Racereport: Lisburn 10K, 17th June 2009

There are certain races you just have to do. The Lisburn 10k is one of those.

Like last year our company had a team lined up. So a 10k on a Wednesday evening is not the worst thing to do – especially when its well organised and a good massage afterwards is guaranteed.

Since Im just back into running training since 2 weeks I really didn’t know what to expect from the race. Havent done any speedwork yet the legs felt good but overall (running) fitness is not up to speed. I decided to participate because of all the colleagues that went to run and the general hunger for races.

The day started of terrible. Storms and rain over the island but once entered Lisburn it all turned out to be a lovely evening with perfect running conditions. The wind was heavy so I decided to hang in a decent group and draft along.

It worked out pretty well. The first few kilometres through the city flew by and on the way out of town I was drafting a guy with a good pace. I normally make the mistake and go out to hard. I tried to learn from this race to settle myself in and just run with a smooth pace. The plan was to give it everything on the last 2 kilometres.

I was passing 5k in high 17 minutes and felt relaxed. We were passing the leading car that was stuck in traffic and I decided to increase the speed a bit. Like last year the 10k race hits the, earlier started, half-marathon runners. I stayed on the right side of the road. The street got crowed and sometimes it was hard to pass the slower half-marathon runners. Eventually it worked out.

Shortly before I reached the 7k mark I got serious stitches. They forced me to drop down the speed a little. I struggled with the pain till 8,5k. After I was relaxed again I gave it everything to the finish line.

I was pretty surprised to run a 36:48 that early and with this lack of training.

Pretty happy with the time I rushed to get the massage. Funny enough the massage girls remembered me from last years race. They weren’t busy so I got a extra long treatment for my right (bad) calf.