Race to the Taste Fun Run 2017
I am not a big fan of short distance races as a rule. There is no time to get into a comfortable rhythm, so it is just hard on the lungs, the legs and the mind from start to finish. But I had been looking forward to today’s Race to the Taste run, because it would be a great chance to catch up with a heap of friends from Solemates running group, who I haven’t seen much of in the last month.
I got a bit nervous yesterday when the clouds were dumping on us as implacably as Donald Trump dumps on the American constitution, but thankfully when I woke up this morning the sky was pretty clear. I got to the Domain Athletic Centre early and did a few warm up laps to shake out any stiffness. But soon warm ups were largely forgotten, as I started seeing friends and even former students arrive and I spent much of the next half hour chatting with people who seemed to have the same disdain for warming up that David Leyjonhelm has for pensioners. |
Eventually a group of Solemates, including both our G-G and the President decided we had best go for a jog before starting. I had thought we might do a lap of the 400m track or even stretch out for the one kilometre loop around the outside of the centre. I was wrong, I soon discovered, as the G-G took the lead on a nearly three-kilometre course around the domain. At least I now had a good idea of the course, as we had just run half of it.
If I take a warm up seriously, I like to get up to a pretty quick speed to open up the lungs. I did this towards the end and arrived back at the athletics centre covered in enough sweat, I could have been an extra from an MTV video. We gathered the 20-30 Solemates together for a group photo before heading over to the start line for the beginning of the race. A couple of races I have run in recently have been more congested at the start than Hobart’s CBD traffic, but today we got away to a pretty smooth start, building speed as we made our way around the 400m track and out onto the road. When I ran a similar distance race last year, I had gone out too hard early and faded like Wild Oats in this year’s Sydney to Hobart, so I had set myself what I a challenging speed that I hoped to maintain, without wearing out too quickly. And true to form, I got carried away after leaving the track, staying above my goal speed as we followed the jogging track that loops clockwise around the domain. The buildings of North Hobart were visible below me through the light screen of trees on my left, until the track turned further around the hill and I got my first glimpse of the Derwent. I’d like to say I was struck by how pretty it was, but my main thoughts at this stage were, “breathe, step, step, don’t fall over, breathe.” But I’m sure it was a lovely section of track. |
After a couple of pretty quick kilometres, we had turned around fully and were heading back towards the athletics centre. There were a few instances where we had to change from one track to another, but each were manned by a wonderful volunteer to point you in the right direction with a smile (people who volunteer are awesome by the way). I passed Mumma Bear at the top of a tiny hill and (without a lot of grace on my part) got a quick high five from Charlie and Lochie who were doing an excellent job of being junior course marshals.
The downhill slope began to get a little steeper from here, so I let myself pick up a little bit of speed. I was actually surprised, both on the flat and downhill that I could sustain a speed that was definitely quicker than I thought I would have. In neither case was it particularly comfortable, but it wasn’t immediately exhausting either. I suspect some of this improvement may have been a result of running the Solemates Handicap a few times in the latter half of this year, as well as some help from Dean Giblin, who has been very generous with his time and advice for me recently. I love running on Soldier’s Walk (even if it sounds contradictory). I think the memorial itself is quite powerful in an understated way and the views below it are fantastic. Even in my uncomfortable state today, I still couldn’t help but enjoy the moment of passing the cricket oval and seeing the southern part of the Derwent River and the city of Hobart unfolding below me. This was also a moment to see just how far ahead some runners were, but that is never really anything to get worried about. I’m not racing them. Getting a little carried away with high-fiving children and staring at my surroundings, I actually lost track of the kilometres and had the rather unusual (and wonderful) experience of suddenly realising I was a kilometre closer to the end than I thought I was. I ran under the underpass and turned right to run downhill into town. The road flattens out as we passed the Gasworks and this was my cue to give a final ‘kick’ of effort for my sustained sprint finish. |
Well, I call it that. In reality I only improved my pacing by about 10 seconds a kilometre, but even a small thing can seem impressive with the right spin (just ask the Coalition about their climate policies). I passed Frank (I mean the restaurant- I don’t actually know anyone by that name and only passed about three people for the whole race) for the final straight (which is less straight than Elton John but I didn’t know what else to call it) to the finish line. 100 metres before the finish I passed the enthusiastic and beautiful Solemates cheer squad who were making plenty of noise, as were the drummers at the actual finish line.
After the race I wandered down to the Solemates cheer squad and joined in the cheering for anyone else I saw coming through. There were a few people coming in with some really impressive times, but none more so than Taryn B (not sure I know her well enough to nickname her TB yet, but we’ll get there), who flew past shortly after I got there and ran a massive PB. Well done to everyone that took part. I hope it is the start of a successful 2017 for you. Race results |