A friend of mine told me the other day, that it’s only 3 weeks until Spring. I thought about it, and yes, she is quite right. Mind you this was on a day where it was like 10c | 50f and it was cold, wet, and windy. So yes even though spring might only be a few weeks away, we are still in winter even if at the end of it.
Today however you could feel spring on its way. It was sunny and surprisingly warm(ish for winter that is). I’m not complaining, compared to the last few days we had it was delightful. It also made it perfect conditions for today’s club to run the S & K Watson Handicap.
Last year this run was sealed and it was also a championship race. Don’t ask me how the ‘championship’ thing works cause I’m only just learning all of it. Anyway, this year it was based on handicap.
My start time was 9.30 minutes. A group of 5 runners was ahead of me at 9.00 minutes. To be honest, I had no idea how I was going to go on this particular run, I just decided to give it a go and see what happens.
Well those groups of 5 runners, I passed 2 of them just before the 1km mark. 500m later I had passed another 2. By the 2km, I was in the lead. Just because I was in the lead didn’t mean I could take it easy, I had to take into consideration those faster runners, which could easily get me at the end. So I powered on. At each turn I would have a quick glance to see who was behind me and if so how far, I couldn’t see anyone. I may have just had this. Then I saw it, the finish line was in sight, I picked up the pace some more and powered home in 1st place. A win!
I didn’t have anything to fear, the next person was 30 seconds behind me. Overall it was a female trifecta, which hasn’t happened in a while.
Now let me tell you a funny thing. Last year I won this race. In a time of 23:43, which was a pb for me. One year on, same course (better conditions), and I win again, but slash another minute off my time in 22:44. Which yes is another pb for me for 5km.
So all up it was a great day. Tomorrow I have another run. Not going to aim for a time, just going to run and have fun.
Footnotes
1 – I’m the secretary of the Stawell Amateur Athletic Club (aka SAAC), so I have/need to know how things like this work, which is why they are teaching it to me.
2 – Everyone runs at a different pace, so a slow runner might be given a handicap of 3.00 minutes for a 5km run, and a fast runner might be given a 12 minute handicap. The theory behind the handicap is that if everybody runs to their handicap time they should finish together. This encourages you to go a bit faster and to beat your handicap time. I hope that makes sense.
So. I know this is an old post, BUT 22:44 for 3.1 miles is GREAT! Someday I’ll be at a 7 mile pace. In due time, right? P.S. I am really surprised you don’t have indoor tracks in your area, but I bet your views are better than mine!!
This particular post is not old, but new (like just happened yesterday) 😛
I’m very happy with my time. I think this particular run, is just my run. Yeah no indoor track here, we are a bit behind the times, but then again it’s the country that happens.
Thanks for visiting me Jen.
Awesome job! I’ve never heard of a race like this before with handicaps but I like the idea of it. It is definitely motivating at the end of a race to try to catch the person in front of you.
The first time I ever heard of handicapping was when I was doing Archery. It really helps you to improve as the better you get the big your handicap is. It also makes it a more even playing board.