10K PR

The Parelloop 10K Top Run was a successful event today as Kenyan Micah Kogo broke Haile Gebrselassie's 10K Road World Record by 1 second, 27:01. Amazing feat and incredible time, especially that he was running alone after 7Ks.

My race today went very well compared to last week's sub-par performance at the Venloop Half-Marathon, . I successfully dipped under 34 minutes running 33:54, a new 10K PR. If it wasn't for the few gradual inclines, then I think I could have been in the mid-33s.

The Race: When the gun went off I immediately tagged along to a small pack of about four female elites. We stayed together till about 2.5K when we ascended a small gradual incline. A couple females were dropped by the time we got to the top of the incline. At 3K, one of the two remaining females broke away like a slingshot. It was then just me and an Ethiopian female (I knew she was an Ethiopian only after I saw the results) running together from the early pack. We were running side by side for about one kilometer, then she decided to tuck right behind me. I tried to get her to do some of the pacing by moving right and left, but she would continue to follow my footsteps. After doing all the work for about 4 kilometers, she decided to move to the front and then picked up the pace. "Damn you!". I struggled a bit to stay with her, but always kept within 5 meters of her. At 9K, we caught the Kenyan female who broke away at 3K and managed to put a small gap on her. With about 400 meters to go, the Ethiopian female surged and tried to pull away from me. My thoughts at this point was that I was not going to let her beat me after doing almost all of the work. With about 100 meters to the finish I saw the clock read 33:41...42...43. I knew breaking 34 minutes was going to be very close, so I gave what I had left and crossed the finish in a gun time of 33:59 (net time: 33:54). I am happy not only about the time and PR, but the fact that it gives me confidence on my way to Hamburg.

5K splits: 16:48 / 17:06