Kretsloppet 10K

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Kretsloppet 10K
By Line Kolbe


Goal accomplished!

I wanted to feel progress and I did. I didn’t get a better time than my last 10K race though, same as last, 55 min, but I’m satisfied with that. Thomas, my husband, did amazing. 1:07 was his time and a 10K is the longest he has ever run. He did walk a bit, but not much and he’s proud and says he wants to do it again. I’m so happy for him. It was a great accomplishment.

It was a big race. In all the races that day a total of 6503 persons were registered. There were a 5.5K, the 10K and also some shorter races for children and some walking races. It was all of the city that was one big running party. Here’s the page of the run (in Swedish): http://www.kretsloppetiboras.se

I got the 432 place out of 1363 women.
Thomas got on the 2014 place out of 2162 men.

The 10K started at 2 pm and I thought it was very hot. We got there in time to find a parking spot, walk to the start, pee and warm up, but there were way too few toilets so both Thomas and I had to find some trees behind some cars... (don’t tell anyone.. ;)). That worked fine and we went back to the start and were ready to go.

]The first 5 km went perfect. I felt so good. I ran faster than I’d expected (5:15 min/km) and hoped I could keep that speed. Then the heat started to get to me. I felt too warm and I felt I couldn’t cool down, not sweating enough and it wasn’t windy enough. I started wondering if did make the mistake of starting out too fast. The headache started and my legs got very heavy. There had been only one water post so far and I felt thirsty. Hmm… I thought, I did start out too fast, and even though I did drink of a lot of water all day, and even real sports drink with minerals, carbs and bcaa, it still wasn’t enough. Oh what the... I just have to slow down a bit and I’ll be good again in a few km. So I did that. I ran the rest of the 5th, the 6th and some of the 7th km slower (about 6 min/km) and got to another water post, drank a bit more, and started feeling a bit better. Then I speed up a bit again. The finish line felt close now and the crowd at the path very cheering on us and I felt I got my energy back. Or at least all of the excitement helped me forget how I felt. Still thirsty and still with a headache. The last km I ran as fast as I could (not that fast but I pushed myself a lot) and when I finally ran past the finish line, stopped and felt how I really felt, I started tasting the nasty blood like ammonia taste in my mouth, how my legs were hurting, how I almost felt sick and that I just had to get some water. So I hurried to the water and had two cups, drank them slowly and started to wait for Thomas. When he came we went to get some bananas and some fruit juice. Thomas felt good. Better than me. He had a lot to tell about his experience and we started walking through the big crowd in the city back to our car and went home.

Now, the morning after, I feel great. Surprisingly not sore anywhere. Thomas is still asleep. I’m curious of how he’s feeling today. Still hope he wants to do this again. :)

The goal was to really feel able to run the 10K. I did have that feeling. It wasn’t a struggle in the way that I had to fight to keep running. I ran all the way only walking two times for a few meters when I drank water. I had the other fight with the dehydration and that’s another fight all together. I did feel huge improvements. My feet, knees, hips, my back... Everything felt great. Not like last time where everything hurt. So all in all I’m very satisfied.
 
35 years old. Married, no kids but a big dog. Joined this site when I just got my first fivefingers. I've been running on and off for 20 years (in running shoes), lifting weights for 17 years (I've competed in amateur natural bodybuilding...
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Well done Line!
It takes a few races to get to the point where you can go out at the right pace with confidence. Adrenalin makes it very hard to guage your effort level. You did very well, though, as did your significant other. Congratulations!
 
I haven't been racing much lately, but I recall the feeling of satisfaction with going out smart and slow, and then getting stronger and faster through the race, with just enough energy left to finish strongly without turning myself inside out in the process. Those were the best runs!