Race Date: 10.4.2011
Official Finishing Time: 37:41 chip time (PB)
Official Overall Position: 171/8491 (finishers), which puts me in the fastest 2.01%
Race number: 802

Due to a busy week and a badly slept night behind, I wasn’t expecting too much from this race. It was just a week after the 13.1 New York half marathon as well, and the up & down course in Central Park is not the fastest, but I was hoping to get a sub 39min. After all, I ran a 39:01 10k in training not long ago. Needless to say, it went rather better than expected! The weather was fine: overcast, maybe about 8 degrees Celsius. I decided to run just in my Ronhill shorts and a singlet. I was a little bit chilly when waiting to start, but got warm pretty quickly!

Scotland Run Start (not my shot)

At the 5k mark I was surprised to discover that I was on my way to a sub 38min, and I also recorded a new 5k PB on the way (previously 18:46), although I don’t consider it official. In fact I did this on both halves of the race, at least if my Garmin is to be trusted (it reported the course as 10.17km). It got tough after that and I didn’t have much in me for a finishing sprint, but I battled through and made sure of the sub 38min, which was also my season’s target for the 10k. This takes all the pressure off my next planned race, the Newport 10k on May 7th. Hopefully I can shave off at least a few seconds off this time in May and maybe get a sub 37:30 — the course should be nice and flat anyway.

The organisation of the Scotland Run was good, it’s a NYRR race and they have massive experience in putting together huge races. I had no organisational problems whatsoever. My estimated pace put me in the first starting pen (numbers 0-999). I started towards the back of that starting pen, but with hindsight I could’ve pushed a little further since I did finish in the top 200. The first 500m were especially crowded, but I managed to get almost within my target pace, 3:50min/km. The first two laps were the slowest, but I didn’t hold back after that. The fastest lap had a long downhill bit in it and in general it was difficult to judge the pace given the ups and downs. Basically I just ran as fast as I felt possible, and I was quite surprised to be able to keep up the pace on the second half (which is a little less hilly and hence faster). My average heart rate was 173 bpm, which is some 4 bpm lower than in my previous 10k races.

This is what a hardcore finishing sprint looks like!

Here are the splits:
1k 3:51
2k 3:54
3k 3:38
4k 3:44
5k 3:28 (5k in 18:35)
6k 3:49
7k 3:44
8k 3:37
9k 3:42
10k 3:38 (10k in 37:05)
Total: 10.17k in 37:47 (I was late in stopping the Garmin)

All in all a good race, and the post-race stuff was enjoyable too, including free Irn Bru! Two guys who finished on my heels came to shake my hand after the race, thanking me for pacing them to new PBs. I did notice them during the race and I was wondering when they would overtake me, but it seems that they were just trying to keep up with me. Having a few people on my heels did give some extra motivation as well, and I managed to keep my position on the last few hundred metres.

I just love the race adrenaline, can’t wait to get racing again!

Official results here.
Garmin data here.