- Three months of running at least 15km per week;
- Three days / week of waking up at 5am for practice runs;
- Landing myself a Soleus GPS watch to control those runs;
- Getting that 30-minute 5k constant pace;
- Validating the 30min:5k run by earning a keychain from Rexona Run (yipee!)
And the logical thing to do was to step up to a 10k run.
Yes! I have managed to finish my first 10k (actually its more of 10.33k, based on my Soleus) last September 30 at the Adidas King of the Road 2012, held at Bonifacio Global City. my official time was 1:03:35, rank 213 over a total of 981 runners who participated.
Not bad for a first 10k run eh? you may disagree, as each runner has different skill sets. But for me its not bad, considering that I at least maintained my regular pace:
- Lap 1 - 6'02
- Lap 2 - 5'38
- Lap 3 - 6'20 (water stop)
- Lap 4 - 6'02
- Lap 5 - 6'05
- Lap 6 - 6'08
- Lap 7 - 6'25 (water stop)
- Lap 8 - 6'15
- Lap 9 - 6'22
- Lap 10 - 6'23
Lap 9 - 10 was a devastating one for me as seen in my expression here
A little review of the KOTR 2012 run:
Likes:
- Singlet was great!
- Weather was very conducive to run
- Plenty of water stations
- There were a couple of mascots cheering on the 8th km, was a good morale booster
- Medal was awesome! (yes, this is my first finisher's medal)
Dislikes:
- Late gunstart
- Very few trash bins on water stations
- Bottleneck on one road when 5k and 10k met
- Finisher's kit was being packed only upon claiming
- Finisher's kit was so-so
I really did push myself to my limit in this run. I found my constant pace of 30min:5k in the past 4 practice runs before this KOTR run, yet I managed to double the distance. Although in the middel of the run, I did have my doubts that I may not be able to finish this strong, good thing there were a couple of women runners who were also at my pace from gun start to km 7 - I made them my silent competitor, and yes, I did manage to leave them behind on one of the water stations.
Its Tuesday today, 2 days after the run, yet my body still hurts! Pain means gain so I welcome it with open arms.
Unfortunate that there was heavy rain this morning, I should've made my speed run. But there's always tomorrow, and its another thing to look forward to make this work day end fast. :)
