My First 10K Race

I appreciate the help of Neil, Adrian Smith and Erik with this text.

I closed my running season on the 2nd of November by running 10K. The Saratov Half-Marathon competition was held that day on the bank of the Volga, and there were 3 races to run: 5 km, 10 km and 21 km. My running season closure luckily coincided with the end of fall. It has been snowing, windy and rather cold these day.



I began preparing/training for this race in late August and took the article "The Best 10K Workout" by Greg McMilan, as my base workout. I have been running 50 km weekly during my training period. My Tuesday's base workouts were at the stadium where I was running at a pace of 4:10 min/km. I have run 538 km over a total period of 44.5 hours. My main target time for 10K was sub 43 min, and the reserve one was sub 45.

The evening before the race I was a little excited. Although, I have tried to take every competition as a celebration ever since my first marathon. I suppose that a race is what we do all the work for.
Next morning, my sister and I went to the place of the race. Victoria, my sister, runs with me sometimes, but this time she went to cheer me.

The weather.

We were there 40 minutes before the start. There were a lot of people. I filled out a participant’s form, paid the entrance fee, got my number and changed my clothes. By the way, I met my friend there, a girl, who I ran the marathon with.

Dressing rooms were in the winter swimming fan’s club. When I asked where the toilets were, I was told that there were none. I thought then, “That's right, the winter swimmers have no need for toilets, they have the whole Volga River any time of year” So I had to take a leak in the nearest bushes. Another runner went there as well.

The Volga River.

The snow wasn't sticking; it melted as soon as it touched the ground. There were a lot of puddles with ice water under my feet. My running shoes got dripping wet during my warm up. I chatted with some people to figure out what pace they were going to maintain. My goal was 4:10-4:15 min/km. I picked out two men whom I was going to pursue.

After a pre-start briefing all the runners lined up. Half-marathon runners started first. The rest of us running the 5 and 10 km, began the race five minutes later.
I turned on the Strava app on my smartphone and, on the referee's signal, I pushed a button on my heart rate monitor. We started running.

Warming up.

I was trying to keep the 4:10/km pace from the start. It turned out that I ran in the leading pack. A lot of children ran the 5K, so it was a bit crowed and we had to run through the puddles. I ran the first half in 20:38. It was a good pace for me, but I began feeling fatigued.. My sister cheered me on, “Go, go, keep it up!” The 10K involved 2 laps, 5 km each. When the second lap began, it became much harder to think positively. Five kilometers, my race mate's back, and about 20 minutes of suffering were ahead of me. I was surprised my wet feet didn’t freeze. They felt pretty comfortable, but another problem arose. My clothes were absolutely wrong. I was wearing wide cotton pants and a fleece jacket. It would be impossible to choose worse gear. My pants got wet during the first half of the race and began to slip slowly down. I had to constantly pull them up during the second part. They got wetter and heavier with every stride. My wet jacket also added some excess weight. It slowed me down. This time, I got a priceless lesson in my choice of gear.

Running the last couple of kilometers, I thought I was going to die. Seeing the finish line gave me some power. I looked at my watch, it seemed I could finish under 42 minutes. It gave me a little more strength. I realized that each second was critical. I tried running faster but it was impossible.

This is it! I Finished! I jogged a few meters and stopped. Victoria congratulated me. I was ok. I was able to breathe and walk. I was not injured. My pants kept slipping down. I went into the locker room and congratulated a guy who finished before me. He “carried” me almost the whole race. Because of him, I showed my best time - 41:56. I came in fourth place. There were nine runners.. Not so great but I was absolutely satisfied by my place and time. I did it, I endured.

On the way to the car, Vika and I ate bananas and shared our impressions of the race. She made a decision to run her first race next year. I set an example for her. Hopefully, she'll endure as I did. I am glad.

Some pictures are in my story in Russian.
Activity on the Strava.com