Well, what can I say about the 31st of December (besides the fact that it's my birthday)? Well the nice part is that I always can end the running year with a running race, which is good but generally means that I start the new year with a rest day. And so it was this year as well!The annual silvesterlauf (New Years Run) is currently held in Seekirchen, very close to Henndorf on a short 5,8 km track. This was only the second time the race was held, but already this year they had well over 300 starters. The weather was fantastic, 10 degrees plus, sunshine and no snow or ice! (Is this December 31st?) The problem I have is that I run in the Veteran category, which is by far the strongest cat. of them all, so all I'm ever looking for is a good run.
This year I decided to run the first loop (of two) without Aisha and to pick her up at the start of the second loop. All went well at the start, except somebody kicked me in the head while I was turning on my foot pod - ow! Then after about 600m there was a sharp right, then sharp left immediately, and some poor women got knocked off her bike by some of the more die hard racers. And everybody just carried on running past.
Well I could not stand for that, so I stopped and helped her up, which was not easy as she wasn't the smallest lady, and her legs were tangled up in her bike. With the help of a marshall we were able to get her on her feet and back on her bike in no time at all - except of course if you are running a race - 90 s gone. So then I just carried on, running at a good speed but not full.
Saw a friend Gerhard Haider as well and then caught up with Birgit at around KM 2, picked up Aisha at KM 2,6 and then just carried on through until the finish - no more mishaps. KM times were 5:15, 4:02, 3:57, 3:59, 4:02 and 3:17 to finish up with 24,25 for the 5,8 km - last year I ran a low 22 min time, so quite a lot off the pace :)
Anyway, hope everybody else had a good end to 2006 and a great start to 2007!
P.S. Results can be found here!
P.S (two) Pictures can be found here!
1 comment:
As you rightly say it was your birthday and the end of the year, so being another year older doesn't always help when it comes to running. That said I'm please to see that you can still knock off those 4min km. I didn't go out and run on the 31st, my last run was on Saturday the 30th. The South Easter 15km (which was run in a north wester and rain!!!) With a long year of running behind me I didn't really know what I was doing at the race, but with most of the top runners on holiday I took the lead at the gun and took one of my athletes with me. at 2km I told him he could win the race... there were only 3 of us in the lead pack and I was about to blow and the 3rd guy was a little off the pace. Well he joined as again and I led the 2 of them take the pace to the base of Ou Kaapse Weg, going up the hill I found myself taking the lead and I had hoped Nelson would stay with me, but it was the other guy who did, so I had to up the pace. at the top I had a 10-15sec lead, but not even a 3:05km down the hill was enough to keep him at bay. through the golf couse he opened a 30sec gap and I was to broken to run him down over the last kms. I had to settle for a 2nd place 53:51 (my fastest time on the route!). I might be getting old and slow, but I've done well this year and with the choosing of the right races I've gotten a couple of podium finishes. I've said enough, so good luck for 2007 my thoughs times come down...
Dion
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