I really wasn't looking forward to the 10 Km Hanukkah Hustle race this morning. I just didn't know if I had it in me to giver and after a really good year last year I didn't want to have a bad race. But I knew I had to do it. 10 Km was the only distance I haven't raced in the last year and last year my personal best was 49:28 and I knew I could beat it but I didn't know by how much. Even when I woke up this morning I still didn't feel 100% and would have loved to go back to bed.
Alice and I got to the race with time to spare and the weather wasn't too bad, probably around 1 C. I met up with John and Jay and saw Carl from the beer run. I did a 8 minute warm up run before and the roads were un expectantly icy. My heart rate was a little high on the warm up, so I didn't know what to expect. I lined up near the front of the back for the start, right beside Jay. Jay is a really good runner and his goal was to do the race in under 38 minutes.
When the gun went off and for the first 1 km I was surprised that I was up front and no one had passed me. I did the first km in 3:57 and then the next 4 km at around a 4:10 pace. For the most part I could see Jay about .5 kilometer ahead, which was motivating because I knew he was going for a sub 38, so if I could see him, I'd have a good chance of breaking 40. My real goal of the race was to beat 42 minutes. At the 5 km mark I was at 20:41. The last half of the race I started to feel stronger and started to reel guys in. No one passed me. For some reason the longer the race the stronger I get. The first 5 km is usually harder for me than the last half. I especially like knowing I can go hard and that I'm not going to die at the end. On the way back I got into a euphoric zone and just tried to run fast and loose. Around the 8 km point I had caught up to Jay and passed him. I made sure I didn't look or say anything to him and kept running strong because I didn't want him to keep up to me and push me even harder. I did a negative split and finished the last half of the 5 km faster than the first half by 7 seconds.
I came across the finish line in 41:12 and finished 7th overall and first in the 40 - 44 age group. Last year I won a bike for my birthday, this year I won my age group in a running race. I beat last years time by 8 minutes 16 seconds. I couldn't believe it! The best was that nothing hurt or got injured and I think I would have even done better if there wasn't snow and ice on the road. At points I had to run gingerly because of road conditions. Afterwards it was inside the building for food and to wait for the medal ceremony. Winning a medal is a mixed blessing in that you want one, but you have to wait to get it before you can go home. With that said I'll take the medal. For the first race of 2008/2009 season I can't be happier. After the race Alice and I went for breakfast and down to MEC to pick up my Garmin watch. I think I'm now going to relax, watch some football and have a beer. I think it will taste better than normal. Plus I'm so bloated from last night's Chinese food I need to get the water out of me.
10 Km - 41:12 / 6:39 pace.
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