Undertrained, but Somehow Under an Hour

I wasn't too enthusiastic going into the race today. My training in the past weeks was sporadic, and the two times I actually ran 10k in training, I had to take quite a few walking breaks. But this race in my hometown is one of my favorites. Not just because I can sleep in on race day and then rush to the start line, but also because of the atmosphere. Unlike other races I've been to, this one has spectators along most of the course, while in others, we runners often find ourselves alone.

Yesterday's weather was chilly and windy, but today was perfect: sunny without being too hot. Hopefully, we'll still have a few more days like this before winter arrives. I arrived about 10 minutes before the start time, so my warmup mostly consisted of rolling down the hill on my bicycle and a few quick shakeouts before lining up.

And then, some magic happened over the next hour. Up until the final lap, I was skeptical about my performance. I tried to pace myself during the first laps to avoid running out of stamina. But when I glanced at my watch and saw my average pace just several seconds over 6:00 min/km, and my legs still feeling good, I decided to push a bit harder on the downhill stretches while maintaining a steady pace on the inclines.

With one kilometer to go, my average pace was still 6:02 min/km, and there was one last gnarly incline ahead. I remembered last year when I pushed too hard on this incline and then felt queasy until the finish line. As I crossed the Neckar Bridge with just a few 100 meters to go, my average pace dropped to 6:01 min/km. I stayed steady on the incline, and after reaching the top and turning the corner, I could see the finish line 300 meters away, mostly downhill.

Time for the final effort. I didn't have enough energy left for an all-out sprint, but I still managed to finish with a new personal best. For the first time, I ran 10k in under an hour, with a pace of 5:59 min/km. And unlike I expected, I didn't need any walking breaks.

What probably helped was not just the atmosphere that poured in some extra endorphins into my system, but also the bottlenecks and the crowd of runners that forced me to keep a good pace —something I struggled with during practice. 

Now, I’m left wondering: what could be possible with more training and a bit more push? With some luck, I'll find out in two weeks when the next race comes up.