Henley Classic 10km

A more perfect day for a run couldn't be wished for. A blue sky with brilliant morning sun, no wind at all, everything was still and calm.

I woke up at around 6.30am, I had my phone alarm set in case I overslept as I had a day/night out drinking in various Adelaide pubs, getting back at around 11pm the previous night, so, needless to say my head was a bit tight (a word that describes it well) this morning.

I didn't have time for breakfast so instead had a carbo drink to fill up that empty feeling.

I wanted to get to the start in plenty of time as parking can be highly sought if an event is on. I drove the short 3km to Henley Beach at 7am and found a good park not far from the jetty and square where they race was setting up.

I knew the course very well as I have run this route many times over the years. I had no idea how many people would be here, I found out they had a total on 1000 participants in the 3 events, 10km run, 5km run and 5km walk.

I collected my race number, the first time I have pinned a race number on in around 12 years. I then just relaxed, soaking up the warm morning sun and did some people watching, looking at the various ways, some strange that people prepared for the run. There were lots of stretchers, plenty of sprinters bolting back and forth, some doing strange exaggerated marching movements. I did none of this, just a bit of deep breathing and staying relaxed.

I warmed up by starting at the back then moving up through the race, it wouldn't be the fastest way to run a race but it would keep me out of trouble.

We all gathered in the car park at 7.45am then around 5 minutes later the crowd of runners started to move.

The first 3km is on smooth concrete with is just the best surface to run on. I've had a bit of a tight calf over the last few weeks along with some tendon soreness. The calf rolling has almost sorted it out but I was still a little worried in case I ran too hard and triggered off some calf problem.

I began weaving my way through the runners, slowly getting warmed up and the heart rate up to my 137 top aerobic level.

After 3km the concrete gives way to good quality bitumen before tuning into quite abrasive brick.
The course was an out and back so I was keeping a note of when the lead runner was going to pass me on his way back. This happened around 1km from the turn around which meant he was 2km in front of me. There was a good gap before the second runner.

I hit the 5km point and now I wanted to get some speed up for the last half. I believe I can say that no one overtook me on the way back as I picked runners off one by one. I pushed my heart rate up to 145 but I still wasn't going as fast as I could.

Once back on the smooth concrete I increased my pace doing a much faster second half.
I finished the race with an official time of 52:40 and placed 282 out of 650, not too back seeing as I started the day with a sore head. I will push a bit harder in some of the other races over the summer season.



All runners received a gift bag at the end containing health snacks of a banana, Orange, muesli bar, protein drink plus there were masses of fresh strawberries and fruit for free.
Very enjoyable race which I will enter again.