Suddenly Facebook asks me something.
Do you want to be a pre runner at the WOC 2015?
I read and read and again I read and then I think... "Why not?"
So, I fill the form and hope for a positive answer.
But I am quite sure that it's almost impossible for me to be selected. However, who knows what can happen.
There is no reply for a long time.
Then one day the WOC organizators ask me for a photo for the accreditation with some information about me and the time I think I'd need to run 3.5 km.
I reply, not quite sure about the estimated time.
I don't want to reply something impossible like running it at less than 4 minutes per kilometer, but I also cannot answer something near to 6 minutes per kilometer. So I decide, with lots of optimism, 17 minutes and 30 seconds. This means I am declaring that I will run at 5 minutes per kilometer. And that's not easy at all, as I think I never run an orienteering race so fast.
At this point everything makes me think that the odds of being chosen are very high.
That sounds GREAT!!
It would be the closest experience to the official world championship race that can happen to me.
Some days later the distances for the Scottish 6 Days races are published on their web site.
The sprint final, for which I'll be a pre runner, is scheduled on the same day as the first race of the 6-Day.
How long will be my day 1 race? Almost 8.2 km with 200 m!!!! And then I have to run a sprint as near as possible to my prediction?
GOOD LUCK!!!
During the next days some more information about WOC are published and a couple of days before my flight to Edinburgh I receive the information about my start time as a pre runner.
17.39
How is it possible???
17.39???
I know that the women sprint final starts at 17! Pre runners in the middle of the race? Really?
I ask, if my start time is correct and they answer to me 'YES', that is my start time.
They plan to start some pre runners before the women final and some between women and men final.
So??? I will run DURING the WOC sprint final race??
NOW I am getting quite worried. Really worried!
I fly to Edinburgh and get to Inverness by bus, take all my material and go to spectate the sprint relay final.
The DAY!
The sun nicely shines the whole day keeping the day 1 race dry and decides to hide just when I finish my run as a pre runner.
Dry? Well, lets say that the air was dry, but everything else was soaking wet.
After the race my shoes are staring at me worried about the next six days without any chance to dry.
The 1 day race in the morning is full of happy jumping from one muddy puddle to another, with some thrilling moments when I find myself deep in the mud up to my hips trying to get out from it with the shoes still on my feet.
After one hour and twenty-eight minutes (I wanted to run in less than one hour and a half, so I can say that has been a good race) I punch the finish control just a little bit tired and ready for a long nap. I'm thinking about going home, taking a shower, having a nice dinner and finally falling in the bed!
Holidays, relax, sleeping!
No? Am I forgetting something?
Mmmmmmm...
Let's go back in time.
No sleeping for today!
Wandering around the race arena really tired I have some haggis and a Coke.
Then off we goooooo! Towards Forres for the sprint final.
At 2.30 PM, arriving just a little bit early, I am in quarantine.
In fact I am the first one.
After some time the other pre runners finally enter the quarantine, along with the first athlets running the WOC final.
The wait is long.
More than two hours thinking about how will I run in these conditions, as I begin to feel the morning race in my legs.
Finally, the moment is here.
I get ready and I wear my SCOM (my team) top. So far I run something like 400-500 races with that top.
The first call is 12 minutes before the start. Like a real WOC runner.
They check my SiCard Air. It's a new model, a smart and quick one. It is enough to show it the map and the course, then you just follow it.
I get some extra indications from the pre runner coordinator. He tells me the last woman (Minna Kauppi) just started and I must not be too fast and reach her.
I look at him and reassure him not to be worried. I promise not to start too fast, so I would not bother the Finnish champ.
Then I go to the -4 gate which is in fact 7 minutes running from the -12 gate.
From there on I start feeling the race mood.
The first pre runner in front of me is discarded. He was called to run just a couple of hours before the race, but there are no enough maps.
So I become the first pre runner.
-1 gate and...start!
Off I go to the first control!
First of all I have to find where it on the map, then I have to get there.
The course is nice and challenging, full of direction changes and small passages that you have to spot quickly, if you don't want to lose precious time.
My legs feel surprisingly well, but the morning race tiredness is there. I can feel it especially after the first half of the race when I miss a passage and I have to stop to understand where am I. In the mean time two other pre runners has reached and passed me. I continue with less and less energy.
I get to the spectator point and...
I run through the arena FULL of people that incites me and clap.
Unfortunately I cannot fully experience it, because I am totally devastated, as I am running beyond my possibilities. I run as fast as I can and I hear also some people calling my name.
(Thanks also to Remy Steinegger for the picture below)
The last control points are really hard to run and also the third prerunner overruns me. Seems that the pre runner coordinator said only to me not to run too fast!
At one of the last control points I make a mistake due to my tiredness, but I finish my race with a decent final in the arena anyway.
My prediction to run at 5 minutes per kilometer was incorrect. I run in less!
This is the end of my WOC as a protagonist.
Great experience!
People inciting you even if they don't know who you are.
The strain that bites your muscles.
I enjoyed the course and I have to thank Tim for this experience, for his course setting and for helping me being a WOC pre runner.
What else to say?
Nice nice nice.
...and tomorrow I hope to be able to run my "normal" day 2 race and then finally get a long nap. This time for real!
