Shane's 10 Km race report (Moose Jaw)

I would like to start off by quoting a good friend of mine, “What a great day to be me!!!”

Well if you could not tell already I had a great day at the race this morning. I did not put any pressure on myself expecting a great result but I did have in the back of my mind that I could really run fast and I showed it.

I warmed up with my brother before the race and I felt pretty good…a few aches and pains but otherwise a felt great. We only had a few minutes to change into our racing flats and get down to the start and within a short time the gun had gone off and off I went. The first km or so, I just thought about getting into a rhythm with controlled breathing and fast pace. It was an unusual feeling in a race to be so relaxed and still run fast. I looked at my watch at the 2 and 3K marks and I was about 10 seconds under a 4 minute/km pace and still felt good. At the 5K turn, I was at 20 minutes flat and still felt in control and told myself that I needed to push. During the final 5K I kept thinking that the only way to beat my personal best in this distance was to keep pushing. And that I did, just when I thought I was taking it easy I would pick it up and keep the pedal to the metal. I think I slowed a bit between the 5.5K mark and the 7.5K mark as I had not looked at my watch and at the 8K mark I looked and the watch read 32:48, so I said only 8 more minutes of pain. (In the back of my mind, I said if I can do that I will beat my overall pb in the 10K). As well at this point I was dealing with some cramping issues in my side as well as feeling a little nauseous but I tried to think of something else.

I kept looking to the guy that was just in front of me and tried to focus on trying to catch him, he was approximately 5 to 10 seconds in front of me. (I kept saying that if I can close the gap a bit and then kick close to the end I will be able to beat him.) Well over the next 1K I closed the gap and at approximately 800m to go I passed him but soon after he passed me back and so I bided my time and with 200m to go I kicked it into high gear and blew passed him and into the finish line. It felt great and I was still nauseous but could hold it in. I completed the last 2K in 8:10 and finished in a time of 41:03, which is a new personal best for my ‘30s and only 13 seconds off of my fastest ever of 40:50 (at the age of 21). I felt so sick after the finish line but I also knew that I had put everything out on the line and I felt great for it. What a great day to be me!!!

I was so proud of what I have accomplished and I look forward to competing again in 3 weeks at the Regina Beach Triathlon. I ended up finishing 7th overall and 3rd in my age group.