5 X 1Km Relay

Yesterday around Lunch time I was asked if I wanted to be a part of the relay team my unit had put together for a race that was programmed for this morning. It was a race against all members of the barracks around a 1km cct comprising of 5 members per team. I couldn't compete in it last year as I had shin splints but this time jumped at the chance to be apart of it.

It began at 7.30 this morning and the weather was fresh, we were all very relaxed and to be honest I really didn't think we had a chance. There we 35 teams of 5 runners so the start was going to be caos. Our 1st runner made his way to the front of the start line which was a good move. The gun went and they were off, one fellow took off very fast and everyone thought he would blow up half way round, this wasn't the case and he continued to pull away from everyone establishing a handy 100m lead on the rest. We were 8th at the first change.

The next runner ran a good even run nothing outstanding and just maintained our position. The group had now strung out alot and it ws much easier to run. Our third runner set a good pace and put in one last effort to gain a few places. On the next change we were now around 6th place.

The 4th runner took off and decided to take the first 500m steady and come home strong. We had been noticing that alot of ground is made up in the latter stages of the leg. It proved to be a success for him changing over to me in 4th spot very close to 2nd and 3rd. I took off pretty quick and sat right on the 3rd place runner we quickly swallowed up the 2nd placed runner and started thinking on how I was going to get passed this bloke. He was running well and we were pretty even, then all of a sudden the fellow we just passed came sprinting passed us like we were standing still.

I thought there is no way we can catch him at that pace, but 100m up the road he blew a head gasket and slowed right down. So it was back to the battle of two, about 300m to go just before we entered the carpark I upped the pace and I could see his technique faultering a bit. He heard me coming and tried to speed up and that's were I broke him, you could see that he just had nothing left and was now just focussing on hanging onto third place. I was still keeping an eye on him but he wasn't gaining, with a hundred to go I had it in the bag. We crossed the line in 15.42 in 2nd place 7 secs in front of third and 15 secs behind 1st I ended up with a k split of 2.50 odd. We were pretty chuffed with the result, not bad for a team that was put together at the last minute. The record still stands for another year at 14.27 which was set by the PTI's, the physical training instructors which of course is there job to train all day every day.

I will be away for a few days, heading up to the old stomping ground,Townsville for a wedding on Magnetic Island. Fly out tomorrow and will be back on Monday afternoon, should be a good few days. Hopefully I can get some training in up there before the bevvies start flowing ;-)

Happy Training :-)