Before the start I was a bit worried about the route, there were a lot of turns and I had never been in this city before. But it turned out to be well marked, they had spray painted a lot of arrows on the road and there was never any doubt about where to go.
Ok, so we line up for the start, all 16 of us. GO and I am of straight in to a lonely lead. I always start fast, I had tried to keep it down a bit, but for the first part I was alone, I knew that last year it was won in 34 minutes and I think 8 people going under 40 minutes. So I was mad at myself, because I most have open to fast…….or what? Around 500m the next guy made it up to me, he did not go that much faster then me, so I just followed him. First k 4:10 Hmm so I guess this will not be the day I break 40 minutes. Well we had 50 meters to the next guy and he was not catching us, so it was just a race between the 2 of us. I let him lead and he was keeping the pace very even, perfect. The second k went by 3:55 hmm maybe the 1k was a bit long. Well on we went, even pace, NICE.
At 3,5k we turned around and got a little head wind, very nice. 5k 20:05 wow, this was definitely going to be a new PB. At this point I looked at my pulse for the first time 171 it was blinking back at me.. ..Uha…was that to high? Did I go out to fast? Can I hold this pace the rest of the race? A lot of questions went through my head, but then I got back to reality, I was running pretty comfortable still in a 3-2 breathing rhythm. Had I had a problem running so far ? No. So just keep going, you will be fine.
The pace had drop a little after the 5k, manly because of the wind. Just before the 6th km I had to switch my breathing to 2-2, no problem. I was now starting to think if I should increase the speed. At 8k we hit a little hill….ok not a hill, an small incline, this was my chance. I did not really kick, I just increased my speed to the max speed I thought I could keep . At the top of the…....incline, there was a hard right turn and I could see that I had open a gap of almost 50m, ok so now I just need to keep this going and I will actually win !!! Holy crap, I never thought that would be possible. 9k WOW last k 3:42…. smoking. I settle down a bit running down main street, I could now see the last turn coming up, just around the corner and then a short sprint. I went like a mad man the last 100m. I crossed the finishline and the time 39:58 Juhuuuuu, last k also 3:42. I guess all this running is paying of :) I am over the moon, this was a BIG long term goal I just achieved.


Maybe run a bit faster, if that is at all possible :)

Walked around


Training


This was a very small race, but it was nice, and they had more prices then some of the bigger races. I will definitely do this race again next year ……..Well I kind of have to as defending champion :)