My first race for run club!

Here’s another positive from having to rest from tennis and swimming … no tennis meant I wore my club colours for the first time the other day. In a race! Well, I borrowed a new mate’s vest for the occasion, anyway.

It was a bit daunting to be racing in a club vest. Lot’s of responsibility, somehow.

It was a bit daunting having done a really tough endurance training session the evening before (well I found it really tough, the last to finish by quite some way I seem to recall).

It was a bit daunting that club colours are yellow and black … nature’s sign for danger. Way too much expectation. I don’t feel at all dangerous or threatening when I’m running. More like gasping for air, struggling even to achieve my ‘must complete’ mantra.

It’s probably good for me to run a few races. Not necessarily to compete, but to get used to other people. I’m so used to running on my own with open views and just my own pace to think about. I reckon I did in this race what I did in the marathon – went out (too) fast because I was trying to get past people to give myself space in front of me. It just gets so tough part way through.

Learning how to run races – i.e strategy combined with capability – is evidently another huge hole in my knowledge.

It’s quite disparaging having folk overtake one. Undoubtedly something I need to get used to. Fortunately most of the folk who overtook me in this race were WADAC people, who said words of encouragement as they passed me, which was fortifying of the spirit, but sadly made no positive effect on leg speed. Kinda nice to be part of a team, though, rather than always running solo.

The league seems frightfully complicated. You don’t get timed, you get a place (I was the 13^th woman to finish). So you get an individual position and then ranking, which seems to include how many of the 10 races in a season you’ve run (maybe not). And you don’t run for a particular club team, but the team claims their first three women (five for the men) past the post, then the next 3 (5) for the next team etc. So I was the sixth WADAC woman to finish on the night, which meant my finish position made our B team. There seem to be lots more calculations but the teams are all ranked. And there look to be about 70 teams in this league, from 10 clubs. Wow. I never knew.

There were more than 330 runners, more than 120 of whom were women. I beat 90% (just) of the other women so I’m kind of thinking coming in no. 13 wasn’t too shabby a job.

May have to invest in my own club vest…