running races

it was only this year that i started joining races. started with the adidas king of the road 21k, then the run against pain 8k, VSO run against pain 15k then just this weekend i joined the run for life 10k. obviously running by yourself and running with a group are two very different things. you find out a lot about your running while running with others. the adrenaline you feel when the starting gun goes off is something else. when that gun fires, and you hear the steps of runners ahead of you, it gets your blood pumping.
i remember my first race at the adidas king of the road, the starting ceremonies gave me such a rush, i got excited and ended up running faster than my usual pace, mid race i was so gassed up i barely finished the race and boy was i tired. at my second race, i paced myself better but i wasn't happy with my performance. i finished the race feeling as if i had just warmed up. i guess these are all part of learning how to run races. my most recent race was a lot better. i ran at a pace of 6-7 min/km during the 1st 3 kilometers and a pace of 4-5 min/km the rest of the race. something that i noticed at this last race was that there were pacers; runners that ran at a constant pace of 6 and 7 min/km. this could really help a lot of runners. i just wonder, do they get paid for this?
the thing with races is that you could gauge yourself with other runners at a competitive level. i find it to be useless if all you do is run at a constant pace, running the same distance all the time. there has to be room for improvement and you have to be constantly pushing yourself.
i just hope that there will be more races that are more than 10k in distance. give us more 26-21-42 kms. hehe.