Victory in the team competition for 10 km - Letterenloop, June 2, 2019
Disclaimer: Automatically translated from Russian
About a month before the event, the coach threw a cry if someone wanted to participate in the team race for 10 km. The registration fee was paid by the sponsor - freebie. I already participated in Letterenloop in 2017 year, but ran 5 km, so the dozen were in plans for the future. The track is far from flat, so there was nothing to think about any PB, plus a team race is mainly for a fan. Well after Leiden half marathon I had only a week to recover - too little time for the next record. With this attitude and decided to go to the start.
In addition to me, Herman, Remmert, Rob and Rene joined the team. Herman and Remmert are quick dudes, so they tuned in to the race as the internal championship of our group: - ) I was in pretty good shape then, so Herman bet, that I will kick everyone. I bet that I will be tired after Leiden and I can’t. Our team was sponsored by the local Tokyo Nina Indonesian restaurant, and the team was named “ Tokyo Nina Thunderbolts ”. In addition to us, quite a few teammates registered for 5 km.
For the weekend before the race, I printed a track diagram and ran for intelligence. I imagined part of the route quite well - periodically I run in those parts when I need to train the hills.
And the slides in that area are of high quality - the photograph is just a climb on which cyclists and runners constantly train. And during this particular race, on one of the climbs, the fastest “ skyrunner ” (M and F) is chosen and awarded.
In the intelligence process, I did not find only one piece of the track. In the diagram, it is a small loop of 400 meters in the upper left corner. I didn’t really bathe - well, what could be there on this segment? Surely a water station in front of a large climb. But no. Looking ahead, I’ll say that one of their first climbs lurked there - it is marked in red on the diagram:
On the day of the competition they promised heat more than 25 degrees. In addition to 10 and 5 km, the program had two children’s races, one of which I recorded my son. So at the finish line I expected a support group.
In the morning he performed the entire preparatory ritual and ran to the rink, where the start and finish were. At the same time and stretched 2 km. I met with the guys, got start-up packages and after a while went to the start. Crowds stood in the head, but there were a number of people in front of us. Shot, ran. Almost immediately overtook Herman and Remmert. I decided that if something then I would cling to them when they overtook them. As soon as they ran out of the rink, he immediately put headband against sweat on his head and began to work. The distance is short, so he planned to run as quickly as possible from the very beginning, well, taking into account the fact that he left a little effort on the slides. It helped a lot that I knew the track well - it’s clear where to turn, where the descent, where the climb is, where to snuggle up to run through the shadow. After some time he overtook the first girl. The truth is not for long - after the fifth kilometer she again walked around me.
This unexpected first climb was still a big surprise. On such a short plot, a mountain, a cafe with a crowd of fans, musicians and a photographer fit:
Due to the heat ( + 23 degrees at that time ) ran quite hard, nevertheless managed to overtake a little. A kilometer 4 to the finish was watching a picture, as a cyclist leading the first girl and a couple of guys running with her turned the wrong way. They didn’t have time to run far, but for about 5 seconds, they probably lost. Well, then 10 km ended:
Hermann and Remmert never caught up with me, so I finished first of our team.
The official result is 38:03 10th of 655 in the overall standings 9th of 416 among men
Yes, he lagged behind the first girl for 20 seconds, but he won against Herman (in the photo below he is in a white T-shirt) for 41 seconds. This time, even the coach came to see all this disgrace - he was waiting for us at the finish line. After all of our ran to take pictures:
Medals also received:
An additional advantage of participating in the business category (in addition to free participation and T-shirts) was access to a business lounge with sandwiches and ice juice (and took it for himself, and dragged the children away). I looked like this lounge as a small paddock with a red carpet:
On the track, by the way, is the owner of this our Tokyo Nina, then you are the spiritual leader of our team. He himself is listed in our running group, but has not been training for a couple of years - he is recovering from some kind of injury, so on this day I first met him.
After some time, the results of the team race for 10 km were announced: 1st place - Tokyo Nina Thunderbolts - 00:38:33.58 2nd place - SportSupport 10 km - 00:42:40.66 3rd place - RSM 1 - 00: 48: 32.28
I had to wait for the award.
They gave us a cup, flowers and books. I was presented with another book of recipes for obese (btw, for history: weight before the start - 70 kg, after the start - 69 kg). The book was received from the hands of the author, not duhry-mukhra. We then gave the flower cup to an Indonesian restaurant.
An hour and a half later, children’s races began. The son ran 1.5 km in 06:50 and finished 23 of 125 in the overall standings and 19 of 79 boys. While his start was waiting (he was after 5, which was after our 10), her daughter also expressed a desire to go for a run, so they registered her for a competition among infants. I ran with her hand and set the result - in, let’s overtake this girl, and that boy also doesn’t really want to win - let’s get ahead of him. As a result, they ran 800 meters in 05:15 and finished the 13th of 66 in the overall standings and the 9th of 33 girls. In general, good results. And lucky for children with weather, I must say, much less than ours - the temperature by that time had already risen to + 26 degrees. And during the 5 km race, someone even got a lot of fun after the finish line, an ambulance came to the rink and left with flashing lights,plunging the overheated athlete.
After all the competitions, my son and I got into the car and drove to the glorious city of Alkmar, where he had water polo competitions. Oh, as I envied him - for two whole hours I was in cool water after all these torments in the heat.
And the hero of the holiday, in my opinion, was a photographer who, like an mad floor of the day, rushed in the heat with a camera and a photojack on a longboard:
In general, a good race. The following year they promised to call the team again: - )