"Each step forward has a sacred meaning of its own"   Sri Chinmoy

Grand Park of Tirana 2 Mile Race - January 1st 2024 - Albania

After just missing out on top 50+ spot in the 3 mile race (to a palpably stronger Pataka who I simply couldn't catch) I had another go at a classic Christmas Trip race just 2 days later. This one fell on New Year's Day and after a short night's sleep (post New Year Meditation) I was out into the cold, cloudy day at around 7am. Warming up I felt fine for this one despite having raced so recently and I managed quite a few strides across the barage where the race starts (along the straight edge of the lake in Grand Park of Tirana). As you can see from the photo there was a great turnout for this one.

From the off, I went out in around 10th place behing the usual suspects - with the course beginning with a long straight I got to see the fast guys pull away and start their race within a race. As the barage unwound I felt as if maybe I gone off too fast yet again, but at the same time I really wanted to go for it. I wasn't sure where the turnaround was but as we got to the bend I could see there was a fair way to go for to the end of the half mile. After a hard slog alongside Pataka and Grahak the turn finally came, marked with mini-cones into an ark rather than just a brutal single cone, the Garmin flashing up 3.07 and a pace of around 6.15. That sounded about right - so far so good. Except I didn't think for a second I could keep that pace up. In your 50s when the speed falls away (with more long runs and fewer speed sessions) it is so hard to get it back. The lockdown pace has disappeared and I am really struggling to get close to the speeds I enjoyed back in 2020 and 2021. Mind you, this was the first day of 2024 so it is longer ago than it seems.

The return leg of the first mile was a struggle but I was managing to hold on to Pataka and then, somehow, ease past him slowly as the turnaround approached back near the start. That lap was a 3.05 so I had maintained the pace. It was really hard.

Heading back along the barage with the lake one side of us and the modern towers of Tirana on the other, I focused on trying to catch Gianluca ahead of me and desperately attempting to hold that early pace. Both were impossible but they were the right things to fixate on. I managed to widen the gap just a little on the runners behind me and perhaps hold the distance to Gianluca (or maybe I imagined that) but I certainly wasn't gaining. The third half mile was 3.11, a sign of how I was struggling.

A weak and exhausted lean into the turn around the arc of cones was the signal to start breathing rapidly, definitely going well anaerobic now and so it stayed to the finish - the endless yards trying to wish the huge christmas tree (the landmark for the finish) to get closer while time seemed determined to freeze and leave it aeons away is still vivid in my memory. I let it all go for a 3.01 half mile and finished, totally wasted, in 12.21. My first 2 miler of 2024 beat all my 2023 times and I had the satisfaction of first person in the 50+ non-category. I was very happy with this race. Thank you Tirana - what a gorgeous city (not in an obvious way, but it has some funky buildings, some old buildings, some eclectic buildings, some fascinating people, some mountains right there on the edge of town and this amazing Grand Park).

  
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