"Each step forward has a sacred meaning of its own" Sri Chinmoy
2 Mile Race - Jan 2022 - Konyaalti, Antalya
Although we were racing before dawn, I felt the need to try and capture the nascent colours of the horizon, with perhaps not much success! Anyhow, it was another fine and fresh morning on the Mediterranean shores outside our hotel at Konyaalti and this time our course was to head a full mile towards Antalya city on the broad, flat promenade and then turn and run back to our start by La Casa. The girls/women went off first leaving a few minutes before the boys/men could start - with well over 100 runners we had to split the race, which is a nice problem to have! Having suffered no adverse reaction in my knee to a 7.07 mile 3 days earlier, I decided to go for a 15 mins 2-miler and see how I fared with that. Once we had held our brief silence and started running though, I just went with my natural pace which right now is close to 7.15 per mile.
At first I was in a large pack but we soon spread out, which I was glad about as I was concerned we'd be blocking the early starters on their way back in. As the pack strung out we were able to keep right and soon Dhavala was passing us at top speed on her way to victory. My first half mile flashed up in a time of 3.41 which was good going, about right pace-wise, but I could feel myself warming to the task and the movement in my legs getting more free and easy. Ahead I could see Prachar, Atulya and others and one by one I caught them while sustaining what felt like a nearly-full race effort. The turnaround came in a lap time of 3.30 so I was on 7:11 for the mile, not much slower than the Wednesday race.
The return route, towards the bright lights of Konyaalti and the larger, up-scale hotels, was a harder effort and I was into my anaerobic breathing pattern before I hit 1.5 miles - when I did, the lap time was 3.23 so I was pleased to see I was gradually upping the pace. The final run-in was at max power, no holding back and no excuses, with a half mile clocked at 3:15. So, I finished in 13:40 give or take, well pleased, also relieved that today as I write (the day after) there is still no injury flare-up. I can still feel the level-1 sensation below my right knee but the efforts are not making it any worse.
So, my new year resolution is to sustain this recovery and who knows, maybe start marathon training in April? The verdict so far on my running renaissance (version 10 or whatever it is) is grateful & relieved, also optimistic, cautiously of course....
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