My First Sri Chimnoy - 10km (Race Report)

This morning, I got my ass out of bed and drove through the pouring rain to Princes Park to run 10km for $30. This amount of money might be a lot to dish out for a 10km run when you may say that anyone can just go out and run 10km, why bother paying for that? Well things have changed for me - when running on my own, 10km will not be under 1 hour, it will include plenty of breaks and I currently have no discipline to run at pace.

I chose to run 10km as I am in no shape to run 15km at this point. I will be running 15km at the next Sri Chimnoy event at the end of May.

So it was always on my mind to run 10km at an event this weekend - there are actually plenty of events on but I chose to run Sri Chimnoy for the pancakes - they serve these crepe-like pancakes at the end of their events, it's not all that healthy for you but I don't really care. I left the house at 6:30, hoping to get there anytime between 7 and 7:15 to register as they allowed for on-day registration between 7-7:45. I always arrive early to any events to allow time for bag drops and toilet stops.

I arrived at 7:10 and found a parking spot in front of the registration tent which was good. Went down to the registration area and paid my entry and received my green bib - number 524.

I put on my runners in the car and got all my stuff together and walked down to the toilets before dropping off my bag. We huddled under the tree to stay as dry as possible from the rain. I decided to start with a long sleeve over my running top and this kept me warm. I usually bring something which I am happy to throw away but as this is a small event, they don't have those clothing bin facilities.

The start was around 8:05am and I started off mid-back of the pack. I started off ok - I am sure the pace was faster than what I am comfortable with but I wanted to get out of my comfort zone of under-pacing. The first lap was good and it was my first time around the park. The rain was still around and this made for some muddy paths but it didn't bother me. The City Trail formed part of the run as the whole Princes Park is about 4km or so. Those hills proved to be a tester for me. I promised myself that I would not walk up hills and only walk at the aid stations. Small goals achieved - I jogged up those hills, they hurt but I am glad I didn't give up. I am sure I would have walked up those hills on my 3rd lap if I was running the 15km.

I took my long sleeve off after 5km as I was getting too sweaty. I dropped it off at the Princes Park sign and it seems that many had the same idea before me.

The second lap was good and I am sure that I slowed down around 6-7km due to fatigue. I wasn't sure if my feet were tensing up due to cramps or just because it was cold.

I finished the run under 60min (which was my goal) - coming in at 59:35 Garmin watch time. I am really happy about that considering that I just don't run at a fast speed at all anymore. I am hoping that I am on track for my half marathon goals during winter.

Lessons/Comments

• I had a gel at the beginning - that was enough. I didn't take another gel at every 30min, I thought this was excessive for this distance. 
• I ran with music - something which I haven't done in 3 years. I don't know why but I just wanted to "tune" out for this run. I know my technique might have been shit at some points, oh well. 
• I wore a heart rate monitor for the first time in 3 years - not sure it is working properly or it is stuffing up my data - says I only burnt 106 calories.