10 K race

I'm recovering from an injury in the groin area, and I thought a slow 10 K would be perfect to keep myself motivated for running. Only training and no racing can become very boring after a few weeks, and you lose some of your endurance and pace hardness.

So this was a small local 10 K race for charity (all proceedings will go to the Dutch Roparun Foundation for cancer relief, to help cancer patients and their family deal with the disease). While that is a good cause, there was still that little thing of running 10 kilometers without much endurance in my legs. I believe 73 man and 14 women started with a spoken count-down (3, 2, 1, start) by the race director at 7 PM in the evening.

The course consisted of three equal laps, with an extra 80 metres at the start to make it a full 10,000 metres. In the first lap, I helped some women make it through the head wind at a particular part of the race course. Because they weren't as fast as I was, they had to let go, but thanked me for my hard work. I completed the first lap in 17:22.

In the second lap, I saw a grandfather with his young grandchild watching the race. I went towards them a gave the grandfather a big clap, surprising the grandchild, and giving me a boost of confidence. Again, I battled the head winds on that same piece of road as in the first lap, only now without anyone to help (helping other runners helps me forget how tired I am). At a certain point, the runners had to cross the road, and while I was doing that, I had to avoid a small truck, which the race assistants had let pass by without noticing that I was crossing the road. The course continued with a narrow road, leading into a dirt track. About halfway there was a farm with people giving water to the runners. I don't believe they were an official drinking post (it wasn't marked on the course map at the entry station), but the water was accepted and just as delicious anyway. I completed the second lap in 16:42. That was a bit faster, because I didn't have to slow down to pace myself for those women in the first lap.

In the third lap, I thanked all race assistants for their help and hoped to see them next year in the same event. Of course, that was a good moral boost. I needed that, because my injury was beginning to hurt, every time I passed a speed bump in the road. Furthermore, I hadn't run such a long distance in weeks. The only running I had done was about 30 minutes of running during interval training. So I decided not to increase my pace, but to keep running at roughly the same pace. The third lap went in 16:49, and those last 80 metres in 21 seconds.

So that was 10 K in 51:11 (5:07/K or 8:14/mi). A slow result, but nevertheless a result.

After the finish every runner was awarded with a bag of French beans, which I gave to one of the spectators. I also applauded for the women I helped in my first lap when they finished, and gave the male runner I had passed at the drinking post in the second lap (he stopped to drink and I only slowed down, but kept running) a big compliment and a thumbs up.

Then I went back to change my cloths and put on a dry shirt, and biked home for 25 minutes, while enjoying a beautiful sunny summer evening.