So it was 10km time again and after running a 36:55 10 days ago I thought I had a good shot at 36:30...
Now when you want to run fast, what do you do? You call in help... HELP... and what do I use for help? Magic shoes (do any of you guys have magic shoes?).
Back in 1997 Dawn and I went to the USA for a little holiday (a story for another day) and like any runner we ended up walking into a little running shop (could it be called Kellys or something like that, it was between YN and Boston but that's not important) and started looking around... at shoes. I was a Nike person back then and this pair of zoom lights caught my eye, and said: I'll make you run fast!!! So I bought them...
Tonight I pulled on the 14 year old shoes and the rest, well the rest was just great... After a couple of km warmup I lined up with the 1519 other people. I didn't expect fire works, but had spoken to Graham on the line to see who was there and I knew if things went well I could sneak in a top 3 (40+).
I didn't set off like a bullet, but still past the 1st km in 3:28, I was running to fast, 3:40 was the target... 3:26 for 2km and I knew I was in trouble.
So what does one do if you are running to fast... slow down? Right, NO I just kept it there 3:35 (up the hill) 3:31 3:26 17:28 for 5km. At this stage I was toast and told Johan, whohad been running with me, to go, but I ran him down, and with the first lady now in our sights I took charge!!! 3:30 3:24 3:24 this was down the hill we had climbed earlier and I had taken the foot off the gas and was coasting really I was waiting to blow!!! 3:27 I caught one of my boys and told him to tuck in for the last km and if we could hold it together we would break 35min. I pushed for home leaving Him and Johan behind... I wanted my 35. 3:23, but the race is only over when you cross the finish line 0:16 (34:56)!!!!!!!! (my splits are from Mr. Garmin)
Can't believe it, where did that come from? was it the shoes or the 2 and a half weeks of training....?
Tonight I pulled on the 14 year old shoes and the rest, well the rest was just great... After a couple of km warmup I lined up with the 1519 other people. I didn't expect fire works, but had spoken to Graham on the line to see who was there and I knew if things went well I could sneak in a top 3 (40+).
I didn't set off like a bullet, but still past the 1st km in 3:28, I was running to fast, 3:40 was the target... 3:26 for 2km and I knew I was in trouble.
So what does one do if you are running to fast... slow down? Right, NO I just kept it there 3:35 (up the hill) 3:31 3:26 17:28 for 5km. At this stage I was toast and told Johan, whohad been running with me, to go, but I ran him down, and with the first lady now in our sights I took charge!!! 3:30 3:24 3:24 this was down the hill we had climbed earlier and I had taken the foot off the gas and was coasting really I was waiting to blow!!! 3:27 I caught one of my boys and told him to tuck in for the last km and if we could hold it together we would break 35min. I pushed for home leaving Him and Johan behind... I wanted my 35. 3:23, but the race is only over when you cross the finish line 0:16 (34:56)!!!!!!!! (my splits are from Mr. Garmin)
Can't believe it, where did that come from? was it the shoes or the 2 and a half weeks of training....?
Wish I could wear them for my marathon!!!
Wow, great pace! Those shoes definitely look low profile!
ReplyDeleteWow, that's awesome!! I run that fast in my dreams. I love how my racing spikes allow me to run so fast, but I couldn't imagine running them for much longer than a 5k. They are so hard on my feet!
ReplyDeleteWOW FAST!
ReplyDeleteAnd all these fools who are always talking about their super fancy modern expensive shoes...and you did it on shoes that are over a decade old!