when all else fails, fail again

I don't know why I didn't post about this last Friday or since then, but here it is.

Last Friday I ran my first ever 10K distance in a race, the Ultra Night Run of Montreal. I got there at around 20h10; there were lots of people already there mulling about. Many had flashing lights attached to their shoes, so I asked a person where I could get one; and went and got one.

There was the 5KM distance to start at 20h30 and the 10KM distance to start at 20h40, though the 5K distance race probably started at 20H45 and the 10K race at 20h50 as there were people still picking up their registration package on the site which delayed the start of the race.

After the 5K people departed the 10K people queued up, and as I've never run this distance before, and I wasn't sure how quick I would be, I lined up in the long queue at about the 5/7ths distance from the front. It turns out I should have started much closer to the front as I had to pass reams of people before it started to open up for easier running. In fact, I passed quite a few people who had started the 10K, and also caught up with the slower runners of the 5K who had a five or six minute advantage.

Here is my result (click to see it enlarged).

In my practice runs I managed to run 10K in about 55 minutes; a difference, however is that my training runs were in a place with some hills while this race was almost totally flat.

I was quite pleased with how it all went and have signed up to do the race again next year already.

Hopefully I'll convince a few others to do it with me.