Prague 10K 2010
By: Ed Morse
OK, so there I am, wandering around Prague on my free half-day before meetings start. I see a temporary structure labeled ‘Expo’ but it isn’t open. After getting back to my room I find that The TESCO Prague Grand Prix is the last event of the annual PIM Running Circuit. The men’s race is a 10K and is on Saturday. “Oh Rats,” I think, we’ve got meetings from 9:00am – 6:00pm on Saturday. Then I read further, and see that it starts at 8:30 at night. Sweeeeeeet, I’m in!
Race night, 8:00-ish. After hiking across town in my running gear, complete with bib pinned to my chest (getting more than a few strange looks from the tourists), I find the starting area. There are about 2300 men in the 10K, and the women’s 5K race still finishing as we try to get into the corrals. I realize that I didn’t drink very much in the meetings we had all day, except for some really strong coffee. I’m feeling really parched, but there wasn’t anything to drink near the start. I remember that there is a water stop at the 5K mark, so I’ll just have to make it there. I’m in about the first third of the corral, and there is a steady stream of announcements in Czech, so I don’t know if they’re telling us to push forward, or leave space, or what. I kind of move with the crowd, and I’m probably 50ft from the start line when the gun goes off.
We shuffle forward, letting things space out, and then charge across the timing mat, still trying to speed up without tripping. Did I mention that Prague, at least the old town where the race was held, is almost entirely cobblestones? This is the Paris-Roubaix of 10K’s. And it was dark. Anyway, there are just as many people who shove to the front of the corrals when they don’t belong there as in the US. I spent the first kilometer or so picking my way through the crowds. Things reached steady state after the first 10 minutes or so, I was working hard and passing a few people here and there, but for the most part I was trying not to trip – there were sometimes smoother spots to run by the trolley tracks, but that required paying attention.
At last, the 5K mark! I grab a cup of water and drop it. I try again, and get some sort of weak-tasting drink. I was so thirsty I stopped briefly and made sure I got the whole thing inside of me instead of on me. A nice thing about the course was there were a few loops and out-and-backs, so we could see the other runners a few times. As we closed in on the end of the race, we passed the start-finish area and then had a 1.5km loop that we had already run. This was really nice, as I had a good feeling for how far was left, and how hard to push. The end is finally in sight, lots of crowd noise, and the finish! Gun time 42:04, chip time 41:47. This was the second 10K I’ve run, the other at the Stumpy Creek Tri, so I scored a PR.
All told, great fun, nice gear (backpack, Adidas tech shirt, nice medal). And my first international race is in the books.
Pictures below (check out those Cobblestones!)
