Half Marathon Club Champs

WEEK - 21.1K
MONTH - 73.1K
YTD - 290.1K

My inability to make a decision about my race plan was still in my mind. A few people have sugested to go for my dream goal of Sub 90 as they feel that my 95 min target is a bit tame. They know alot more about these distances than me so whose to argue :)

I arrived at about 5.40 this morning with my wife who came along for support. This was wonderful as she had to work a few hours after the race and is also now 7 1/2 months pregant. I dont know how she puts up me stressing about races and my dilemma's about what pace I should run etc, she doesn't doubt my ability to achieve my goals which is great because I always do.

Anyway I registered and went for a slow km or so warm up and after a couple of stretches it was time to begin. The race began with the shout of GO! followed by the gun 100m later. The track was the normal 5k loops however a smaller 1.1k loop was completed beforehand. I was feeling great and the weather was helping matters alot. The sun was behind cloud and remained there for 3/4 of the race.

What I have noticed over many years of running in club races is that I must run a weird pace, I never seem to be able to run with people, there are always people ahead or behind me and im always stuck in the middle. That or I smell, Do I? :) well if that is the case then I pity those who run behind me.

I dont bother wearing the Garmin for these races as each km is marked, this keeps me occupied working out splits in my head as my watch doesn't show the lap splits. This makes it hard however to remember what went on throughout a longer race. I have a memory like a goldfish.

Back to the race, after the 1.1k loop followed by the first of four 5k loops I crossed the start/finish line in 25.12, so well under the 90 min pace and feeling awesome. I continued on with this pace and ended up catching a bloke named Don. He was also out in no mans land so we introduced each other and ran together for about 10k. At the 4k mark of the second lap (10.1k) I was just under 42 mins and thought jeez this is looking good, I was still feeling comfortable and not really pushing it at all. The third lap was much the same however about 1k into this lap I said to Don that I was going to ease up a little, I didn't need to at the time but I knew that I will hit the wall some time in the future. He convinced me to keep going and at the 13.1k mark we crossed at 55.12 which was still 28 secs in front of 90 min pace. I however didn't know this at the time, my math is not so good after 13k of running.

Not much to report for the remainder of the 3rd lap and crossed the start finish line in 68 mins flat, This amazed the hell out of me, a month ago for the 10 mile champs I finished in a time of 73.05 so this was 5.05 min faster than that with still 5k to run.

It wasn't rocket science to work out that I had to run under 22 mins to run under 90 mins and by the first drink station I had talked myself out of it, I thought 91-93 mins is still good, dont kill yourself it will still be your quickest 1/2 by a long shot...... I hate that Guy.

This last lap was a killer, the first km was slow and the quads started to pack it in. My breathing was still fine but I was running out of legs fast. The pace slowed alot or what felt like alot and the sun was now out which didn't help my cause at all. By the 19.1k mark, I was wrecked I have no idea what time I went through that point in. I was starting to feel horrible and I actually started getting goose bumps, I was cold... What tha! which was a wierd experience. I began running with my hands on my hips, I had definetely hit the wall and with 1500m to go I tried to increase the pace, and for a while I began running well again. This part of the course is nice, alot of shade which probably helped alot. The 4k marker for the last lap came up, 1k to go, there was no fuel left in my body, it felt as though it was now consuming itself to get the required energy for what I was asking it to deliver. Looking back now the last 3k where I felt bad and felt that the pace had really slowed, probably wasn't as bad as it seemed. The fact that no-one passed me and that with 1k to go I had 4.25 to get spot on 90 mins really backs this up, the mind was playing games, not suprising considering the delirious state I was in :)

This last km was hard, you can't actually see the finish line until about 150m to go, I reached the start of the footpath and the watch said I still had 2 minutes to get there, my mind was telling me no chance, however the body took over I was grimacing and dug deep, hurting bad I saw the finish line. I then looked at the watch and thought there is a chance. I let rip, sprinting for the line not looking at the road just my watch thinking im going to do it, I increased the pace for the last 50m my eyes now focused on the electronic timer, 20m to go 5secs to do it in, I crossed the line exhausted in a time of 1.29.58 (89.58) a massive PB of over 7 minutes and my dream goal of Sub 90. I knew I did it but I checked after the presentations if it was 58 or59 secs and it was 58 secs. Two PB's in a week, I cant believe that, hard to top this one.

To top things off I came away with a shiny silver medal, stepping up from the bronze a month earlier.

Congratulations also to Clairie who had an amazing morning placing in the overall female standings and first in her age group. Oh yeah a massive PB to boot :) Tesso had an awesome run also claiming a gold medal for her age. By the way cheers for the encouragement it certainly helps and very appreciated.

Thanks again to my wife Cassy, it is always great to have you there.

It was a shame that we had to get depart early, Cas had to work so we left not long after the presentations, it would have been nice to remain in the city and celebrate the morning with a massive greasy breakfast. Maybe next time


Peace Out!