Self-Transcendence 1 Mile Race Sanur, Bali, Feb 4th 2009

The second one-mile race was strange because of what had led up to it - a bout of intense food poisoning which left me extremely weak, then, on recovery from that, a 10 hour trek to the summit of Gunung Agung which left my leg muscles in shock. Despite that convenient list of excuses, I lined up for the 7am start feeling surprisingly OK.

Once again I set off cautiously, but on this occasion instead of hanging with the pack I found myself falling back from it almost at once, as more inspired legs carried twenty or so runners down to the turnaround while I was still struggling to get into my stride. The second half was more successful, and I found myself able to stride out a little and claw back some of the lost ground. The tight bends of the course were on cambered roads, so we were all able to lean into them like cyclists and keep the pace up. I edged up the field, and surprised myself with 5.32, only 6 seconds slower than the race when I was "fresh", but everyone else had acclimatised and got faster, meaning the position I got was nearer twenty sixth than sixth on this occasion! Still, a great race on a course I love, and the prospect of being in better shape for the two miler, where I had a personal target to shoot for.

 

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