Sun 11 Dec 2005 - PB Williamstown Sri Chinmoy 10 km

At 7.05 am I was at Sadler Reserve Williamstown registering for the Sri Chinmoy 10 km event. $15 later my registration number was C1066. The race was due to start at 8 am but I wasn't sure how hectic it would be beforehand so I thought I'd err on the side of caution and get there early. As it turned out I had heaps of time on my hands which was great, meeting other Cool Runners and gradually soaking up the atmosphere. Group Photo (Left to Right) :Morley, Grasshopper, Ian & Sue Lostboy, Wobblyman, Greybeard, pbig, Blueboy, pinklady, courtlylove, steven (me), mrs repoman, chilliman. The weather was perfect for the event, virtually no wind and not too hot. Just prior to the start the course directions were announced and I must admit I couldn't remember the directions after the first turn. Oh well, I'll just follow the crowd, it's not as if I'd be leading the bunch. The start line was a ladder and I was about 20 metres back from it. The starting gun went off, well it wasn't actually a starting gun it was more of a "GO". I didn't turn on Mr. Garmin until I crossed the starting line (ladder). It was a congested start and I couldn't get into my rhythm until a good 2 minutes later. Yesterday I was only expecting to run about 45 mins but as I got into it I was feeling very strong and thought why not give it a good go, so I did. Other than the first kilometre, which was my slowest at 4:30 I kept a relatively even pace of around 4:04 or thereabouts. After 2 and 3 kilometres some doubts crossed my mind, "can I keep this pace up". As the course was a loop course I got heaps of encouragement from other Cool Runners as we passed each other. I was even more determined not to slow down. At the 5 km mark (20:54 according to Mr. Garmin) I realised that no one had passed me for quite some time and so made this my little goal for the rest of the race. I also targeted runners slightly ahead. In a way this thinking process cancelled out self doubts. On the last kilometre I could hear footsteps behind me getting closer and closer. No one had passed me since at least the 5 km mark. I had about 500 metres to go and then just floored it, sprinting all the way, those footsteps behind never passed me. According to Mr. Garmin I crossed the line in 41:29 mins which equates to a pace of 4:09 /km. My heart-rate maxed out at 165 and averaged 154 bpm. This was a PB. My previous PB was 25 Nov 2001 Olympic Dream Run in a time of 47:50 mins where my heart rate max was 184 and averaged 170 bpm. What a difference in heart rate figures, I'm guessing it's a fitness difference. Today's 10 km event is only my second since 2001. Presentations were held at Sadler Reserve and three from our group received medals, Peter (pBig), Pink Lady (?) and CourtlyLove. The pancake queue was long but worth it in the end. I felt like seconds but thought better of it, the queue was too long, still. Afterwards most of us met at a cafe in Williamstown for post mortems.

Stats as of 11 Dec 2005

Weight : 77.5 kg Last 7 Days : 81.5 km Last 28 Days : 276.7 km December 2005 : 120.0 km YTD : 2232.1 km Weekly Avg (2005): 44.6 km Monthly Avg (2005): 186.0 km Yearly Avg (2001 on): 1513.9 km Total (2001 on): 7569.5 km

Update 14 Dec 2005 Official results out. I finished in 24th position in a time of 41:40 out of 143 runners.