Bushy Park 5k - 26 Jan 08 (New PB)

Message from Bushy Park: "Your position was 78th and your time was 21:45."

Elmarie also ran and improved her time by 85s to run a personal best of 31:10min

I could not be happier with the results of the race. After a week of giving my body enough rest and with the race track being run in the opposite direction to what we were normally used to, I was not sure if I could get anywhere near my personal best let alone beat it.

Due to new trees being planted near the usual starting line, the race organisers were forced to run the course in reverse to minimise potential damage to both runners and new trees. This proved to be quite an interesting change for my running as it now meant the beginning stretch opened up the field a lot quicker and allowed for everyone to not be so bunched up in the first 500m.

The tactic for this race was to try stick with the front-runners for as long as I could. (And when I mean front-runners, you must understand that I'm referring to the first pack of 100. I'm not exactly Michael Johnson.... yet) Easier said than done, but then again I did recall looking ahead at just past the 1km mark and still able to see the leaders, which has not normally been the case in my past few races so far. By that stage they're normally so far ahead it's all a bit depressing.

The race was by no means an easy one and I realise there is still quite a bit I need to be working on in order to improve to the next stage. My pace and breathing were out of sync for parts of the run and I recall slowing down on a few occasions as I just could not push any longer. I also noticed the slight pain in my ankle that has still not 100% recovered after my parkour injury last year. (Although I felt the slight ache, it is feeling a LOT better than it has been over the last few months and I should just keep an eye on it and make sure it does not get any worse.)

So far since starting the 5km time trials, I have managed to improve my time by 2:56 minutes.

I know there is more to come and my goal is to break the sub 20 mark (5km in less than 20 min). One step at a time though...