This event came back to Aberfeldie last week with a massive 125 runners entered into three heats. This event is a club fund raiser and we thank Santa Steve Murphy and his Elves for their help.
One of our 40+ runners, Damien Bruneau has shared his thoughts before, during and after the run. Enjoy his story!
“Last night I ran my first sub 33 minute 10k, finishing in 32:44 – a PB by a whopping 35 seconds.
Feeling very nervy after a couple of twinges in my left calf on Monday, a little sore from some dry needling on Tuesday and with a delicate stomach after overdoing the ice-cream on a business lunch, I took to the track in perfect conditions. There were plenty of familiar faces in the field, and a heap of friends supporting from the sidelines.
After a few laps in the middle of a pack, I got fed up with running so close to other people and not settling in to a good rhythm, so I took to the front so I could dictate the pace. There were still plenty of people ahead to chase, but it was soon just me working by myself as the others dropped back. 78 to 79 second laps saw me through 5k in 16:22, and it was soon just 10 laps to go.
On a 25 lap race that’s an interesting time, as psychologically there’s not too many laps to go, but you’ve got 6k in the legs, and the hard work is beginning, trying to maintain the speed.
I think the ice-cream from lunchtime came back to bite me as I could feel a stitch building, and the pain increased as the laps counted down. I became increasingly anxious that I would be able to fight through the pain, continue, and finish in under 33 mins. The pace had dropped a little and the stitch was hurting, but I just needed to relax, keep powering on, and see it through.
With 3 laps to go I could sense the finish, and started to forget the pain from the stitch. I hit the 9km mark in 29:36, which gave me 3:24 to get home under 33.
2 laps to go and I started to lift, the end was in sight. Once more around the track and I hit the bell as I could here all my friends cheering me on. The clock read 31:34 and I took off like a man possessed, and with 300m to go I started to throw in everything I had left. 200m to go and the lactic acid was starting to burn through my legs and arms. Just 35 secs of pain left I thought, as I concentrated on moving as fast as I could, lifting to a cadence of 200spm. I steamed down the home straight to cross the line in 11th place, finishing the last kilometre in 3:08. I was in complete disbelief, but then looking back at my 5k splits, 16:22, 16:22, I should have trusted myself
I’ve always believed that to run a good marathon you need to be able to run a good 10k, so now I have a 10k time I’m exceptionally proud of, and I’m increasingly optimistic of being able to better the marathon time in April.”
Other results:
Div 1 Bouchaib Chefnaoui 9th 32:18, Luke McIlvenna 24th 34:31
Div 2 Danny Hawksworth 16th, 37:10
