I had this marked in my diary for some time and it was going to be the day I beat my 5k PB and recorded a sub 20 minute time. The course was very similar to the Silverknowes Parkrun that I have run so many times, and I hoped that the combination of trying really hard and the scale of the event itself would push me to achieve the PB I wanted. This is why it didn't work out that way...
The weather was alright. At mid-afternoon it was rainy and windy, but by the time the race started at 19:30 the rain was only a light drizzle and the wind was light. It's always more windy at Silverknowes though and the dreaded headwind did play a part in the last 1km.
On my part the race didn't go well. It was chip timing, and as this was a national race with very high standard runners taking part, I felt no need to start at the front. I positioned myself in the last third of the starters and when the race got underway, I deliberately didn't make a fast start because I knew there was chip timing. Except there was no timing mat at the start! Dilly dallying at the start cost me a few seconds and what then was the point in the timing chips? The start from where I was at the back was chaotic. There was a lot of jostling and tripping over other runners, and in fact one other runner, a member of my cub, was tripped and sent sprawling about 20 metres over the line. As the runners right behind either ran out of his way or paused to check he was OK, the runners behind that didn't know what was going on ran into the back of them. Chaos. Another few seconds lost.
We started in what is the middle of the Parkrun course, ran to the start of the Parkrun course, turned on a hairpin bend, ran the 2.5km to the big loop at the end before heading back to where we started, in the headwind that I am so familiar with. The hairpin was just after 1km distance where the runners were still tightly packed so it wasn't a fast turn to say the least. More seconds lost.
Tight hairpin at 1km, headwind from 2.8km to the end.
My feeling during the race was that at 1km I was doing good, 2km I had slowed down so I sped up! By the end of the 4th km I looked at my watch and realised I could do this. I was on for a PB and even for sub 20 mins even if that was optimistic - why not be optimistic? I gritted my teeth and ran for it. I felt very tired but I was overtaking runners all the time. I saw a Bellahouston Harriers runner about 100m ahead of me and made it my challenge to run him down and pass him. I did! I was fighting back the urge to vomit and I don't think I have ever tried so hard, then at the end as I closed in on the finish line I saw the digital clock on the line showing 20:13! What the...?! How did that happen?! I was gutted. More surprised than anything else because I thought I had done enough, and not only had I NOT done enough, but I was miles off!
I have shown my splits here which sort of back up my feeling during the race. I ran more than 5km and that cost me 9 seconds and the headwind and general tiredness cost me 7 seconds (I'm surprised by this).
Ran an extra 90 metres? Was still on for Sub 20 until the last 1.09km. :-(
This video gives a good idea of the conditions...
https://vimeo.com/126437940
And in this video at about 6mins 15seconds in, you can see me crossing the line in my brown vest and looking absolutely atrocious (not just because of the vest). My form is awful and I look so heavy on my feet. I need to fix this to get faster.
https://vimeo.com/126437149
So the sub 20 minute time remains elusive. I will break it though. This Summer I will break it.
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