Edit

On Thursday it was finally time to go to Saransk. Stephan and I left home at 4:30am. We arrived in Moscow at 2pm local time and took the train from Moscow to Saransk at 9.35pm. We arrived in Saransk with most of the international walkers Friday morning. Our travel to Saransk took more than 24 hours!

The Friday I used for relaxing and training.

Saturday morning I got up at 6am, dressed and went out for an easy warm up. It was only 4 degrees outside - freezy!!! It didn't warm up much until the race at 10am.

My only interest in Saransk was to win the Challenge final, and for me that meant to finish as the FIRST race walker QUALIFIED for the Final. I did not care much about what the Russian girls would do in the race because they were not part of the International Challenge Final. They had their Russian Grand Prix final in the same race we had our IAAF Challenge final.

Before the race I was very nervous. The dq in Berlin made me very unsure, but I believed in my self and hoped that I would be able to walk 10k with a good technique. For me it was important to end my career in a good way. That meant to walk well and fast enough to win the Challenge.

As always Stephan set my tactic:
Walk fast the first 5km, secure a nice lead and control it until the end!
That was exactly what I did. I walked my own race the whole way. Started the first lap in 4.12, at 2km two Russian girls had joined me and when they pushed the pace I let them walk. I continued in a nice pace and passed 5km in 21:02, 100m ahead of Elisa Rigaudo/ITA and Olive Laughnane/IRL.
Then I did as Stephan planned. Held focus on my technique, kept a good pace and secured my win in my last major race. I was enjoying the last 500m! It was a happy and very delighted athlete crossing the finish line.

Sorry, I have to go to my plane home from Copenhagen. There is more to come :-)

 

2009-09-20