2nd October
The timing website (here) is back up. The quickest, recorded, time was 14 minutes, 35.5 seconds! That's just astonishing! FWIW the current world record is 12 minutes 37.35 seconds (set in 2004 by Kenenisa Bekele). And now, with no further ado....*drumroll please*...my time (I need to scroll through a few pages)...
*time to lean forward, Top Gear style*
25 minutes, 52.7 seconds!! That's a new PB for me! Woot woot!
1st October (PM)
And that's the run done. My first race complete. What can I say about it? Well, I got there early, with a friend who was also running (although she was in a different group) so had time to kinda suss out what was what and where was where. Come 15 minutes to my start time, spotted movement in my colour (I was group yellow) so I kinda went with the flow (bearing in mind it's all in German, which I can't speak). That left me in the middle of about 5,000 people (they recorded 19,000 entrants running in 5 waves) all trying to get as close to the line as possible whilst stretching, so lots of flailing limbs.
And then we were off!
The first 1/4 of the race was a gentle downhill, which was nice, in a way, but we were all really bunched up still so there was a hell of a lot of ducking and diving, dodging and weaving. I gave up on the inside line almost immediately - whilst running the outside is a lot longer (it's a 3 lane road with tram tracks on both sides) it was quieter, easier to run, easier to over-take, and more relaxed.
After the downhill section came a flat section, yellow group was starting to space out by now and folks were starting to find their own pace so things were more relaxed and the run continued in that theme as we rounded the next bend and onto the "hill" section - a very gentle, but quite long (roughly 1km) climb which slowed a lot of people (including myself) down. Here's where the walkers started to appear but I continued to run, continued to over-take most whilst being over-taken by the few. I was pretty happy with my pace and, at points, was really happy with my running style - being able to stride - to stretch out the legs and kinda lope along at what is, for me, a good pace.
At this point we're running past the Opera, and other mildly famous buildings in Vienna, so loads of eye candy, both on and off the "track" was to be seen. Anyway, back to the race...with the hill finished we rounded the penultimate corner (there's only really 4) and could see the lights of the Rathaus (it marks this years finish line) shining in the distance. I found this pretty useful as it let me know roughly how was there was to go and gave me the confidence to pick up the pace a wee bit (I'm kinda guessing here as I've yet to check out my split times (something I'm doing right now so let's see eh?). Time times are taken from Endo.
Kilometre 1 - 5.04 This was pretty much all downhill but very busy
Kilometre 2 - 5.04 Along the flat, more space to work with
Kilometre 3 - 4.54 Starting to climb but, for me, a very good time
Kilometre 4 - 5.10 Saw off the end of the hill and back onto the flat
Kilometre 5 - 5.09 I'm pretty happy with the consistency.
And I crossed the line. Endo saw a time of 26.26 which is good for me. If it's accurate, and I'm still waiting for the official race time, then I'm gonna be looking at a new PB for me. Fingers crossed eh?
And now it's time to insert a few pictures....
1st October (AM)
Wow! The queue for the stuff was huge! Took longer to get my gear (t-shirt, goodie bag, timing chip) that it did to enter Russia or America) - just over two hours. Pretty ridiculous. I did speak to another fellow "queuer" and he told me that it wasn't typical, that it's normally organised far more efficiently.
And now for some pre-race eye candy..
And an over-view of the course - it's a 5km run around the Ringstrasse in Vienna. It's a 3 lane road that encircles Vienna's 1st district - we get to run past the Opera, the Rathaus, Parliament and other buildings that I've been told are probably famous....It pretty much traces the old city walls so here's a picture of Vienna, with those walls, that's much nicer than a google map. Follow the wall, in a clock-wise direction, to follow the race.
30th September 2013
Well, tomorrow is my first race. It's a 5km, short distance but big race for a few reasons. Tomorrow night some 17,000 folks will be running around the Vienna Ring, and I'll be one of them. I spent the last two hour queuing for the race-number, the chip, the t-shirt and the goodie bag. Tomorrow I'll tie on the chip and tomorrow night I'll run. My current PB is about 29.05 so I'd like to beat that.
More to follow :)
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