3rd at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium
After all my complaining about my leg I managed to get it together to race today. Now for the whinge bit - it's the first time my time hasn't gone down. I ran 17.51. My PB on the track is 17.45. So maybe my leg wasn't perfect - I know my training hasn't been. But, I kicked really well on the final bend to sprint past the third place guy - so for two races in a row I have placed. This is the kind of running I was looking forward to, consistent top 3 results and a bit of fun (tactics, sprinting, the thrill of pack racing - instead of getting dropped at the start).
Because I'm new to running and I don't know my opponents I have adopted the shoe theory of running - the better the shoe the better the runner. Looking around before my race I was surprised to see my opponents wearing heavy training shoes. I thought "This'll be easy, they're all joggers." What I hadn't noticed was they were all carrying little bags. And with 5 minutes to go they all opened those little bags and took out very fast looking spikes! Suddenly my theory had relegated me to the worst runner in the field, or nearly worst, there were only two or three of us without special shoes. Funny enough my theory was entirely wrong. Racing flats took 1st and 3rd place.
The elite mens 5km was won by a Kenyan. He strolled around for a 14 minute 5km. He made it look SO easy. Apparently his PB is 12.58, so it really was like a walk in the park for him to run a 14.
First lap, making my way to the front
Leading, it's starting to hurt. The guy behind me went on to win in 17.20.
Early on
5000m
Getting to the finish (running so slow I'm nearly not in the frame)
The Olympic torch.
Labels: 5km
posted by GKK @ 7:51 pm
4 Comments:
Compliments for your 3rd place man!
I enjoy sometimes taking a look at your blog and I must say it's really interesting!
Thanks Michele, it's nice to hear from you - all the way over there in Italy. I've been to Italy twice but I never raced there. I went to see the Milan-San Remo and I missed the start! So I raced to the train station and bought a ticket for San Remo - but the trains are so slow that the train would have arrived after the riders finished.
I went shopping instead.
ahaha that sounds funny!
Well, if you missed Milan-Sanremo, and never raced in here, you might give it a try at any Granfondo.
For example this month they organized the GF Lombardia; on saturday you had the opportunity to watch the Pro race, while on sunday you could ride on the same roads.
I think an amazing opportunity!
I would love to do the Gran FOndo one day. I used to work for Cycle Sport magazine in London and they sometimes sent riders to it. They sent me to ride the Tour of Flanders amateur event instead - good fun on cobblestones. They even gave me a Colnago to test.
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