Sri Chinmoy Princes Park 10km - Race Report
A good warm up. Some nice warm weather. I really don't think it was hot. About mid-twenties for the race. Every third person kept commenting that it was too hot. Maybe it was the obligatory disclaimer in case their race didn't go to plan.
I lined up at the front. Not knowing what to expect, I decided I would at least put myself out there. At least I'd have an early idea how the race was going to unfold. Unfortunately I just got caught up in the mad rush that is so often the start of fun runs.
Trying to stick with the front runners I really over extended myself in the first couple of kilometres. Checking my splits, I headed out at 3:35/km. This wasn't fast enough to stick with the top three, but had me well and truly in the top ten. Heading past the 3rd kilometre I was suffering. There was no way I was ready to sustain this type of pace.
The caught a bit of respite on the mild downhills over the 4th kilometre. Then it was just an effort to maintain what I had. Running with increasing difficulty I held about 3:55-4:00 for the rest and cracking the clock at only 38:29, for 6th place overall.
After bit more reflection time, I still think the performance was mediocre. However, I shouldn't have expected anything faster. Looks like my basic level of fitness gets me at 38-39 minute for 10km. There is a big difference between being generally fit and race fit.
