Mizuno 10k - a.k.a. Hillzuno 10k

(Photos courtesy of Tey)

Yesterday was a tough but satisfying day. Shilpa and I were up at 5 a.m. having been at a friends Hari Raya open house drinking and eating and eating and eating until late into the night. The alarm call was a very rude awakening and I felt sick from the moment it went off.


We had the Mizuno 10k to do at 7:30 but the plan was to put in an early 11k training run first. As it turned out this was essential to empty my stomach of the mountains of food and beer (and the resulting acid) from the night before. We started at 6 a.m. and Shilpa looked pretty good while I took several short walk breaks up the steeper ascents to keep my heart rate down in prep for the race.

Come 7:30 we were at the race start having had a quick drink and Shilpa a gel too (I think I would have thrown up at that point had I tried the gel). The gun went off and the race was on - straight up a steep and unrelenting hill for about the first 600 metres. That was pretty much the theme of the whole race long and steep ascents followed by long steep descents. The finish chute was flat and that was about it.

I pushed pretty hard in order to see were I was at with my somewhat inconsistent training this year but having had the previous week off things seemed to be going well. Don passed me soon after the start and we had a play-fight going up the first hill which was fun for half a second until the lactic kicked in - he then sped off into the distance to finish 5th in our category. In fact the guy that won the race overall, Jean-Pierre was also in our category so we were in good company.

At the only drinks stop at about half way I was feeling strong, grabbed a couple of power drinks and proceeded to pour most of the contents over my face but got some in my mouth. I saw Sofian at this point and got a big cheer from him (thanks Sofian that really helped boost me) - he was heading in the opposite direction in his training for Busselton Ironman (good luck).

Hayley making it look easy.

I was now on the course that Shilpa and I had run that morning so it was still fresh in my mind which seemed to help. But back up the long long hill to the turn-off on the way to the National monument it struck me that it was starting to hurt somewhat, it was then that I saw Hayley in the distance - too far to catch with just 2k to go but it would be nice to be within sight of her at the finish.

Simon making it look hard and painful.

As it happened I found a second wind and caught her up with about 300 metres before the finish line. A big mistake I thought as she was going to make that last 300 metres an unbearable and painful sprint, one she was bound to win. However, she passed on some words of encouragement and let me have my moment of glory. Hayley was first lady overall and yesterday was her birthday too - how cool! Well done and happy birthday. (I finished 6th out of 433 in my category - [missed the prizes by one place - darn!] and 30th overall out of 1893).

Shilpa looking like a pro.

After a bit of recovery many of the Team Tri-Hard triathletes had or were now finishing, I looked at my watch - it was 55 minutes, I knew after the pre-race run and the extremely hilly race that Shilpa was unlikely to finish in less than an hour but I wasn't going to take the chance of missing her so I went to keep a look out.

Amazingly, at 58 minutes she appeared looking tired but very relaxed finishing in a fantastic 58:33! A personal best. Now that was probably the run of the day. (Shilpa finished 17th out of 133 in her category and 54th out of 662 overall for the women - what a result!)

It didn't seem like I'd long finished when Gan from my office wondered by - he must have had yet another awesome race - well done dude. Pity about the photo - he was clearly moving too fast.

Also Foong Ling from ProMark took part and is becoming a regular now. Great job.

Also Joey from ProMark was there, I didn't see her but Shilpa spoke to her before the start. Yet again Joey conquered the race inspiring us all with her usual determination and resilience. Well done again Joey.