
The race attracted a sell out field of 1,500 runners. All the usual suspects lined up at the front in the elites section. The weather was cool and perfect for running as we set off. The first kilometer was mainly downhill and a nice easy start but I knew that it was also the end to the race as well, so an uphill and not such an easy last kilometer finish.
Soon into the race there lots of interesting views and scenery along the way. As well as some great vistas across the city and old historic buildings, there were some interesting spectators too. It was great to see lots of support from the east side locals that we were running past on the streets, many of which were the down and outs. Smiling faces and cheers of support.
The hills were plentiful, not overly steep but were fairly long and I could see that my mile splits were slightly down on what I had hoped for, just a few seconds per mile. However, I was pushing hard and I needed to leave enough in the tank for the latter stages of the race. Maybe I could make up a few seconds when there is a flat section without any hills. However, as it turned out, there really wasn't any flat sections of more than a few hundred meters at a time.
To say that it was a brand new event, the race organizers did a great job. The course was awesome, everything ran very smoothly and a really nice shirt and medal provided too. The Eastside 10k is here to stay!