Southern Cross University 10km Run - Hannah Anderson
Race Date: July 1st Results: 2023 Strava: Goldcoast 10km
Background
After a fun weekend at Gold Coast last year, I knew I wanted to race it again.
I wrapped up my US season by qualifying for regionals with my first 10000m track race where I ran a 10km PB. I was stoked with this but unfortunately wasn’t quite ready to back up for regionals and had a disappointing race.
However, I slowly built up my training again and with a month till gold-coast I had time to reset and get excited to race again. I really wasn’t putting too much pressure on the race and just wanted to get out there and have some fun.
A few days out from the race I found out I was ranked 3rd on the elite list! This raised my confidence for the race but still had doubts on where my fitness was at and whether I could execute the race effectively.
I wrapped up my US season by qualifying for regionals with my first 10000m track race where I ran a 10km PB. I was stoked with this but unfortunately wasn’t quite ready to back up for regionals and had a disappointing race.
However, I slowly built up my training again and with a month till gold-coast I had time to reset and get excited to race again. I really wasn’t putting too much pressure on the race and just wanted to get out there and have some fun.
A few days out from the race I found out I was ranked 3rd on the elite list! This raised my confidence for the race but still had doubts on where my fitness was at and whether I could execute the race effectively.
Race Day
The morning of the race I was surprised at how little nerves I had. I warmed up around the aquatic centre with my fellow flyers and before I knew it, it was time to head over to the start line. I did a few strides and was ready to go.
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The gun went off and we were off the start line hot. I went off hot as-well however when I noticed how close to Lisa Weightman I was, I pulled back as I knew that wasn’t smart. I still ran a very fast first km but that’s hard to avoid sometimes.
At about 3km I found myself in 3rd. At this stage I was feeling good and started to press a little to build up to Sinead in 2nd place. I caught her group at about 4km and felt very comfortable within it. I was confident that this was going to be a good race. We went through 5km fast.
The clock was not working at the halfway mark and told myself to not look at my watch because I wasn’t sure how it would make me feel.
However, I caught a glimpse of 16:44. I knew this was fast but tried not to panic. I reminded myself that if I feel good it’s ok and I’m strong enough to execute a good second half. We stuck together in a big group through the 6th, 7th and 8th km. |
At 8km we got hit by a pretty strong head wind and Sinead began to pick up the pace. I tried to go with her but struggled. I stayed as consistent as possible with my pacing and tried not to fall back too much. The last 2 km were very tough but I felt strong and although I had lost connection with Sinead, I was picking off some boys who were falling back which helped my confidence.
I came through the home straight and caught a glimpse at the clock. It showed I was in for a PB which I kind of already knew from the half way split and because I knew we were running fast. However, I was cutting it close so, I grit my teeth and gave it everything to finish to ensure I got the new PB.
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I was absolutely stoked with this run, 3rd in 33:46, I could not have been happier.
Post Race
Post race I got to enjoy a nice lunch at a local pub with the flyers crew which was very wholesome. I then headed south to Coolangatta for a few days, staying with my Aunty to soak up as much warm weather as possible. I am now about to head back to the US for my first US cross country season and am excited to see what I can achieve.
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