The race is quite a flat course with an ever so small incline towards to turn around point.
After suffering a week of little sleep, had a cold virus since Wednesday, no distance training for over 2 weeks & no sprint work for the last 8 days things were no starting out too good.
Jogged a couple of miles to the changing area as part of my warm up then made my way to the start line. Plan was to just sit there & see how it goes which meant I ended up in the last 10% of the runners when the gun went off. 1125 runners in total. A minute later I could set the stop watch off to track my own time even though we are issued with electronic tags to record our gun times. As with the last race I did, Abbey dash, I spent a fair deal of time weaving in & out of those running at a slower pace than me. Which gets a little frustrating & dangerous at times, just ask the woman who ended up eating road surface a couple of places to the side of me
The wind was behind us as we set off & the road its run on is a bit of a wind tunnel so I knew it would get tougher on the way back. On the way out I kept a steady look on the heart rate monitor with it being in the region of high 160`s to mid 170`s for the first quarter. I knew these figures would not be 100% accurate because of the cold virus having an adverse affect on things. Running felt strong but breathing was difficult due to blocked nose & constantly taking in oxygen through the mouth was making sore throat sorer.
Passed a number of people & I am still amazed at how many just do not pace themselves correctly or start way too far forward on the start line for their abilities
A couple of battles ensued as some "runners" do not like it when someone who looks like a "non runner" breezes past them 
Around 1km from the turn around heart rate was up into the high 170`s with fluctuations into the 180 region. And I was starting to feel it at this point. Muscles felt strong but body was now aching with the cold. Breathing was steady & rhythmic, not overly laboured.We hit the turn around & I had my eye on a few club runners, various clubs from surrounding districts entered, who were slightly in front & I could tag behind to help keep my pace up. By the 6-7km stage heart rate was into the 190`s & steady but breathing was requiring some effort. Picking off more & more people as the meters passed by & I have to admit a liking to passing club runners with their clubs vests on displaying where they are from. Such a lovely feeling to now that your VERY new & green to all this & with very little formal, structured training, at this point, your beating them
Brief looks at the stopwatch showed I was close to matching previous race time but it was going to take some effort during the final 2km stretch. At this point I was hurting, overheating, sweating badly & just wanted it over & done with. Tried to lift it up another notch with an eye on a certain runner for pace setting. This does help if they are slightly better than you. The final 1km was hard, breathing very deep & quick as I tried to get enough in. Heart rate in mid 190`s.
Got to the last 500m & the pace climbed a little more as it turned out, after a quick look at watch, that I was in a position to beat previous 10k time. As we rounded the corner I came right up behind the runner(s) I had been using for pace but decided not to blast past just for the sake of a couple of more seconds, body was really tired at this point so thought best to just hang there & not put any undue stress on it.
Crossed the finishing line with a self timed time of 44.15, 95 seconds faster than last time
Drenched in sweat I got my free bottle of water & handed over race tag to receive the customary race t-shirt to say you finished it.
All in all to say I was running at around 60% fitness I would say that was a result.
A great way to spend your Sunday morning & I look forward to next race (9 miler) in a little over a months time.
Spartan Runners © 2011 (because we don`t just run)
