really feeling the effects of every little incline, but I wasn't cold anymore and it was just a matter of holding it till the finish. A lot of other runners in my race had started off quick and were dropping away - it was a weird sort of reward to pass them. For my 6th km, I got a nice shallow downhill slope which helped tremendously with just getting back a little bit of breath and upping the pace to 5:16/km. The 7th and final km was along the river flat - and I could see the finish line marquee taunting me the whole way! In the last 200m or so I forced my heavy legs into a sprint and ended at 3:46/km pace.
I DID IT! I ran the whole way without stopping and not only ran
37:45 for the 7km, but within that ran a 27:47 5km which is my second best 5km time!!!
Erutepa finished just a couple of minutes before me, covering 21.1kms in 78 minutes. An amazing effort and one we celebrated with bubble tea, a Radox bath and cuddles!
In all honesty it probably isn't particularly impressive to run 37:45, especially considering the calibre of people I train with. But it's a personal achievement, and despite the deep ache in my legs and the rasp in my throat and the pain of actually doing it, it makes me happy.
Overall I was the 11th female to finish the 7km. 5th in my age group. And oh boy, am I keen to try this again next year and look back on how I progress!
This week I'm in recovery, so all of my runs are gentle efforts to not overwork my tired muscles. I'll check back in later.
Keep being cool, fellow beans <3