Cursa dels Nassos - 10k

I did it!!! I reached this seasons goal of breaking 37 minutes!!! In the popular last race of the year, la Cursa del Nassos, I finished in 36m55!!! Very happy and wondering if I can break 36 minutes too?!

After three weeks of good training and three days of rest because of some muscle soreness in my left thigh, today I had another go for making my goal to break the 37 minutes barrier. The days before had been very busy and I was not feeling optimal, but like always I would give it all. It was a bit colder than the days before, but very good weather, eventhough it soon would be dark since this race starts at 17h30. After a good warm up and the other physical preparations I entered my green box. One of the advantages of breaking the 37 minutes is being able to race in the red (first) box in all races. Just before the start a runner with a "37 minutes" flag entered the red box just in front of us and that could be of great help to have a pacer.

We were shot away and the first meters were slow and chaotic. I tried to stay out of trouble knowing the first kilometer would be slow. Like last year the pace was irregular and trying to find space in between the runners to advance was difficult from time to time, but I took it easy and passed in 3m44. The second kilometer wasn't much better and where normally I would be well below schedule, today I was still above with 7m28. The third and fourth went by with more regular pace but still some seconds behind schedule. In the kilometer leading upto halfway the race there is a sharp U-turn where we lost some more seconds and we passed the 5k mark in 18m40. In the first kilometers I had run some 20 meters behind the pacer slowly closing the gap and now I was running just behind and I knew I had to check times to make sure the pacer kept pace too :) . On the 6th kilometer we gained 5 seconds and then I started to become tired and I just followed the pacer. I missed the 7th and 8th kilometer marks and we passed the 9k in 33m25 so with a good sprint I might be able to make it. When we turned onto the last long straight I passed the pacer and sprinted to the finish stopping my watch at 36:56 and very happy and very tired for a few seconds. Once back home it was great to see the official time confirmed to be 36m55. I really did it :) !!!