My first race in my attempt to get back to a good level of fitness for next April and the Marathon in Santiago. This race was being run locally in Avellaneda, and is free to enter, with a Tech T-shirt thrown in for good measure. Managed to talk a few friends to run the race as well, and so Team Frinking had a decent turnout with 5 of us running. The race was advertised as an 8K run, but after the race it transpired that it was actually 8.5K, which explained the last kilometre (or not!), but I jump ahead of myself.
The race was due off at 9am, and with around 2,500 people lining up for the run, we were faced with the prospect of a great, flat course, with the clouds being burnt away by the sun, and temperatures rising steadily, reaching around the 30C mark by the end. I was hoping to run under 45 minutes, and started at a modest pace, and lo and behold, the first Km was run in 5:08, although it felt easy. I didn't try and slow down, or ease up, just kept the legs turning over steadily, and the first few kilometers felt good. I reached the 4Km mark in 21 minutes, but by now the sun was heating things up, and a welcome hose down from the local fire brigade cooled me down for a few minutes. I missed the 5Km mark, but estimate that I had run the 5km in around 26:20, and around that time I had to take a walk break as I was overheating. A sixty second walk break to cool down, shouldn't lose me too much time, and I started off again, running slower now, but determined to hit my time marks.
I had plenty of time in hand at the 7Km mark, spot on 38 minutes, and knew I would be within my time goal. By now it had got exceptionally hot, and I was struggling with this, but I could see my friend Scott about 20 meters ahead of me, so I focused on keeping him in my aim, as I tried to increase the pace a little to catch him. I wasn't looking at my watch at all at this point, trying to concentrate on closing the gap. As we turned onto Av.Belgrano and the home straight to the finish line, I narrowed the distance to 10m, but with some 200m to go, Scott found his own second gear, and I knew I had nothing left in the tank, so I backed off and glanced at my watch to see that somehow the last Km was taking me over 8 minutes!!!!! Somewhat surprised with this, I gave one last sprint, overtaking a couple of people, and crossed the line with my watch at 46:40....
I subsequently found out that the race was actually 8.5Km, which explained the anomaly over the last stretch form Km 7.
Much needed water was plentiful, with fruit available too, and I met up with the rest of the gang, and the Race Director who was delighted with everything. The Team then headed back for a shower before meeting up with more Frinkers and we headed off to El Tano Parilla for a great lunch, followed by beer and wine for a very enjoyable day in the sun, after a decent race, which, thankfully, was longer than expected, making my time very acceptable for 8.5, with the 8 being around 44 minutes, well inside targetted hopes.
Next up is the 10K Hispano race in ten days time, and I will aim for 55 there.
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