I ran the race and finished at 42 minutes 47 seconds, only 4 seconds short of my personal best that I had recorded back in 2011 when I was 45 years old.
It was a beautiful sunny day.
There was little wind,
which was perfect for running.
But day time highs were expected to reach 21 degrees Celsius,
which was not too favorable for runners.
The night before the race,
I did some math,
and I knew that to finish at 42 minutes I had to keep my pace at 4:12 per kilometer,
to finish at 43 minutes at 4:18, and to finish at 44 minutes at 4:24 respectively.
The race started at 10:45 a.m.
As you can see in the graphic below
the first 2 K is going down.
I rushed down the two down slopes to shed as many seconds as I could
off my kilometer pace.
I missed the 1 K sign,
but when I saw my lap at the 2 K mark,
my watch said 8:12.10.
It meant my pace per kilometer was 4:06.05.
It was a good start. Just as I had planned it.
Then from the 2 K mark to the 5 K mark
it was generally going up.
I wanted to save energy for the last 5 K,
so I was going to keep a steady pace of 4:18/K for three kilometers.
When I checked my lap at the 3 K mark,
I saw 4:25.02 on my TIMEX. A bit too slow.
I cranked up the pace for the next two kilometers
to mark 4:16.38 and 4:16.71 for the 4th and 5th lap respectively.
Once I hit the halfway point, from the 5 K mark onward up to the 8 K mark,
it was going down. I was planning to surge a bit in these 3 kilometers,
again, in order to shed as many seconds as possible.
However, I wasn't able to change my gear smoothly;
I was a bit fatigued from increasing the pace between the 3 and 5 K mark.
So it took a while for me to finally successfully change into the top gear.
The laps between the 5 and 8 K mark were as follows:
5~6 K: 4:17.74
6~7 K: 4:12.27
7~8 K: 4:12.59
The party was soon over, though, when I hit the 8 K mark.
A long upward slope was insight--the biggest challenge in the final phase of the race.
I shifted my gear immediately and tried to take shorter and quicker steps in order to minimize my energy loss.
Take shorter steps I was able to do, but quicker steps I wasn't!
My legs were too heavy and wouldn't move as I wanted them to.
Runners overtook me one after another.
I felt bitter, but I grit my teeth and kept on saying to myself,
"This is not a competition against them. My goal is to do the best I can."
When I finally reached the top of the slope,
I was so exhausted. The 9th lap was 4:39.95,
which clearly shows how much the hill took a toll on my legs.
I was supposed to take advantage of the downhill,
but by now my whole body felt like it was in serious oxygen debt.
I gasped for air, but each breath felt like crumbled paper choking in my throat.
And my legs felt like they were made of lead.
I wish the remaining course were flat,
but one final upward slope came closer and closer with each step.
Each step was so painful that I wanted to cry.
I was overtaken by one runner after another.
I felt miserable.
The oxygen debt condition worsened with each step.
After what seemed like an endless journey up Mt. Everest I finally found myself out of the slope. Suddenly I was surrounded with a wall of cheerers on both sides of the street.
The crowds roared with yells.
Smiles and hand claps were everywhere.
Guided by the pointing hand of a guard on the side of the street,
I cranked up the pace once more.
A voice was heard that said, "Three hundred meters to go."
But it felt like the longest 300 M that I had ever run in my whole life.
The arch of the finish didn't seem to come nearer,
no matter how hard I ran.
I closed my eyes, ran ten steps, and opened my eyes again,
hoping that the arch would look nearer, but it didn't.
I tried it again.
This time it looked bigger, just a little bit.
So I did it again. And again. And again,
to finally find myself crossing the finish line!
I stopped my watch.
I was blank for a moment.
Then I turned around and faced the course
that I had just finished running.
As I took off my sunglasses, a bight sunlight met my eyes
as if to congratulate me on the mission just completed.
Today's laps are as follows:
Start~2 K: 8:12.10
~3 K: 4:25.02
~4 K: 4:16.38
~5 K: 4:16.71
~6 K: 4:17.74
~7 K: 4:12.59
~8 K: 4:12.59
~9 K: 4:39.95
~Finish: 4:15.03
Total: 42:47.79
No comments:
Post a Comment