run like shit: inter-INPG cross country

Today I took part in the Inter-INPG Cross Country. Only knew about the event on Monday, so only managed to scramble in a short speedwork session on Tuesday before the race today.

Race conditions were perfect: It had rained earlier in the morning but the sun was in its blazing glory come race time. In fact, I was a little overdressed with my long sleeves and all for 8°C weather! Ran to the starting point an hour in advance to register, warm up, and check out the competition. Xavier, the head of my school's sports club, had told me to expect only a handful of runners, given that INPG people are not really that into sports. However, I think I saw at least 300 people already on the field when I reached. Talk about wrong predictions! =D

Anyway the race started punctually at 3pm. The competitors were a good mix of serious runners and leisure strollers. Other than the attire, I think I could differentiate the runners from the walkers from their body shapes. Lean, slim and shades meant runner. Baggy shorts, iPod and rotund figure probably meant that I was not going to see this person again after the start. I started with Nichol, a Belgian cyclist (who had been racing in the 2nd division in the Belgian cycling league) whom I met at the Singaporean food fest the other time. You could see the racer genes in him as he took off immediately at quite a furious pace. Being the slow snail that I am, I decided to let him go, but I also aimed to keep within his draft. Besides, I am never good at the shorter "too fast too furious" races.

The race was a 2 lapper, and the total distance was 6km. My strategy was just to follow for the first and to push (if I still could) for the second. After the initial hysteria, I was in the chase group with Nichol in front (and still pushing the pace), at what I thought was quite a comfortable pace. It was difficult to follow the front person closely as this being a cross country, the terrain was uneven and muddy no thanks to the rain on Monday and Tuesday. Anyway the first lap was pretty uneventful, with me passing quite alot of people along the way, and I finished it within 12 mins.

I knew what to expect for the second lap so I decided to negative split my run. Unfortunately many others also thought of the same thing and runners started to fly by me. Merde. I wanted desperately to go faster but somehow my legs seemed to be stuck at second gear, unable to push any much more beyond the pace I was going at. Grande merde. So much for pushing. I finished my second lap in exactly the same as my first: 12 mins.

So my time for 6km was 24 mins, which was damn far off the last cross country I ran in: Mindef x-country in 2005 where I got 3rd placing. Kudos to Nichol who really pushed it and finished with a time of 22mins. The winner came in at a fantastic timing of 19 mins, which just illustrates what a snail I am.

The cool thing was that I was wearing a shirt with the Singapore flag (Team TriZen) on it and people came up to ask about Singapore. Felt like some Singaporean mascot. Cool beans. And probably because I was all decked out in quite pro-looking gear, other pro-looking runners also came by to check me out before and after the race. Guess I disappointed them big time by telling them my timing! =D

Hung around for a while at the end waiting for the results and had some vin chaud and gateau before I did a warm down run into the sunset back to my place. C'était vachement un bon après-midi!