Running the channels

Well, the weekend has come and gone and we were in Venice for the annual Venice street OL. See our other blog for details about the weekend, this post is about the race!

I was lucky, I guess, in that we both (Christine and I) had early start times and that Gitte wasn't running, so both Hanna and Aisha were catered for. Additionally the weather was spectacular and perfect for running - blue skies, no wind, about 15 % - and no high tide! So we were all set. I had been resting for 3 days due to doing a long run with Warti on Wednesday that knocked the stuffing out of me, so I felt well rested and ready to go.

The race started well, I always seem to have a fairly good feel for Venice and I decided to go left to the first control, which turned out to be the right choice. Control 1 and 2 were good, during 3 I was able to plan all the way to 5. 3, 4 and 5 were perfect, but my exit from 5 on the way to 6 was incorrect. I missed a route choice, and must have run about 150 m extra, costing me about 30 - 40 secs. However, the route to 6 included a long straight and here I was able to plan the rest of the course.

7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 were all in very densely packed shopping areas, with loads of tourists walking around all starry eyed. Bearing this in mind I certainly could have improved my route choices on one or two occasions. On the way to 8 I left out a small side street, which would have saved me 20 m and about 10 s, the way to 9 was plagued by tourists, and it certainly would have been faster to take the longer (about 50 m) but quieter way, I recon here another 10 s.

10 was good, 11 I made my only "real" mistake and ran down the wrong alley. I caught it very quickly and I guess I only ended up running about 60 m extra, plus a stop to reread the map, say 15 s. 12 was good, 13 was slow as the map wasn't 100 % correct and so I stopped to read carefully and chose the wrong alley to attack the control. Another 30 s gone.

14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 were all good, although I was starting to slow down, but I was still trying. My knees were beginning to hurt as well. My route to 20 was plagued by indecision, as first I wanted to run north, and then decided on south - all in all about 100 m extra distance and 20 s. The finish sprint was as to be expected for a fat old fart :)

Finish time of 62:36, 6th place (winning time just under 58) - I was happy! My goal had been to get a top 10 place and I had achieved this. Total distance of the run was 12,5 km, which meant I was doing a 5 min pace, which was OK for me! Sorry that I have no map, but it is just too big to scan it in - maybe I'll do it on the weekend and post it - if anybody is interested (post a comment)!