Homebush 10km

Very happy with my run at Homebush this morning. In all honesty, I only went because Coach Criniti put it on the program.

I wasn't feeling great with an upset tummy and was worried I'd have a repeat of my last Striders 10k at Lane Cove when i also had an upset tummy and ended up taking multiple toilet stops.

Before the start i noticed that the usual crowd of older people I can count on to bring up the rear weren't there, so I said to Leonor, "i think I'll be last today".

Everyone took off and surged ahead of me. I was last by quite a long way when I passed the 1km marker in just over 6:04. This confirmed my thoughts about my finishing place as I knew I was pushing harder than I should yet was still 200m behind the person ahead of me. I sang to myself to "You can run your own race" (to the Fleetwood Mac tune Go Your Own Way).

I settled into my pace (6:30ish) and switched my mind into thoughts of gratitude for being able to run whenever I noticed my thoughts going to self-criticism for my lack of speed and whenever I heard my thoughts go to "I can't keep up this pace" I switched this to "I wonder how long I can keep up this pace for?"

At 3k my guts kicked and I started to concentrate on the halfway mark and the toilets located there.

At 4k I overtook an older man with blue calf guards as he cheerfully told the Marshall "don't wait for me". I passed him and said "he may have to wait for me though!"

Cursing the "gingerbread men" (a la Tony's Trials on Marathontalk), at the 5k mark I startled all the marshals by running at speed in the wrong direction, toward the toilet and blessed (but temporary) relief.

I then concentrated on trying to catch blue calf guard man. I couldn't see him anywhere but could see someone else in front of me so spent the next 2k chasing him down. I finally caught him and focused on trying to keep the pace up. What pace I didn't know as I still struggle to operate Allan's Garmin and it seemed not to be consistent in beeping at each 1k split.

With 2k to go I saw a woman in a bright blue top and so set my sights on catching her. I did so with about 300m to go and then looked toward the finish.

Everyone was gathered around the food and refreshments across the road, completely oblivious to the three of us yet to finish but the lovely Leonor was there; my own personal cheerleader at the finish, thanks Leonor!

I will wait for official results as I had trouble operating the Garmin at the start of the race (damned bezel!!) but think I ran sub 65, which is approximately 3mins and 2 toilet stops off my last 10k if a long way from my PB.

This might seem disappointing on the face of it as Homebush is flat and Lane Cove is hilly and two fewer toilet stops would suggest I should have run faster however flat races are much harder for me without the downhill to recover and gravity to assist.

Nice to catch up briefly with Ron "sportsman" and Peter Nuttall at the finish but I'm afraid my conversation skills were lacking!