Do you want to be a pre runner at the WOC 2015?
I read and read and again I read and then I think... "Why not?"
So, I fill the form and hope for a positive answer.
But I am quite sure that it's almost impossible for me to be selected. However, who knows what can happen.
There is no reply for a long time.
Then one day the WOC organizators ask me for a photo for the accreditation with some information about me and the time I think I'd need to run 3.5 km.
I reply, not quite sure about the estimated time.
I don't want to reply something impossible like running it at less than 4 minutes per kilometer, but I also cannot answer something near to 6 minutes per kilometer. So I decide, with lots of optimism, 17 minutes and 30 seconds. This means I am declaring that I will run at 5 minutes per kilometer. And that's not easy at all, as I think I never run an orienteering race so fast.
At this point everything makes me think that the odds of being chosen are very high.
That sounds GREAT!!
It would be the closest experience to the official world championship race that can happen to me.
Some days later the distances for the Scottish 6 Days races are published on their web site.
The sprint final, for which I'll be a pre runner, is scheduled on the same day as the first race of the 6-Day.
How long will be my day 1 race? Almost 8.2 km with 200 m!!!! And then I have to run a sprint as near as possible to my prediction?
GOOD LUCK!!!
During the next days some more information about WOC are published and a couple of days before my flight to Edinburgh I receive the information about my start time as a pre runner.
17.39
How is it possible???
17.39???
I know that the women sprint final starts at 17! Pre runners in the middle of the race? Really?
I ask, if my start time is correct and they answer to me 'YES', that is my start time.
They plan to start some pre runners before the women final and some between women and men final.
So??? I will run DURING the WOC sprint final race??
NOW I am getting quite worried. Really worried!
I fly to Edinburgh and get to Inverness by bus, take all my material and go to spectate the sprint relay final.
The DAY!
The sun nicely shines the whole day keeping the day 1 race dry and decides to hide just when I finish my run as a pre runner.
Dry? Well, lets say that the air was dry, but everything else was soaking wet.
After the race my shoes are staring at me worried about the next six days without any chance to dry.
The 1 day race in the morning is full of happy jumping from one muddy puddle to another, with some thrilling moments when I find myself deep in the mud up to my hips trying to get out from it with the shoes still on my feet.
After one hour and twenty-eight minutes (I wanted to run in less than one hour and a half, so I can say that has been a good race) I punch the finish control just a little bit tired and ready for a long nap. I'm thinking about going home, taking a shower, having a nice dinner and finally falling in the bed!
Holidays, relax, sleeping!
No? Am I forgetting something?
Mmmmmmm...
Let's go back in time.
No sleeping for today!
Wandering around the race arena really tired I have some haggis and a Coke.
Then off we goooooo! Towards Forres for the sprint final.
At 2.30 PM, arriving just a little bit early, I am in quarantine.
In fact I am the first one.
After some time the other pre runners finally enter the quarantine, along with the first athlets running the WOC final.
The wait is long.
More than two hours thinking about how will I run in these conditions, as I begin to feel the morning race in my legs.
Finally, the moment is here.
I get ready and I wear my SCOM (my team) top. So far I run something like 400-500 races with that top.
The first call is 12 minutes before the start. Like a real WOC runner.
They check my SiCard Air. It's a new model, a smart and quick one. It is enough to show it the map and the course, then you just follow it.
I get some extra indications from the pre runner coordinator. He tells me the last woman (Minna Kauppi) just started and I must not be too fast and reach her.
I look at him and reassure him not to be worried. I promise not to start too fast, so I would not bother the Finnish champ.
Then I go to the -4 gate which is in fact 7 minutes running from the -12 gate.
From there on I start feeling the race mood.
The first pre runner in front of me is discarded. He was called to run just a couple of hours before the race, but there are no enough maps.
So I become the first pre runner.
-1 gate and...start!
Off I go to the first control!
First of all I have to find where it on the map, then I have to get there.
The course is nice and challenging, full of direction changes and small passages that you have to spot quickly, if you don't want to lose precious time.
My legs feel surprisingly well, but the morning race tiredness is there. I can feel it especially after the first half of the race when I miss a passage and I have to stop to understand where am I. In the mean time two other pre runners has reached and passed me. I continue with less and less energy.
I get to the spectator point and...
I run through the arena FULL of people that incites me and clap.
Unfortunately I cannot fully experience it, because I am totally devastated, as I am running beyond my possibilities. I run as fast as I can and I hear also some people calling my name.
(Thanks also to Remy Steinegger for the picture below)
The last control points are really hard to run and also the third prerunner overruns me. Seems that the pre runner coordinator said only to me not to run too fast!
At one of the last control points I make a mistake due to my tiredness, but I finish my race with a decent final in the arena anyway.
My prediction to run at 5 minutes per kilometer was incorrect. I run in less!
This is the end of my WOC as a protagonist.
Great experience!
People inciting you even if they don't know who you are.
The strain that bites your muscles.
I enjoyed the course and I have to thank Tim for this experience, for his course setting and for helping me being a WOC pre runner.
What else to say?
Nice nice nice.
...and tomorrow I hope to be able to run my "normal" day 2 race and then finally get a long nap. This time for real!
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