Echuca 2013, October 20 (Losing Steam)

An early start at 6:45am to allow enough time to eat, get ready, check out and get to the race. There was plenty of parking near the start line which was good, and there was still about half an hour to waste before the start, which was plenty of time to stretch and warm up. Just before the start of the race the following bizarre sequence of events happened:

• An announcement telling everyone to go to the start for a race debrief
• There was no race debrief
• Just before 8:00am there were some kids calling out: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
• Everyone took off and the race was underway...

We had no idea if that was the start of the race or just some kids messing around, but had to go since everyone else was off. Every other race I've ever attended has some kind of announcement and usually a gun or something to get going. I don't even know what these kids were using as a reference for the countdown, just really strange.

At the start a group of about fifteen elite runners just bolted from the start, so depressing to see them disappear so quickly. After about five hundred metres my legs still felt like they hadn't woken up and a small kid even passed by. Within about a kilometre I was doing better and everyone ahead and behind had settled into their race pace. My strategy is to go out a bit slower at the beginning and then have fun chasing down and passing people during the race with a more consistent speed.

We probably passed ten or so people before running in a group with some tall guy and the kid who went ahead earlier. After about six kilometres the tall guy dropped off and then the kid a bit later. Now there was only one guy even visible in the distance ahead, and it took a good couple of kilometres to slowly track him down.

By this time we were at about 10km and the steamboat finally came into view just ahead. I knew the race had to take another detour through town but had no idea if that meant I was ahead of the steamboat or not, so I just tried to increase my pace a bit and see what happened for the last 2.5km. Jason fell behind a bit later on, but coming into the home straight we were both clear ahead of the steamboat.

The finish.

After the race I managed to track down a magnet! then a quick stop for some food and fuel and it was back home. I really should have stopped for a break long the way when my back and legs started to feel some signs of discomfort, as I was in so much pain for the last hour.

Summary

• 7/10

Good

• Having a car to get around
• No traffic
• The race

Bad

• Could have been more things to do
• The drive home (the onset of back and leg pain)

Missed Out

• The Big Strawberry (was about an hour north into NSW)
• The National Holden Museum ?