When I woke up this morning, today's race was already set: 10 kilometres as fast as possible. I slept well, so nothing stood in the way.
I ran to the kitchen to make myself a green tea, as I do every morning.

I looked out of the window and saw a beautiful white landscape. It was snowing and everywhere.... wait... WHAT THE HELL?!? I wanted to run now 10 kilometers on time?!? What am I supposed to do with snow?!

The ideal conditions were thus destroyed, but there are no excuses, not today. The week was bad enough for that. I looked at the outside temperature: 0°C degrees.
After all, that's not too cold for my long-sleeved running shirt. I will not get too warm today in any case. See things positively and so...

If we are already thinking positively, what about the target time?
My record from September was 52:32 minutes. In the last 3 months I have made significant progress, but now I also have much worse environmental factors.

I have set myself 3 goals:

1. 55min - The time to beat in the @rmsbodybuilding challenge: CHALLENGE
2. Beat my personal best time of 52:32 minutes and set a new best time!
3. The ultimate goal would be to run the 10 kilometers in under 50 minutes. Then I could die happily.

The run

Starting point, where it all began. 600m away from the forest.

Enough dreamed, now it is about the sausage (German proverb with which one can probably do little in English. I put on my running clothes: long-sleeved t-shirt, short-sleeved underneath, headband for the ears and my running shoes. That's all I need. Oh yeah, and the pants. I would put on gloves for a slow endurance run, but not for these competition-like conditions.

I went out and ran warm and relaxed. The temperature was pleasant in itself. There was no wind either, but the lack of grip through the snow was clearly noticeable. I don't have any experience about that, because to be honest it's my first run in the snow, but it definitely affects the performance. Does one of the more experienced runners know more or concrete numbers?

Let's go!!!

Here we go. 3.. 2.. 1.. And go! For a 50" minutes time I would have to hold through a 4:59 average. Not easy, but feasible. I started running, tried not to be too fast, but the speed was hard to estimate, because the first 500 meters were slightly downhill. When the clock rang for the first time, it signaled that the first kilometre was over. 4:30 was the time. Okay, a little slower and then just hold out for another 9 kilometres.

From kilometer 3

I already had a 55-second advantage at that point, but that took its toll. I noticed that my pace was slowing down a bit and my exhaustion was already visible. I tried my best to keep up the pace and at kilometer 4 I could see 5:13 minutes. Nothing is lost yet, but I think I'll stick to it. I already noticed the calves very easily, how they became heavy and now it started to rain lightly...

To kilometer 8

Exhaustion increased and I understood what it really meant to go on under hard conditions and not give up. I continued to give my best so that the best possible time would finally be reached. The average pulse was permanently 170 and higher and every cell in my body was telling me to slow down. The pace slowed down, but I still gave everything to finish this run in the best possible way.

While fighting with myself, I met some walkers in the woods. I was happy to see people walking in snow and cold and doing something good for their health. I'm sure they collect all the steps for their Actifit account :D

They all wore nice thick winter jackets and then a runner with a yellow t-shirt runs towards them and disappears as fast as he appeared. The faces of the people: Indescribable. Such thoughts distracted me from the torments, but I remained focused to keep the pace...

Final sprint

When I finally reached kilometer 8 I looked at the clock and saw a pace of 5:08 and a total time of 40:XX minutes. Now it is time to accelerate again. The 10 kilometres in less than 50 minutes seem to be tangible. Do a 2km final spurt in under 5 minutes and you could make it!

The final meters uphil to Kilometer 10!

So I put a tooth in and I felt like "The Flash". I ran as fast as I could and was just waiting for the beep so that I know that kilometer 9 is behind me. I got a little impatient and looked at the clock myself: 8.48km....
That can't be true. This will probably be the longest sprint of my life!

I continued to give my best and had to realize that I was getting more and more exhausted. The whole thing was a wrestling match against myself. When I finally reached the real kilometer 9, I had to find out a 5:05. My supposed sprint was just as fast as the one before. That is not possible. Don't think about it and get the last reserves out again!!!

When the clock rang again I had reached the 10 kilometres and the run was over. I looked at the clock and saw the result: 50:45 minutes! That's 1:43 minutes faster than my personal record. I was happy about the performance and relieved that it was finally over.

Happy, successful guy on his way back home

I was really hot, I was sweating, my heart was racing with maximum pulse thanks to the uphill sprint the last 400 meters and my hair was soaking wet from the rain. But I was still happy. Happy about my performance and my stamina.

Satisfied, I was running out about one kilometer before I arrived home and was just looking forward to a warm shower...

Daily Activity,Running,Walking