Notes
It was a great day as usual for the annual 3K ALS fundraising race. I felt good on my runs for a few days before, after weeks of feeling low on energy and generally crappy.
The initial race plan was to run with Kristina and Henri at about 6 minute pace and then kick. Some dude from the rugby team who apparently ran in high school got on my shoulder from the start, which ruined my plan. I went through the first 1km in about 3:22, which works out to 5:25 pace. I felt really good and knew I could hold the pace, but worried about already dropping Kristina and also about having to out kick this dude if he held on. I put in a little bit of a surge going up the hill towards Barclay the first time, which was enough to drop him. By that point he was breathing a lot harder than I was, so I was pretty confident. I kept the pace even for the next 1km, coming through 2km in 6:45. Robo told me I had a big lead, so I didn’t push too hard. Going by the duck pond, I realized it would be nice to break 10. I tried to pick it up, but didn’t really have it in my legs. I think if someone had been next to me, I could have worked hard and put in a good kick. But I basically ended up keeping it steady though the line, finishing in about 10:08. Not a bad time, although not any faster than last year, when I had barely been running. I think last year’s race was a much harder effort though.
I regained my breath pretty quickly after the race and cooled down about a mile and a half.