Yesterday was the day of reckoning at the end of my 10K Clinic, with those who completed the course taking part in the Turkey Trot 10K race. I’d managed to get injured half-way through, from doing too much too soon, and my effort had therefore tailed off towards the end of the course, so while I had originally looked like I’d go under 50mins, it was unlikely to happen yesterday.
I met up with the rest of my running group to hang out before the start, trying to stay warm in the early morning chill. After stripping down to my running gear I really noticed the cold, so once the race started I made the second of my two fatal mistakes by starting off too fast. The first mistake was to have All Bran for breakfast… I can hear you chuckling now as you think you know what I’m about to say next, but I can assure you there was no sharting! The All Bran took ages to digest, so it was still sitting in my stomach when the race started, leading to stitches within a couple of kms.
I realised before the halfway mark that my overly quick start, combined with the stitches, meant that there was no way I could sustain my current sub-50 pace, so I resolved to continue unabated through to the 5K mark and then try and walk it off. I passed 5K in 24:42 which was respectable as the first half contained the only hill on the course, then adopted a run/walk strategy for the rest of the race, trying to find a pace which didn’t give me a stitch. I crossed the finish line in 51:08, giving me 26:26 for the second half, which wasn’t too bad, and since it was my first, proper1 stand alone 10K I was happy enough with that.
Overall it’s a good course and there was a great atmosphere for the race, with many smiling faces crossing the line with a visible sense of achievement. However, while I would like to have run a bit faster, I learned three important things:
- All Bran is not an ideal pre-race breakfast
- Don’t get injured 4 weeks before the race
- Stick to your intended starting pace
There’s another 10K, the Fall Classic, in about six weeks, so I may consider entering that. I’ll make the decision in a couple of weeks, depending on whether I’m still running in the rapidly deteriorating weather!