Round the Bays ends in Pain

I ran in the Round the Bays Fun Run today. It's an 8.4Km run around the Auckland waterfront which attracts upwards of 70,000 runners and walkers of all shapes & sizes as well as a few outrageous costumes.

Distance - 8.4KM (5.2 miles)
Time - 39:50
Pace -4:45 min Kms (7:40 min miles)
Max HR 179
Ave HR 161

This is a flat course so I was hopeful of a time of 40 minutes or less so to achieve that goal was pleasing. The pace was faster than I have been running in my training and I was pretty pleased with the effort I put in to maintain that pace for as long as I did. I've done this run a few times over the years however always for the fun and social side of it. Whilst I did enjoy that side of it today also I was also keen to put in a good effort and achieve a good time.

I started about 50 meters back from the start line and took about a minute to cross the line after the gun went off. The start was pretty slow as the field spread out. By about the 1 Km stage the field had sufficiently spread out enough that I was able to run at a steady pace.

I passed a marker at 5.5 km at about 25 minutes so I new that I had 15 minutes to cover the last 3Km to make my time. I tried searching for a little more pace to ensure I made my time and with about 1 Km go I was pretty much out of gas. My pace was slowing and breathing was very laboured.

Then it happened ... I felt a small twinge in my right calf muscle. I've never strained a calf before but this is what I imagined it was, definitely not just a case of tight or sore calfs. I managed to jog the remaining kilometer and crossed the line in just under 40 minutes.

So, pleased with the time but not at the expense of a strained calf. I can only hope that it's a minor strain and that with some treatment and a bit of rest I will be back running again soon.

I had wanted to run another 10Km race next weekend and then an 11Km Trail race next month.

I'll be pretty gutted if I can't at least run the trail race as that's something I've never done and would love to give it a go.


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Running Round the Bays Calf Strain

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