Take part in the race in a city where I haven't been before - that's what I planned for the fall. After all, we are all used to it from school that a new one starts in the fall. That's how it got on my race schedule "Chervonohrad Ten".
Why her? The first criterion is the city. It had to be new to me, and even located so that I did not have to travel far. The second criterion is distance. This time I wanted to test my strength at a distance shorter than half a marathon. Given these two points, I stopped in Chervonohrad, Lviv region, and a super-fast run through this city.
“Chervonohrad Ten”- competitions that have been held since 2017. It was then that they were first held on the occasion of the 325th anniversary of Chervonohrad, but then this holiday of running became regular. The organizers include a distance of 10 km, a charity race of 1.5 km and a short distance for children. Running races are held on the streets of Chervonohrad, a certified track. Both professional and amateur athletes can take part. And in the charity race - even those who do not want or can not run, but want to join the good cause.
Registration - according to the classics
As with most official races, you need to pre-register online for the "Chervonohrad Ten". You can do this on the website runstyle.net. At this stage, there was nothing new - you had to enter your data in the form, pay the entry fee and receive confirmation.
The final application for participation in the competition is pre-registration, payment of the entry fee, the application of the participant of the race with a personal signature and a medical certificate. Yes, it is a medical certificate. It is needed by everyone who wants to cover a distance of 10 kilometers.
Also, according to tradition, the participants of the race receive a starter pack with a participant's bracelet, an electronic chip to fix the result, and at the end - a finisher's medal. But more on that later. In the meantime, I will share my impressions from the first minutes in Chervonohrad.
This city is a very important economic and cultural center of the Lviv region. And also - one of the main and largest transport hubs of Western Ukraine. So it is not surprising that Chervonohrad railway station is a modern, interesting building from the architectural point of view, which you do not really expect to see in the district center.
Before the race - a walk around the city
The "Chervonohrad Ten" starts early compared to other races in Ukraine. Issuance of starter packs begins at 7 o'clock. So I visited the city train station for a while and went to the competition venue. While walking, I managed to look around the streets of Chervonohrad.
He noticed at once that there were many small two-, three-, and five-story houses in the city. It reminded me polish Walbrzych, which, like Chervonohrad, is a mining town. But in some respects, they are significantly different. In Walbrzych they preserve their architecture, while in Chervonohrad they destroy it. Is it worth saying in which of these cities there are balconies lined with cladding, or even completed as additional square meters? But I suggest talking about the city later, while we return to the race.
It's time to run
The place of start and finish of the "Chervonohrad Ten" - Vicheva Square in the heart of the city. It is there that the starting packages are issued, there is a warm-up before the race and the award ceremony takes place. The 10-kilometer route is one circle through almost the entire city with exclusively paved streets.
The start was scheduled for 9 am. By this time, the square seemed to be reviving, with more and more people preparing for the race. Later I read in the news that more than one and a half hundred runners took part in the "Chervonohrad Ten".
Before the start, I set a goal to overcome the whole circle in 40 minutes. Pacemakers were present at the competition (* runners who run the entire distance at a certain pace and help other participants to finish with the desired result - Ed.), so in the beginning I was holding on to who was leading this time.
But long run I didn't succeed at that pace, so after 4 kilometers I started to fall behind. At the mark of 5 kilometers, he even began to think that he overestimated his strength again. It was frustrating. But the race lasted, and I wanted to, if not run for 40 minutes, then at least improve my personal result by 10 kilometers. So I tried to play the last 3 kilometers of the distance as much as possible. And I succeeded - according to the finish result, I improved my previous achievement in this distance by a few minutes.
And at the finish line, we were already waiting for activities from the organizers. For example, a shower from local rescuers just from a fire truck, which turned out to be very appropriate. And delicious tea and kulish, which treated everyone.
A few hours to the city
The race ended, but I still had time before the train, so I decided to take another walk around Chervonohrad. And where in this case without Google? On the advice of the network, I chose the Kristinopol Palace, which until the early twentieth century was part of a huge estate with a park and castle.
At first glance, the palace looked more like another abandoned architectural monument. But later everything turned out not so bad. It turns out that there is a museum inside the building, so I went on a tour. And it was the right decision! After all, the main collection of the museum is exhibits related to the history of the city, in particular with the founders of Chervonohrad and, in fact, the Potocki Palace itself.
A successful debut
The "Chervonohrad Ten" race first of all pleased with the good organization. Successfully chosen route, which allowed you to see the city, a good route on which you can show high results, blocking the running route by the police. All this together made the holiday of running in Chervonohrad bright and driving. Even the weather was conducive to competition, so I had only positive impressions.
And the result, although not as planned, but managed to improve. And this is a small victory and motivation to run even more.
