I tried to keep track of my pace when I started. I let the others go and tried to keep to my pace. However, I kept noticing that I was speeding up to closer to a 5 km pace and kept trying to back off that. However after the hill at the 4 km I was starting to struggle with a side stitch. This was about the time that I was starting to nurse my gel so it is hard to say whether it was just the pace or the combination of the pace and the gel that was giving me problems.

There was water at the turnaround and I took some. I was getting pretty warm by this point as the course was sheltered from the wind, so I took off the long sleeved layer and tied it around my waist. I felt a lot better. By about the 7km mark, it was getting pretty hard. I was tired from the earlier pacing mistakes and the wind was pretty strong running back in. I was doing the walk run thing and was huffing and puffing pretty badly. I managed to run in for the finish and saw Jane there. She said my form looked good and that she could hear my loud wheezing breathing. ;-)

Dial back the pace for the first 5 km. Run according to my perceived effort rather than looking at my watch too much.

Walked a bit and then met Jane and walked back to City Hall. By the time I walked back to the car my right knee was stiffening up and I was limping.


Wind on the way back. Pacing on the way out.


I'm still pretty disappointed in this race. Next time I really need to control my pacing better. At least I am able to run a 10k race and I am grateful for that.