Race report: Zirbitz berglauf (Read 416 times)

http://www.zirbitz-berglauf.at/ 10km, 1106m. Time: 1:43. At hefty 80kg, I was not dreaming of winning this race. My target time as 1:45, going for a 1:30 if feeling in exceptionally good form. It was a fun race. The day was sunny and hot for alpine standards. A lot of people were warming up. I did some leisurely walking and a brief run just to see how it feels. I should've done a bit more, if only to make sure that I had laced up my shoes properly. I started out not really knowing how fast I should be going. But I knew I'd probably have to be somewhere near the end. I started passing some people. The first section is almost flat, gaining 300m in 5km. 1 km: 7:30 - Far too fast. After a bit my right shoe started to bother me - I probably did not tighten it up properly. 2 km: 7:23 - Even faster? Shoe still bothering me, shin starting to get tired because of the pressure. 3 km: 10:05 - I stopped many times to get this damned shoe properly laced. 4 km: 9:04 - A nice pace. I stopped for a bit to find my way and started following a short woman (Uli) with amazingly muscular legs. 5 km: 6:44 - The last part is quite flat, so I did it comfortably. I passed Uli in the faster sections. 6 km: 11:24 - OK, now we are talking steep. More or less the same steepness with some variability, until the last km. I tried to run whenever it felt faster. I felt near the limit of my cardio endurance at some points. 7 km: 8:19 - From here on, it's all a blur. 8 km: 11:59 9 km: 12:57 - Even steeper! 10 km: 18:39 - Yegods! That was a steep climb. I ran maybe 100m of it. At this point Uli passed me again and marched up speedily. I did not attempt a running finish since nobody was close to me. I was last in my age group (next worst did 1:36) and almost last in the men runners category. First finisher was under one hour... results will be posted on the website mentioned. End! Some relaxation, then easy run/walk back down.

Congratulations ---- great race