I remember the day my husband suggested we enter the OMTOM race like it was yesterday. I thought he was out of his mind as I only had two 10km races behind me and a 21km seemed impossible. He eventually convinced me by agreeing to run it with me.
As we were very new to running we bought lots of running material to equip us with tips and techniques of how to improve ourselves. We started aiming to cover at least 20km per week and we gradually increased it on a weekly basis, we were averaging 45-50km per week before the race. We ensured that the mileage we ran included a LSD, hill and speed training. As the weeks went by I could feel myself getting stronger in every race. Days before OMTOM I came across splits for a sub 2. The pace chart seemed doable. I decided this will be my goal.
I broke my race into 4 segments, each segment having a different average pace. I had a slow start and had to struggle to make my way through the crowd. At the 4km mark I was able to run more freely, however at that stage I was already behind schedule. I then decided to try to keep to the pacing as planned and to make up for time on the declines. While climbing Southern Cross Drive I kept telling myself I’ve trained for this and that it’s nothing new. This kept me going until I reached the top. It was an amazing feeling of accomplishment, the 17 minutes it took from the bottom to the top as this was the part of the race I feared. By the time I reached the M3 I realised I still needed to make up time. Even with all the inclines I still decided to run it as hard as I could. About 200 meters to the finish I could hear the crowd counting down sub 2hrs and I realised I wasn’t going to make it.
I am not sure how it feels like to win a race, but that’s how I felt when I completed the race. Even though I missed my goal by a few seconds, the feeling of accomplishment after finishing the race made all the effort I put in worthwhile and I would do it all over again.
Ayesha Molti (April 2015)
Tell us your story, we'd love to hear it!
As we were very new to running we bought lots of running material to equip us with tips and techniques of how to improve ourselves. We started aiming to cover at least 20km per week and we gradually increased it on a weekly basis, we were averaging 45-50km per week before the race. We ensured that the mileage we ran included a LSD, hill and speed training. As the weeks went by I could feel myself getting stronger in every race. Days before OMTOM I came across splits for a sub 2. The pace chart seemed doable. I decided this will be my goal.
I broke my race into 4 segments, each segment having a different average pace. I had a slow start and had to struggle to make my way through the crowd. At the 4km mark I was able to run more freely, however at that stage I was already behind schedule. I then decided to try to keep to the pacing as planned and to make up for time on the declines. While climbing Southern Cross Drive I kept telling myself I’ve trained for this and that it’s nothing new. This kept me going until I reached the top. It was an amazing feeling of accomplishment, the 17 minutes it took from the bottom to the top as this was the part of the race I feared. By the time I reached the M3 I realised I still needed to make up time. Even with all the inclines I still decided to run it as hard as I could. About 200 meters to the finish I could hear the crowd counting down sub 2hrs and I realised I wasn’t going to make it.
I am not sure how it feels like to win a race, but that’s how I felt when I completed the race. Even though I missed my goal by a few seconds, the feeling of accomplishment after finishing the race made all the effort I put in worthwhile and I would do it all over again.
Ayesha Molti (April 2015)
Tell us your story, we'd love to hear it!
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