The hard way

On the heels of two incomparable months, I awoke Sunday morning wishing I hadn’t had that last scotch but with three (relatively) clear goals in mind, 1) to run the Bazan Bay 5k as fast as I could, 2) to better my 11-year PB and 3) to sneak, slide or fight my way under 17:00.

Despite losing an hour of sleep having moved the clocks forward to oblige daylight savings time, we arrived in Sidney with more than enough time to accommodate my usual pre-race routine. After collecting my race number and receiving a good luck kiss from Ally, I headed out onto the quite rural streets to warm up. I felt like a heavy footed, lead-legged lopper; I was doomed. My feeling of unease wasn’t at all helped by a level of pre-race nerves and anxiety that hasn’t been seen years. So, with Bob Reid giving the 800 strong participants a five-second count down, I wasn’t at all surprised to find my first steps feeling very flat.

1k (3:09) – I’d decided to aim for 16:40 which meant running 3:20 kilometers. With high-strung nerves accompanying a slightly downhill start, I wasn’t too surprised to split the first marker a tad fast.

2k (3:23) – the sardine-like crowds at the start had strung out at this point and I settled in behind a group of five runners, desperately trying to will some energy into my legs. I remember asking myself if I could give more and hearing a resounding “no”.

3k (3:30) – the unwelcome combination of me not focusing and a 180 degree turn might help account for the less than stellar kilometer. That said, the games started to unfold here as Rob, Hugh and a few others began jostling for position. I was frantically trying to keep my form but with a mile left my head snapped back and I recognized the desperate nature of my run, me succumbing to the rhythmic gasping of an all out effort.

4k (3:23) – from a depth unknown, I began to reel in a few sorry souls in. I strangely started to feel comfortable (more relaxed) at this stage of the race. During the warm up I’d jogged out along the finishing stretch and took notice of a particular tree that lined the road with about 400m left. Approaching this tree from the correct direction this time, I unleashed the hounds only to find that they’d already escaped. Rather than delivering a devastating kick, I could only maintain.

5k (3:24) – success! Ally came to congratulate me after crossing the line, smiling as she relayed a conversation from a mutual friend as I approached the finish, “oh, he really doesn’t look well”. Results can be found here.

Training:
Thursday: easy 45:12
Friday: easy 20:58 with 5xstrides (1’)
Saturday: easy 19:45
Sunday: 1:07:12 Bazan Bay 5k (16:51)