Sunday - Noosa Half Marathon

Half Marathon - 86:49 - PB, 59th out of 966, 1k WU, 1k WD

Well, what a fabulous weekend it was! My good fortune started on Friday night when the Broncos smashed the Doggies 30-0. Just as importantly, the Broncos win assured me of winning a 'Double up' footy tipping comp that I'm in. My two closest rivals attempted to double up their current points tally by tipping the Doggies and went back to 0 points on the ladder after the Doggies bit the dust leaving yours truly in an unassailable position to claim the $500 winner take all prize!! You beauty!

MJ and I drove up Noosa at 5:30am on Saturday morning so I could cover the Viridian Vertical race for R4YL. Had a good chat with Steve Moneghetti whilst we were waiting for the runners to finish. MJ and I then went to the Eumundi markets for a while before spending the rest of the day taking it easy at the Glen Eden Resort, Peregian Beach. My luck continued when I won $175 on the horses so I had a grin from ear to ear! MJ and I rounded out the day with a quiet meal together at the Peregian Beach SLSC.

Race day dawned fine and cool and I got to the starting line in good order, albeit with my stomach churning a little with a large bowl of porridge and a litre of Enervit. After an easy 1k warmup, I did some strides with Langy and exhanged greetings with just about everyone on the starting line - who I knew. The plan was to run at threshold pace, about 95% effort, between 4:05's and 4:08's and Jonesy would be running with me offering us the opportunity to run as a team.

The race started perfectly, with Jonesy and I keeping the brakes on as we went through the first two k a little over goal pace whilst countless overenthusiastic rabbits overtook us. Jonesy and I then quickly found a rhythm running the next 7k's between 4:03 and 4:08. We were taking it in turns to draft each other each other whereupon one of us would go to the front every kilometre or two and the other would take a sit slightly behind and usually to one side to escape the light cross winds from the Noosa River. I had expected to keep quiet and conserve my energies for the duration of the race but I was cruising along comfortably and feeling a million dollars! As such I couldn't resist keeping up a steady stream of chatter with Jonesy whilst also firing up my team mates on the other side of the road when we passed by each other. I could feel myself losing a little bit of energy at the 8-9k so took the precaution of consuming a GU that I had in my pocket shortly before we reached the halfway mark and ran strongly through the cheers of the crowd and MJ.

By now, Jonesy and I had built up an unspoken trust that the man in front could reel off the required splits and the man drafting could relax and not worry about his pace for the duration of his stint behind. I even got used to the sweat from Jonesy's long hair bouncing off his shoulders into my path!! The momentum carried us to 13k where we had a slight hiccup posting a 4:14 split(possibly a 'long' k'). Here, I had my first bad patch of an otherwise trouble free run - I felt fatigues and momentarily doubted that I could keep up with Jonesy. However, I told myself to tough it out and I would come good soon enough and 500m later, I was back to my usual self and Jonesy and I remedied the damage with 4:01 and 4:03 splits. The 17th k saw another 4:15 fadeout before we powered home steadily with 4:01, 4:02, 4:02 and 4:02. By this stage, my chatter had replaced by slightly heavier breathing and I concentrated on maintaining good form in the run to the line. Jonesy seemed to grow another leg as we went past the 20k mark and pulled nearly 10m away from me. Reminding myself of my pre race plan not too flog myself unneccesarily with a 3:30 pace finishing kick, I let Jonesy go but soon caught up as I powered strongly up the incline to the final bridge. I got my voice back and told Jonesy "Lets go through the line together, but no holding hands - not that there's anything wrong with that!" And so we stopped the clock together in 86:49, comfortably beating my old Half Marathon PB of 87:55 when I ran at goal Marathon pace in the 2004 Qld Half. I was very, very pleased with my run and will elaborate further in the coming days. Thanks for the experience Jonesy - you're a legend!

There is no rest for the wicked and two minutes after crossing the line, I was back out on the course, running towards the 1k marker with a notebook in hand and bottle of Enervit in the other so I could take the splits for the 10k race. Any excuse for a warm down run!! The rest of the morning was great as I spent time chatting with all the winners and in particular enjoyed a great five minute chat with Dual Commonwealth Marathon Gold Medallist Kerryn McCann. She was a lovely lady and great conversationist. I got all the material I needed for my R4YL article but in hindsight, I neglected my own recover a little so will have to be more selfish in future.

Finished off a great weekend with a shift at work and then arrived home utterly exhausted. The last thing I wanted to do was a 15 minutes recovery in the freezing cold pool, a self massage of both my plantar fasciitis and pull on my long Skins - but I did all bloody three of them!!!

Race Splits

1-5k 6-10k 11-15k 16-20k Final
4.11 - 4.07 - 4.05 - 4.03 - 4.02
4.10 - 4.08 - 4.06 - 4.15 - 0.24
4.07 - 4.08 - 4.07 - 4.01 - 86.49
4.07 - 4.08 - 4.14 - 4.02
4.03 - 4.03 - 4.01 - 4.02
20.39- 41.25 -62.02 - 82.27


Km's this week - 53
Km's this month - 164
Km's this year - 1028
Consecutive alcohol free days - 84