Waitakere 11K fun run

On Sunday I ran in the Waitakere 11Kfun run  run out in West Auckland. The race was a quite a scenic tour of the West Auckland suburb, started and finished in the Waitakere stadium as well as running along a section of the Henderson Creek foreshore.

My buildup to this run had been a little disrupted in recent weeks.  I had two weeks off after the North Shore 10 K in late August due to a twinge in my calf which left me four weeks build up for Sundays run.

Then six days out from Sundays run I began feeling a twinge in my groin muscle and so rested again for the rest of the week.

I made sure I warmed up well  pre race but I still set out pretty gingerly unaware how the groin would hold up. I was aiming to try and maintain an 8 minute mile pace for starters and see how things progressed from there.

I covered the first mile in slightly under 8 minutes and was feeling fine so was comfortable trying to push a little harder and I covered the next four miles in 7:51, 7:48, 7:38 and 7:47. The 6th mile featured a long gradual climb which contributed to a slower 8:06.

I finally entered the stadium ran a lap of the track and crossed the line 53:39 (net time).

I placed a respectable 24 of 137 males and 6th of 17 males aged 40-49.