Went for my second ever MR25 5k TT. The first time I went was last December and I managed 21:38 for it. That was before my injury and few months off of running. My main goal was to PR in this, and also to see where my fitness is relative to December.
The day didn't start well, with heavy rains starting from 6am and even though it eased off around noon, there was still slight drizzle here and there. This was bad as it meant that the course was going to be mean and muddy.
Did a slow jog to the start point from school, and got myself registered with bib number 130. There was quite a big turnout in spite of the rain. Did a bit of warmup and mentally prep-ed myself for 20 odd minutes of pure torture.
At around 5am the horn went off and the front runners took off. I knew the start was going to be fast, so I made a mental note to go slow and not let my ego ruin the race. Tons of people overtook me within the first 10s, but I didn't let it bother me and just ran my own race. The first few 100m were still on concrete, and we reached the fitness station and the terrain turned into loose gravel. Someone stepped right on a puddle and made everyone around him wet, including me. However that was just a teaser for whats to come. After that, we turned off into the trail and the madness begun.
Another guy and I was pacing off some guy who's singlet said Keith, so I suppose he is Keith. The trail was muddy and there was small puddles here and there. After the first somewhat big puddle, I decided it was pointless to avoid them and just embraced the water in my shoes. The route was pretty undulating, and Keith stormed on the downhill. With our constant and quick pace we slowly overtook runners who were too ambitious at the start. About 1.8km in, we came across this huuuuge puddle that was ankle deep, and all 3 of us ran right into it like real men. After a few more puddles and mud, we reached the female turnaround point. The men continued on left, and after 100m was our turnaround point.
As we ran around some guy who was literally the turnaround point, he asked Keith what the time was, who replied something like "10:30, shit." I knew if I could keep up the pace, I was going to PR and possibly even sub 21. At this point I still felt quite good and was not struggling much.
We continued on at around the same pace, and was still overtaking people, but more slowly this time. After a while my lower left calf felt a bit tight, and the uphills became a bit of a struggle. I still managed to stay with Keith although he upped the pace a little.
Soon we came back to the huge puddle and everyone's shoe got soaked again. The wet shoes made it a bit hard to run fast. I was almost reaching my limits, but told myself to just stay with Keith no matter what. We ran out of the trail, which meant that there was only a short distance more to the end point. At the fitness station, Keith and I caught up with 2 other runners and it was going to be down to a sprint finish. Keith accelerated and no one could stay with him. One of the other guys couldn't keep up with me and the other guy and dropped back. With 50m to go we sprinted and I edged him out by just a little, crossing the line in 20:58.
I was so glad that the race was over, as were my legs. I think I paced the run perfectly, and couldn't thank Keith enough for it. The 40s improvement over December's race was a great confidence booster, considering proper run training only began 2 months ago or so. The course also wasn't ideal, meaning I could probably have shaved off another 5-10s. A 20:58 on trail without proper taper would likely mean that I can run a sub 20 5k.
Although the next TT is after my race, I will probably still go for it and try to break 20 the next time.
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