This morning I ran the 3rd race in the Run Auckland series (6 races in total), the Musick Point 5k. It's held on a narrow promonotory out into the sea, looking over some volcanic islands in the harbour. The weather wasn't as good as last year when I ran the same race, but after steady, heavy rain pretty much all night, it wasn't bad. The 10k following our race got rained on though. Temperature was about 60*F so pretty good conditions.

Short Story:

I PR'd with 24:54 - by only 7 seconds, but I had been trying to break 25 minutes for a year now. I actually got 24:05 two weeks ago in Race 2, but it was a short course . Today's course was spot on so that was a relief as Race 1 was long! Placing: 33/129 O/A, 3/63 gender & 1/18 AG - Yay! The woman I was second to in the first two races was home injured, so that sure helped! Not sure if she'll be back for any of the last three races, but I'm really after points in the series, and as long as I run all three remaining races I think I'm in the running for taking out first in my age group in series points. It's all about who turns up on the day. Really, the 10k races are more popular here and attract many more runners. I can't hope to place so highly in a 10k field.

Some Details:

I alway wonder how people remember their races in minute detail. I'm pretty hopeless at remembering what happened when, so it's probably better not to read thsi!  Apologies for the metric  measures - we don't do miles in NZ!  It really is long and I have probably waffled - apologies in advance!

I don't have a Garmin and this time, after some recent posts about running by feel, I decided not to even look at my watch. Anyway, their km marker placements are usually off. I usually panic about going out too fast, or slow, so this time I just decided to go out fast, enter the pain cave and see if I could hold. The first km was mostly downhill so I knew it would be fast. There was a whole bunch of kids form the local high school running so I let them go, but ended up catching some (including all of the girls). As we got past the 1k mark a guy pulled up alongside me and seemed to know me (small field and names on bibs) and asked if I was still runing about a 5 min km. I replied that I was hoping for faster than that. He kept with me for a while but I noticed his breathing was rather laboured and I dropped him sometime after the 2k mark. About that time I noticed there was a woman who pulled up behind me and just hung there. I knew in races 1 & 2 there was a teenage girl who I beat narrowly both times and I thought it was her again. Actually, it wasn't (she was almost a minute slower than me this time), but I didn't know that until the end. I felt strong past the 3k mark, where I often get scared I won't be able to hold my pace (I'm terrified of crashing and burning). At about 3.5k we had a short stretch (about 150m) along a beach. The sand was kind of inbetween soft and hard so it was challenging to run on, but at least this year I was prepared (last year I suffered here!).

When we came off the sand we had a short path through some trees then hit the road again and entered the park (finished the loop and back to the stem of the lollipop. So, the hill began. I heard so many people complain about the hill, both after the race and on Facebook, but seriously it wasn't bad. I do train on hills, but I have never felt so strong or passed so many people on a hill before, so that gave me more confidence. I was hoping the woman on my tail would drop off, but she stuck with me. I did pass some other women on the hill - they had stopped to walk! I passed a couple of guys too, but then I realised they had been shielding me and there was bit of a headwind. Note that the woman behind me was benefitting from me blocking the wind!

The last km I was really feeling it. At the top of the hill, I started pulling away a bit from my shadow. I was thinking about LTH's pain cave and that it would all be over very soon so I have to hang in there. With only about 3-400 m to go I saw the photographer and I decided to wave to him and ask him to take my picture - I never seem to get one. They put them on Facebook for free so when they're up I'll try to add it. I was really trying to up the pace, but was probably just holding it. I feel like the hill work I've been doing helped my form at this point. At the very end we run past the start/finish and double back, so basically a hairpin bend with a very short (25m) sprint to the finish after that. I crossed the line and was happy to have gone under 25 and also to have beaten the runner who hung with me for about half the course. She was only 4 seconds behind me, so I think she may have gained a bit in the last part. We congratulated each other on a good race and I found out she was in my age group! I was really proud of really racing a 5k for once and finally going under 25 mins. I think in the past I've been scared to really find out what the pain cave means. Allowing myself to run fast and strong actually made me feel more confident. Today was only a 7 second PR, but I think the hill may be partly to blame for that. Hoping to improve again next time.

After I had a swig of water I made use of one of the 'stretchers' - a bunch of sudents who are training to be physical therapists offering their services for free. After that I decided I should check on my family. My parents, husband and daughter were all walking the race and so I jogged back to meet them. They all had a good race. My mom turned 70 yesterday so this race entry was part of my gift to her. She's been walking a lot and trying to lose weight so I wanted to support that. Last year she had come to one of these races as a spectator and had commented that she'd like to try one, so that gave me the idea. Because we couldn't park vehicles inside the park we had to walk over about one mile to and from the car, so we all had really good exercise for the day and later had a birthday lunch of pizza for my mom. I felt ok about indulging!

Thanks for reading and if you got this far - maybe you need a life, LOL!

Congrats on the new PR!  Sounds like that course must be very pretty if the weather allows it.  Good luck with the rest of the series.

Congrats on a well run race and a shiny new PR!

OMG, what awesome ranking and PR! You rock, Julie! 3 on 63? That is fantastic! I love numbers like that, they say more than just a finish times, sometimes. You must be so freakin' happy to finally have gone sub-25:00 after a year of trying. Great work, lady!

So you work in metric, like us. But what about Australia, aren't they imperial, like the Brits and the Americans? I know it's hard for them to understand a different system, we must be patient with them. I mean... it's only been like 50 years that the whole world has gone metric? We must give them some time, after all... lol...

What a great race you had, Julie... The course seemed challenging, but you did all the right things and you pushed to the very end. It's great that you got to congratulate the woman behind you who finished 2nd. I love when this happens. There is real respect and admiration between racers. It's a part of why we love racing, isn't it?

Happy birthday to your mom! Sounds like you all had a wonderful day together. And I can't wait to hear about your last three remaining races in the series!

Congrats on going sub-25 and for getting a PR and AG win!

Congratulations on pushing your way past that 25min barrier.  That had to feel so good!  The AG win is awesome too.  Awesome job tackling that hill.  If you've done the training, they're a great spot to really move up.  Sharing the race with your mom and family must have been really nice too...great day all around.

Great race, hog! I guess I need a life.

"Allowing myself to run fast and strong actually made me feel more confident."

Best part of the whole RR!   This is great.   Congrats on a good race and for not fearing the pain cave.