Melsbroek driekastelen 12km - 0h51:35

For my second race in the 2009 Watermolen Cup I went to Melsbroek, which is a rather anonymous village sitting next to the Zaventem ("Brussels") international airport. Given its location, I suspected that the race organised here by the Vilvoorde Athletic Club wouldn't have too many hills and undulations. My intuition was correct, and in fact the route, which goes twice round a 6 km loop, is very nearly flat.

In spite of the name of the event, which refers to three castles, I only managed to see one. As is apparently customary in Belgium, a good proportion of the race runs through wooded areas, generally away from motor traffic. The paths were quite acceptable, with pleasant surroundings consisting of woods, large fields covered by yellow flowers, a lake and the aforementioned castle, all in next-to-perfect spring weather.

The flat profile made for a pretty fast pace. This being my first time here, I did not know the route, so it was only at the sixth kilometre that I found out that we were to do a double loop. It was quite disheartening to learn that participants in the single-loop short race had completed their effort, while those of us who were doing the main event had to run the same loop, at the same fast pace, all over again. Given that the field had thinned out, I probably ran the second loop faster, but by the final 2 km I couldn't keep up the pace, and was in fact overtaken by three rivals.

Those last two km, when my strength nearly ran out, were somewhat disappointing. It's possible, in fact it's a certainty, that I need to beef up my endurance. But a look at my watch as I crossed the finishing line provided a second valid explanation for my exhaustion. I had run very fast (by my standard), more than one minute better than the anticipated 53 minutes, and at less than 7 minutes per mile, which is a pace that I haven't achieved since a long time. Conclusion: excellent race! :-)