Spar 10km 4th time a charm!

I ran my 4th Spar Ladies Race yesterday. This was my first ever 10km race back in 2006 and I ran it again in 2007 and 2008 too.

I really like this race. Sure it is commercial, busy, full of walkers and has a really congested start. But the vibe, spirit, support infrastructure, people and amazing goodie bag more than make up for it. Plus it has a nice civilized start time, is a good manageable course and I have been able to make good times running this race every year with a steady improvement each year too - who wouldn't like that!? :) So I DO like it and it is in my race diary every year.

This year I took the boys along with me. We managed to get up on time (I had a split second when my alarm went off at 6am and I thought it was a mistake and I nearly turned it off and then remembered 'oh crap, I have to run a race!') and got ready and left on time and with relative calm (ok we had a bad incident at home with the dog but it turned out fine so the less said about that the better!). Once we got there I got the boys settled into the stadium area, did the obligatory pre-race pee stop and then made my way to the front - yes I do push in, especially with this race and yes I do do it shamelessly. Look there are about 5000 doing this race and a lot of them WALK, but they want to start right at the front and they are in the way if you want to run and it is very irksome. So now I push in front of them and so they are not in my way and I am not it their way either. I consider it seeding ;) So I started right near the front, in line with the starting gun and only a dozen or so meters from the start line where the race horses (I mean serious competitive athletes) start. Still as the gun went off the lady in front of me simply started walking and I had to dodge around her. *rolls eyes*

The weather was perfect too, it was overcast to the point of misty and cool, but the mist was lifting leaving a mild windless morning. Ideal really. I didn't even feel the need to wear a cap.

So the race started and I set off. I felt pretty good. The first km passed pretty easily. I didn't feel I was running top speed but I didn't fee too sluggish either so I just kept going. At 3km I spotted the port-a-loos and although I didn't really need them I ducked in deciding to make sure my bladder was nicely empty rather then risking feeling the need to pee later in the race. So I peed quickly and set off again down the hill. I hit 4km still feeling ok but tiring a tad at the bottom of the long hill up Carl Cronje Drive. As my energy was flagging I saw none other than my colleague Tyrone on the side of the road, I yelled out and waved and got a burst of energy and motivation to run up the hill a bit more strongly.

Soon after that was a coke table so I grabbed a coke and stopped to walk while I glugged it in 3 sips, before setting off at a run again. At 7km just after rounding the top of the hill and feeling a bit tired again there was a Powerade stop. So I again walked while I chugged my cup of Powerade. I had just started running again when I saw (Lindy's) Paul still heading up the hill on the other side, I yelled and waved and then decided to just get the race finished. Paul is fast and I thought he might have chased me, which gave me a bit of a challenge so I let gravity engage and I pretty much went for it! LOL.

I pounded down the hill and finally hit 9km at which point you might as well give your all as 'the end is nigh'. So I thundered along made my way to the stadium and around the athletics track... as I approached the finish I could not see the clock cos Nigel or whatever the announcer guy's name is was standing in the damn way. I was hoping it was about 54 minutes and not over 55 yet. With that he stepped aside and I saw it was on 51... HUH!??? I surged forward excitedly and crossed the line at 51:33 with arms in the air as if I was winning an Olympic gold or something. Woo-flippen-hoo. That was my fastest time EVAR! A personal best. Yayayay!!!

I went through the gate and rounded the corner to collect my medal when I spotted the boys sitting on the fence waiting for me. It was so nice to see them there and for once to have someone supporting me and waiting for me!

It was a fantastic race and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

We saw Lindy, Paul and some other weird and wonderful people at the end. The boys are keen to try the km next year actually...

My results over the years have been as follows:

Spar Ladies Race 2006:
Total number of 10km finishers = 4351
- Me - #469 = 00:58:12 - so I just missed the top 10%.

Spar Ladies Race 2007:
Total number of 10km finishers = 3957
- Me - #204 = 00:54:16 - so I shaved nearly 4 minutes off my time, even though the course was tougher. I finished in the top 5.5% :)

Spar Ladies Race 2008:
Total number of 10km finishers = 4847
- Me - # 177 = 00:52:26 - top 3.7%