2015 "Nile 10 Mile"

At this time every year Evandale, Tasmania hosts the National Penny Farthing Championships. You can find out more information here: http://www.evandalevillagefair.com/

In conjunction with the Village Fair there is the running of the "Nile 10 Mile", but this is always on a Sunday morning. This morning I was preaching at Devonport for their Harvest Thanksgiving Service and used Psalm 117. So this afternoon I ran my lone version of this race on the flattest section of  our local bike track. I've had so much time out of running over the last couple of years and, with my advancing years, I've slowed down a bit. Also I haven't run much in the way of long distances for a long time.

The temperature was still in the high 20's at 5.15 pm when I commenced running and it was fairly humid, being beside  Bass Strait. I started out at what I thought was a slow and  steady pace as I didn't want to go out too hard and blow up before the end. So I was surprised when I discovered that my slow pace turned out to be a bit over 6 min/k. But as it felt so slow and comfortable I kept plodding along to see how I would go. Fortunately there were some bubblers beside the track so I could get frequent drinks of water and saturate my running cap to cool down my head.

Much to my surprise I was able to run consistently between 5.55 min/k and 6.09 min/k for the first 11k, with the exception of one section where I stopped for a longer drink. It was after that that the heat and exertion began to take its toll and I dropped back to between 6.19 min/k and 6.27 min/k for the last 5k. Overall I averaged 6.10 min/k, with which I was very pleased because, before my run, I had only hoped to average around 6.30 min/k. It was in the last ½k that both calf muscles began to get some little cramps, forcing me to change my running style to being flat footed. If I had run the actual race there would have been 53 competitors and I would have finished in 47th position. Though if I had been there I probably would have been able to run a little faster over the concluding stages because of the encouragement of running with others and having spectators urge you on,

What I want to do next is a 32k run in two weeks time, but I will have to wait and see if I am up to that. Today's 16k run is a quarter of the distance of the Bruni Island Ultra Marathon I have set my eyes on for the beginning of December.