On the 3rd of March I found this link on Marathon100’s FaceBook page saying that since the weather is so nice right now and there are only 3 running competitions in March, they’ll be hosting a virtual competition on the 8th & 9th of March 2014. You had to register, get a number, print it out and put that on your shirt the day you were running and afterwards send them an e-mail (and a running app screenshot if possible) with your results. I thought why not take part and registered on the same day for Saturday, the 8th of March and 10K. There were also options to run 5K, half-marathon (21,1K) or a full marathon (42,2K).
Since this event was a very different from the races I’ve done before, I wasn’t really nervous or anything. But this isn’t necessarily a good thing! I didn’t give my body any rest all week. I did Jooks Jõud Venitus, strip aerobics, interval running, interval muscle workout and BodyPump before running a 10K race. What a fool does that: 3 intense workouts before racing? Me obviously.
I think I didn’t take the race as seriously as I should’ve. Since I needed to get other stuff done that day, I picked a rather early start time and didn’t have breakfast before starting. Anyway, when I stepped out my door at 10 AM, it was raining pretty hard. That didn’t make me particularly happy what you gotta do what you gotta do. Fortunately the rain stopped on my 2nd kilometre. There was also wind and in the beginning, so I got pretty cold and ran faster just to get warmed up. My race number got wet and ripped off with the rain and wind around the 2 km mark.
Somewhere around the 4th kilometre I met another runner who waved to me and smiled. I was listening to my RunKeeper telling me about my pace, speed etc and totally almost missed it. I didn’t even have time to wave back… Well, if you are reading this, you were awesome! 🙂 My mood went up by like 100% at that moment. Sorry you got only an awkward smile from me 🙂
In general there were a lot more runners out there that day. When I passed someone, the first thing in my mind was if they are also doing the race. I don’t think everyone was but I hope some people were.
In general it was not an easy race. My muscles were sore from the week before and I had to push myself to keep moving forward. Fortunately I had a good lap designed and I never got bored: Anne channel, Ülejõe park, Tähtvere Sports park, Supilinn, city centre and more Ülejõe park. But on the 6th and 7th kilometre I got extremely slow and a little frustrated with myself. What do you mean you are running with a pace of 8 min per km?!
When I reached the city centre again around my 9th kilometre, I suddenly felt how my legs got lighter and running got easier. I was pretty fast when I passed my university and the city square. I finished with a pretty good pace actually but the slow kilometres before really dragged down my average pace. But that’s OK. I was still proud of myself. I had just completed a 10K with sore muscles and finished pretty fast. I was still under 7:30 min per km which is a normal pace on a sore day. Gotta leave some room for improvement next year, right? 🙂
After finishing, I took time to stretch nice and long and enjoy the sun that was peeking through the clouds for some seconds. It had been a good International Women’s Day run.
Results:
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My official time: 1:15:22
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Official distance: 10K
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Actual RunKeeper distance: 10,2K
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Average pace: 7:23 min per km
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Average speed: 8,13 km/h
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My position: 39 (out of 40 that finished) –> Yay, I wasn’t last 😀
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My position among women: 14 (out of 15)
- In my agegroup: 1st! Just kidding, I was the only one in my agegroup doing the Virtual Run on all distances 😀
Not a bad start to the season. Next: another Virtual Run on the 22nd or 23rd of March and then Tartu Parkmetsa Run 7K on the 12th of April. Not gonna make the mistakes I made with this race!
Nourish, Train & Flourish 