Olympic Dream 2006
This year saw a course change for the event that included 2 x 5km laps of the MCG and surrounding parklands.
I arrived at the Melbourne Cricket Ground fairly early due to infrequent public transport. This gave me plenty of time to sort out my gear, join in the warm-up aerobics and a few pre-race trips to the toilet. Powerade was one of the event sponsors and they were handing out free bottles of their Isotonic range. I foolish drank 2 bottles of the free stuff knowing I would probarly regret it later.
The race started at 10am with a whistle and the usual mad dash "trying not to trip yourself or others over" commenced.
The first lap passed pretty well. The course was surprisingly hilly with a few crossings over footbridges that spanned the railyards.
When I mention hilly it is not the steep hills Six Foot Track style. Just gradual inclines over footbridges that really started to hurt on the second lap.
Elevation chart from today's Olympic Dream.The first 5km lap passed in 0:23:21 and I bunkered down to complete the second lap.
I could feel the Powerade excise was starting to rear its ugly head and I tried to focus on targets to overtake and not my increasing bladder size.
The sun felt particularly fierce during this lap and I could have sworn that it was 30 plus degrees. Since checking the Bureau of Meteorology website I have found that it was only a more reasonable 20 degrees at the time but it sure felt hotter.
The last approach to the MCG was on the very same bridge that Kerryn McCann ran over to win the 2006 Commonwealth Games ladies marathon. With that inspiring moment on my mind and my bladder at the point of rupture I pushed on to finish the 10km race in 0:49:35.
Initially I was a little disappointed with my time. It beat my previous Olympic Dream time of 4 minutes but it was held on a completely different course. I was hoping to get closer to 45 minutes for a 10km event. It was with relief that I heard the place getters describing the event as difficult during their medal presentations. The 1st place female winner seemed to even address me personally when she said not to be disillusioned if PB's aren't broken, it was a tough course with all the inclines.
I squeezed in 2 more Powerades (hey it was FREE) and a couple of trips to the toilet before catching the train back home. Another race event under the belt.
posted by Spark Driver at 6:55 PM
11 Comments:
Nice work Sparks - sub 50 is great.
When you catch a train does that make you a back seat driver? ;-)
WELL DONE!!
Hot + hilly = slower than flat + cool
GOOD ON YOU - and how's the mo going?
you forgot to mention your mo was weighing you down!
Great effort.
Maybe it was the 'stache that slowed you down. Either way, it was a great run.
Pat
Arizona, USA
www.patsrunning.blogspot.com
Great post SD, had a good laugh at your bladders expense!! :-)
Conditions really do make a difference, be it heat, wind, hills, etc. and all have to be taken into account.
Main thing is you competed (and got lots of free Powerade!!)
MAR.
i have travelled round australia, perth, marble bar, port heldland, broome, kalgoorlie, esperance and sydney
it was my gap year and i worked on a pearl boat and a cattle station. it was great fun!
Yuck, what a nasty looking course, glad I chose to give it a miss.
Well done, I don't think it was a "racing" course, just a get out there and try to have fun course.
There is no question the full bladder would have affected your time also SD.
Well you can bench mark it for next year now.Why don't you try the Zatopek 10km at the track and you will know for sure as all track 10k's are the same around the world?
R2B
Sounds like a tough one SD. Now, what if they'd been handing out free sausage sandwiches?
By the way, all courses are flat compared to 6' ;)
I also cannot resist a freebie- that is the only reason I do these runs! Good work for just getting out there in the heat.
Well done SD - looks like a tough course!
Its got me beat how you could run at all, let alone a decent 10k, with a belly full of Powerade. Makes for an amusing story :-)
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