10/10/10 Nike Night Run 10K

Another year has passed and here I am again. Fitter than last year, with good running shoes and the right spirit. Knowing what lies ahead of me. Or maybe not?

Battling all summer terrible stomach cramps which cut my marathon training rather short, I wasn't sure, I'll be able to run this 10K the way I wanted. But as we say in Switzerland "Probiere gaht ueber studiere" (trying beats thinking) and so there I was at 6:30pm in the drizzling rain, standing with over 10,000 others, waiting for the race to start.

Just like last year, they had a DJ and some very sporty people to get us warmed up. Now I am all game for warming up and stretching, but I don't believe in this "jumping around and wasting my energy pre-race". Never worked for me. I stretched on the side just as I do every day during my training. I got some water, keeping in mind that the first water station is 3.5K away and I might need a bit of fluid before. The temperature dropped quite a bit over the last few days, which made it a great eve to run.

The organizer announced that they are going to have two starts. One for the faster pace groups and afterwards for the slower ones (which would include me... I am still a slow runner). Unfortunately just like the other year, they don't check who's entering the start area, so after the fast ones went off, all the others just mixed. Having about 1000 people around you that run a slower pace is not exactly what you're aiming for if you wanna go faster than last year. All in all I had about 5000 runners ahead of me and 5000 "on my back". 

Crossing the starting line, I knew that I have to be very careful and not go too fast. Well that would not have been possible anyway with all the "traffic". I was lucky to make it without bruises to 3K. I lost a lot of time till 5K (pace of around 7min/k) and tried to overtake as many as possible but with so many people running more or less the same pace, it's really hard to do so. I got up some speed between 5 and 7K and was in a great mood. The funniest thing that happened to me getting closer to 7K was the thought of "oh no... it's over soon" lol.. ok THIS NEVER happened to me before in a race. I guess that's a good sign. Unfortunately, getting closer to the end, passing 8K the space to run got less (narrow street and a lot of runners/ walkers) and trying to get around them does take a lot of energy. I did get slightly frustrated by the "hold up" and somehow lost my speed, unfortunately. I did try to speed up getting closer to the finish line with a bit of an unsuccessful sprint but I did cross the finish line with a smile and no pain what so ever.

Unlike the previous year, we received water on our way "out" and got our medal ("I am a Night Runner" lol JEAH! I am!!!) I even managed to get an ice cream, which last year I somehow missed and almost fainted from lack of sugar. I felt great and of course, once most people finished running, it really started pouring down on us. (If you wonder.. yes.. during the race, the rain stopped.... sheeesh.. sooo typical haha).

Lessons I've learned from last year's race (and the TLV 10K in May): 

• Do not run too fast at the beginning (well it wasn't possible anyways... lol) 
• Stay focused, run your pace and don't let silly people who run super fast and overtake you lead you up to something that's not good for you
• Don't ever stop and walk, just keep running.. just keep running, running, running... lalalalaaa
• Keep an eye open to all sides... people who are faster don't care, they bump into you and you are the one getting hurt
• Keep an eye open to all sides... people who are slower don't care, they won't move, so you have to find the fastest way around them
• Enjoy the run, it only last an hour (+/-) and the feeling of running with over 10,000 others is great.
• Keep smiling, you never know when they make a picture and where that picture might show up later on.... ;) 
• Don't take those runs too serious, have fun, learn, get into the groove and go with the flow

All in all it was a great experience. Unlike last year, where I was forced to walk most of the race, was overtaking by just about every single runner, buuhuu and ended up feeling super sick and had both feed covered in blood from bruised toes, this year, I stayed injury free, felt great after the race (I was craving pizza lol) and enjoyed the atmosphere around me.

I know I can go faster but this was just not the race to prove it. There will be others, with less runners and more space where I can speed up. But I'd say it's a great race to get the feeling of "running in a huge crowd" and how to manage not to out-power yourself too fast. 

Run Stats:

2009: 

Time: ~ 1:30:00

Age Group: 1354 of 1798 (till age 39)

Total Rank: 9000 of 9387 (at least it's a cool rank # lol)

2010:

Time: 1:11:08

Females:  1800 of 3239 (no age group result so far)

Total Rank: 8810 of 10952 (3239 Women / 7713 men)

I can do better, but I am pretty proud of how far I got in a year. (and if you think about it.. I left 1400 girls behind me... so I like to think of all the girls beating me last year .. are now left behind.. lmao) 




One impressive fact: 


There were over 10,000 runners last night in a city with around 600,000 people living, in a country with around 7,000,000 citizens. This is very impressive if you compare to the NYC Marathon for example where around 45,000 run, the city (and surroundings) are around 8,000,000 and people from all over the world actually participate, whereas last night is was mostly Israelis. ;) It's most certainly the even of the year in Israel!!! Can't wait for next year ;)