Of all the active running blogs that I read, Bob's, Geoff's, Joe's and Liz's would be the only ones that could answer the following question: Did you run to your absolute physical potential when you ran your PB time for a certain race distance? My own answer to that question would be "No" for most lifetime PBs that I've run. All of the other blogs that I read are written by runners who can still run faster. My PB that came closest to 'as good as it gets' was the 9:56.3 I ran for 3000 metres at age 34 (which happens to be the speed one needs to run to finish a marathon in under 2 hours 20 minutes). After finishing that race I remember thinking that given perfect training and weather conditions, it wouldn't be long before I'd run 3k in 9:45.
In Melbourne on 18 October I raced a good 10k, but not perfect. My time was 47:39 (a minute slower than the time I ran in 2008). My legs felt good during the race but not totally energised and fresh. My pacing was pretty much spot-on — the effort felt even (the course is undulating, so dead-even splits aren't going to happen) and I finished strongly over the last 2k with a sprint for the final 200 metres. Executing a perfect race would have seen 47:00 on the finishing clock in the M.C.G.
I enjoyed Melbourne, in spite of not having run the perfect race. Lunch with Liz, Bev and Al on Friday had been fun, so too the pre-race dinner on Saturday evening. I was pretty satisfied with the whole long weekend. But still (as a competitive runner) I wasn't super-satisfied or ecstatic with my race performance. I guess this whole post is a roundabout way of saying that one never knows at the time it happens, that a PB will never be improved upon. One always has optimistic expectations to run faster. Because the perfect race is a very rare thing indeed. If you happen to be in the perfect race (and have the awareness to realise this as it's happening), then give it everything you've got. Everything.
I'm behind in reading blogs (and running) as I've been holidaying in the U.S. Here I am practising my discus technique. Everything is big in America.
