my first 10K

i’m excited as i write this because tomorrow i am running in my first competitive race since i was eighteen - that’s thirty two years ago. it’s a fundraiser for a bursary fund for students experiencing financial hardship attending sir sanford fleming college who have a special interest in sports related careers.

the distance is 10 kilometres. i was never a distance runner, preferring the shorter 1000 metre races or better yet the two to three hundred metre distance. i started training six weeks ago - when i went into the runner’s shop to buy shoes and shorts and a shirt i told the salesperson my plan. he laughed. actually so did i.
to go from zero running to ten kilometres usually takes a season training at the five k level and then a gradual ramping up to ten k the following year.

i bought some wickedgood pearl izumi running shoes - they’re amazing because they’re seamless! here they are:

beautiful aren’t they?! HA!!! they’re ugly and you know it! but i’ll tell you they’re amazingly comfortable and they fit my feet like gloves - truly. it’s like wearing socks with really excellent soles.

i bike at least twenty K a day and i have been for fifteen years or so and so i have a bit of a (can i say this) leg up in terms of my fitness level. anyhow i have really enjoyed the running to be honest and while it has not been entirely pain free i have enjoyed the hour long runner’s buzz after each run and the feeling of accomplishment after a particularly fast (for me) or long run.

my times have been steadily dropping. my 10.25K time right now is 53 minutes. my 6.5K time is at 29 minutes. my goal for the race has been to clock under fifty minutes for the 10K. i think that with the adrenaline and maybe if it’s an easier course than i’ve been training on then i can see less climbing and can perhaps keep more of a rhythm and thus up my average speed.

runners have registered for this race from all over and i expect there’ll be those who are in the upper echelons of running who will clock a thirty five minute run and make the old geezers like myself who are hustling along at a relatively good clip look like wannabes’ but that’ll be part of the learning i expect and actually look forward to.

i’m in a 5K fundraiser run next weekend and am looking at two more runs and a duathlon with my neighbour matt the wildman biker boy before november’s done. i just got info about a new year’s eve run as well so i’m hoping to carve a bit of a spot for myself in terms of fundraising and then also in terms of my own sense of achievement through my body.

one challenging feature of this process has been addressing my instinctive competitive urge which is still there - the need to prove myself against others. i badly want to meet my goal and then also in the back of my mind, i wouldn’t mind being recognized for either my age or for the fact that i finished fairly high up. recognized by who? myself.

but in the back of my mind is that little niggling “it’d be great to win or place high up” and it really really doesn’t matter but i can’t completely shake that away. perhaps the best way to get rid of it will be to not manage to achieve that!!! i’ll let you all know about the race tomorrow after it’s over.