Alex's Blog

These are my experiences from MEC Race Seven that happened on October 20, 2015. I posted this a while ago on EYTR page, now I finally got a couple of photos of it.

I'm still not sure how that's possible but I ran MEC 15K in 1:09:42.0. That brought me to #11 finisher.

My watch shows the average pace of 4.39 Min/Km. Which is not the kind of numbers I'm used to or expect.

I started the run at a pace that was way too fast breathing like a steam locomotive for the first 2K. Then I followed a runner who was keeping a pace of 4:20-4:30 Min/Km and I managed to run along until 4.5K mark. Then I started falling behind, but I didn't fall behind for more than a couple hundred meters.

From the beginning of the race I thought I would do my best and then completely fall apart around 10K, but that didn't happen. After 8K my calves started to hurt, so accelerating or coming back to the average pace has become increasingly difficult, but not impossible.

I didn't fall apart at 10K, but 10K point was also a turnaround point near the finish line that goes another 2.5K in the direction that is totally opposite where the majority of runners are going, and running that way felt kinda demotivating.

The stretch from 11K to 13K was the hardest in the reace, but somehow whenever I looked at the watch the dreaded pace indicator at the bottom still managed to hover on both sides of 5:00 min/KM mark.

The remainder of the race became a mental battle that turned from not falling apart before 10K to not falling apart at the next K and finally not falling apart at the last K. I'm glad to report I have managed.

I've been running around 25-40K in the last three or four weeks but never more than 15K at a time, I also would sometimes run during our regular runs with Becca or Navin at a pace 4:30-4:40 Min/Km but no more than 2 or 3KM at a time, apparently both of those things really helped.

Thanks guys and gals!