Ekiden - 5 km first leg

The marathon training plan for today was 1h30 with 20 minutes at marathon speed. This was a short session for the Sunday runs in the marathon training programme but since it came after the race last weekend and before another long, hard training session next weekend, perhaps this was logical. Anyway, logical or not, the club was entered in the French nationals for the ekiden race today and both Nico and I were necessary to complete the senior and veteran teams. Just to keep us on our toes and to ensure that we ran as fast as possible, we were both running the first leg in competing teams.

The race was at St Amand des Eaux in the north of France, just like last year when we ran in scorching heat. Only this year, it's November and we would be lucky to avoid the rain. Three teams were qualified for the event: the seniors (2:23 in Pontault Combault), the veterans (2:39 in Pontault Combault) and the women (2:59 in Pontault Combault) and we would be racing against some of the best teams in France.

We all met in St Germain to begin with and drove the 2 1/2 hours to the event. Nico and I talked with the others for a while and then decided to begin our warm-up / marathon training plan with a 45 minute session which we thought we would cover approximately 10 km. We ran from the finish line up to the start and then looked at the hill from the start which comprised most of the first kilometre. Lovely, the windiest section with a regular uphill and the wind in our faces: things were looking promising. After this first kilometre in which we turned off the main road into the forest we then hit a downhill section, winding its way gently through the forest before flattening out and ending in a long straight. At the end of this straight we took a right at the junction and ran along the forest road before turning right again onto a gravelled forest track. This section lasted for about a kilometre before turning into road again and heading back to the start.

Our warm-up comprised of a couple of loops before I arrived back at the start line and had 10 minutes to spare before the begining of the race. I had to call on Françoise to help undress me by removing my trousers and then my top and I was ready to start. There were about 200 teams in all at the start from the 3 categories. I was looking especially closely at the veteran runners who were obliged to have a "VE" bib stuck to their backs. Nico was in sight on the right hand side of the field, concentrating on the road ahead with an intent look on his face. I was slightly further back, wondering how many runners I would have to slalom from the start. The gun went and we were off, the field setting off very suickly and the slaloming I imagined was limited as all of the runners around me were at the same pace.

I passed Nico quickly up the hill and he looked to be starting easily. I pushed on and turned right into the forest where the road continued uphill to the kilometre marker at the top of the hill. Nico passed me back just after this point and I was unable to keep up on the next downhill section, but I knew that we were running fast. We went past the 2nd kilometre marker and I looked at the Garmin - 6:40. Ok, this was fast, even with the uphill. I was pleased at my progress now and knew that a PB was on the cards. I just had to keep going and runas steadily as possible without losing pace. Nico was well ahead now and running a stormer. I could tell that I wouldn't catch him unless he blew a gasket seriously which over 5km was fairly unlikely. I concentrated on staying with the veteran runner beside me. He would go ahead and then tire slightly and I would overtake him before he would pass me again, ad nauseum.

This continued for the next couple of kilometres and  the end was now in sight. Miguel was encouraging us on from the side now and told me to take the veteran and to push on. I, however, was spent at this point and was just running as fast as I could to hold on in there. We rounded the final corner and pushed on around the barrel where we swung round 180° and ran the last 100 metres back up to the finish line. I gave it all I had and passed the bracelet to Thierry for the next leg, stoping my watch as I did. Finish time for the 5km : 17:28 and a new PB with an average pace of 3:30 per km. Chuffed to bits and went over to Nico to congratulate him. He'd increased his lead at the end and finished around 30 seconds ahead of me. The first run I've seen from him where he's realised his true potential.

I was coughing my lungs up now and had evidently given everything I could. I calmed down a little and then nico and I set off for the warm down. I ran another 2 loops and a bit of the course, completing another 11 km in total. Marathon training completed, I spent the rest of the race watching our teams before heading down to the finish line to get something to eat. Never has a sausage and chips tasted so good.

The senior team finally finished in 2:29 and the veterans in 2:36 which was pretty good and in line with expectations for the teams that we'd pulled together. I ran the fastest 5km for the veteran team beating Olivier and José in terms of speed over the course. Nico ran the fastest 5km for the seniors. The women finished in 3:06 ending up about halfway through the field, down on their qualifying time due to Mireille's absence.

27 km all up in 2:03 or an average pace of 4:37 for the day. A good session and a great race.