How I became champion of Bucharest at 1500m indoor running, age category 40-45

The explanation is simple, nobody else competed in my age category at the Municipal Championship.

There are tens of thousands of runners in Bucharest and the running community is growing fast in the city. Most of the people are running because it improves health and they are not interested in competitions. Besides, people are running long distances, longer than 3km and only outdoor.

To participate in an official competition, as the Municipal Championship, you have to be registered in a running club and to pay a small registration fee, around 10 USD.

This was my first indoor competition. The course has only 180m length and for a 1500 meters race, you have to run 8 laps and another 60 meters.

On Saturday, January 11th, we gathered at the start and once we heard the pistol shot we start running. I knew I was a slow pacer and my target was to finish the race under 6:20. For this reason, I did not start fast. During the race, I had a very strange sensation, similar to the one when I was a child in a merry-go-round. I was seeing the same faces every 45 seconds as this was the time it took me to run each lap.

The surprise came when the arbiters asked all the participants to run a lap more than it should have been for 1500 meters. Probably they made a mistake in counting the number laps needed for this race. It was very strange as all of us knew that we shouldn’t have to run that last lap, yet we did it. Of course, everyone contested the result and it proved that we were right and the arbiters adjusted the results. My official time was 6:03 although I am sure I did not run faster than 6:15. As a bonus, since I was the only runner in my age category I got the “gold” medal.

The next day, on Sunday, I ran the 800 m race, which was only four laps long. This race was without special events and I finished it in 3:07, not a great performance. However, I got the “silver” medal because there was only one runner who was faster than me in my age category.

Although not planned, my teammates asked me to join them in a relay race, 4×2 laps. This was a really hard race for me as I am not prepared for running short distances at high speed. The experience was interesting but I am not sure I want to repeat it soon. Our team got the “silver” medal for the relay participation.

All my colleagues who participated in the races got “gold” or “silver” medals in their age category group. Our coach, Stefan Oprina, won his three races where he participated. Many thanks to Stefan for helping us become better runners!

One could say my first competition indoor was a success. Or, as a friend told me recently, the key to success is the lack of competition.

It was the first time I won my age category in an official competition.

We train twice a week in this running hall during winter and it is always very crowded. In my opinion, there should be more than one running hall in such a big city like Bucharest. Ideally, a running hall should have a 400 meters lap and not 180. This way more people would be able to train in winter when it’s hard to run outdoor.