Hill to Harbour 10km – Ingrid Michelle Bardon
Race Date: April 15th Results: 2018
So… I’d seen New Run advertised and had been pretty keen to run it again, it really is hard to resist such a scenic local event.
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I ran this event back in 2007 and 2008, I think 2007 may have been it’s first year?
Anyone else who’s been around a while you might see yourself in some pics at this link. I recognised a few faces :) Initially, there was only the 10km option, and so in my mind, I’d already decided to do the 10.
With UTA 50 looming, I knew I probably should have been looking at doing the half for the extra hills etc! Anyway, a part of me just wanted to break up the long training weekends with something a bit fun and shorter :) |
Pic is from 2008! :) I think I might be wearing Asics 1000’s.
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Not the best pre-race prep, the night before I worked till midnight, was asleep about 01:20am, and got to the start line with only minutes to spare, the late start at 8:30am did fortunately work out well for my family to drop me near to the start, and I immediately saw some familiar Flyers lining up front and centre so I jumped in, ready to try out my brand new white singlet!
I was actually a bit concerned about the start, because I tend to fly off in an adrenaline rush at the start of races- and with starting on a hill I knew this probably wasn’t going to be a sensible thing.
Photo credit Simone de Peak (Newcastle Herald)
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I had done a couple of recent training runs up Memorial in hot conditions, and so I had thought I might be able to hold a 4:30 pace up there. First km ticked over and I had a 4:05, I was really happy because this was a bit faster than I had expected but I felt ok! The support from the vollies and crowd on course was fantastic, loved seeing people dressed up and cheering us and the whole atmosphere was really fun.
Then coming down through King Edward park was definitely my favourite section of the run, anyone who’s been on the trail with me will know how much I love that freedom of downhill and all while looking at the ocean below, this was my favourite!
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Here I was so impressed by 2 young boys running together my guess at 11-12 years old, who were absolutely killing it! I was not able to catch them the whole race- they had that great downhill and then held their pace beautifully. I wanted to talk to them at the end but they were already being interviewed with cameras rolling, I think they might have been on the news!
Back to the race… I was quite enjoying the run, I was in a good rhythm, up until the break-wall section which was copping the full force of the wind and there definitely seemed to be more sand than usual to trudge across! I wasn’t feeling at all strong by then and I kept having these mini- mirages, where I’d think I’d see the turn around cone, but it was just further and further away…
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Photo credit: Simone de Peak (Newcastle Herald)
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Coming up to about 7 km I was busily trying to do the maths of what splits I needed to get under 40mins. In 2007, my husband Doug ran a 39:59 and I have to admit that was on my mind :)
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I was really hoping that my downhill km from King Edward 3:37 might just give me enough. I was just trying to keep Andrew Smee in sight as he was running really well and seemed to be picking up the pace steadily to the finish. I was also really grateful for a brief chat that I had with RP at the start line, talking about running past the finish line then looping back. When I came to this part, I was
ready for it, and I think that made a huge difference, I knew it wasn’t over yet! Was thrilled to cross the line under my goal time - not quite a 10km PB, but in the conditions, I was very happy overall. Thank you again to all the volunteers for being so generous with your time and congratulations to all the half marathon competitors who did some amazing times climbing those hills twice.I would have loved to stay around for the presentation, but I had to go back to work in the afternoon :)
I look forward to 2019!
Ingrid. |
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