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| Participants of the RunQ8 Event. |
I had been practicing for this race for the past 3 weeks - even going so far as to run on the exact same route of the race twice. The first time I did it, my time was 57:50. I improved upon this time during my second trial run and came up with 53:05.
Based on this, my expectation was that I should be able to complete the circuit in less than 50 minutes (assuming that I did not get affected by the heat which was an unknown quantity for me). I asked my wife to modify a cap that would be suitable for running. She did an excellent job by attaching an elastic band to a normal cap so that it won't fly off.
We got up early and headed off to the starting point (Kuwait Scientific Center). The mood was festive and the turnout was great (official estimates are more than 500 participants). After a warm-up session, the race started at 9:00 AM and all the runners were off.
I stuck to my planned pace of around 5 minutes per kilometer so that I could finish it in under 50 minutes. After the initial jostling and bumping, the field thinned out and I could see the top runners racing ahead and I settled down somewhere in the middle and continued running.
The weather was excellent for running. The cap helped me immensely. I was also wearing polarized sunglasses which helped me to focus on the road without worrying about the sun. I felt I could have gone a bit faster but since this was my first race, I decided to stick to my plan and not overdo it.
I finished the race in an official time of 44 minutes 30 seconds. My official position in the race is 30. I have just one word for that. WOW!!!.
Just one year, I could not run for more than 10 minutes without gasping for breath. Today, I finished a 10K road race in a time that can only be considered great for someone my age.
This is me - about to finish the race.
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| The cap looks dorky, but worked well for me. |
i saw u!! :D
ReplyDeleteA big hearty congrats Cajie. Clap...clap....clap...applause...applause....allaround....and my personal and sincere Congratulations.
ReplyDeleteWell Done Cajie, very inspirational.Like your gear specially the hat.
ReplyDeleteTony
Well done Cajie :)
ReplyDeleteI was there too, but I couldn't find anyone who would give me my time & rank. I did time my run myself & it was +56 minutes
Thanks all.
ReplyDelete@Fawaz, I think they stopped after 40 because I saw that they gave the list to this lady who was filling out all the race numbers on this list.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/goaninq8/5152557451/
Actually this year we didn't do times, because we just didn't have the capacity, that is why we had the pace setters. I think we only had the times of the first few people who came in--I know that the guy who won did it in 29 minutes and 31 seconds--he was flyiiiiiiiiiiing...maybe next year when we have more experience we can do times. We are going to send a survey out this week to all the participants to get feedback in order to improve the event next year. Someone said the number tags were too heavy--we are learning...thanks for coming to the event!
ReplyDelete@Eleanor. Thanks for the feedback. Overall, it was an excellent effort and a first for Kuwait. Congrats to you and the whole organizing team.
ReplyDeleteAs you know, Kuwait Charity Run is organizing the 21K race with timing chips. Perhaps that would be something to consider for next year. I hope you are encouraged by the turnout (which was excellent) and continue this on an annual basis.
this is a yearly event, don't worry. As for chips, if we find a donor, we will be happy to use the chips, it would be great.
ReplyDelete