Sydney Half Marathon

Woke early at 4am to make sure I was fully physically ready, body wise for the race. A long roundabout cab ride at 5:15am due to living on the course route lead to me getting to the start at 5:45am. Spoke to Ellie80, O Runner, Leftie, sfGnome and Team Dog before the start.
Joined the toilet line which took 30 mins leading me to make a very hasty sprint for the clothing truck and then the start line. A bit of a jam trying to get onto the road, eventually followed Leftie to get a good start position, about 10 rows back.
Justified my start position by basically being overtaken by only a handful of runners during the race. Good self seeding is what some race experience does for you.

I was off and running basically 10 seconds after the gun and was into clear space by the turn onto the bridge. Settled into a rythym pretty much straight away and just cruised the race trying to stay as relaxed as possible. I can't remember all my splits but here are a few: 1k-4:15, 2k-8:17, 5k-20:30, 12k-49:00, 13k-52:50. Forgot the rest.
I felt good most of the race but had a struggle coming up to the Glebe Island bridge and into Pyrmont when I felt like crap. Managed to pull myself together as I knew we had the long flat section after that through the Rocks.
Observatory Hill starting from Hickson Rd and the Arygle Cut steep bit nearly killed me. Almost walked at one stage but decided against it. I was given a lift again across the Cahill by the cheersquad to manage a downhill sprint finish in 86:49. 5 seconds off the PB from the flat Lake Macquarie. So I know I will run faster when I get a flat course again.

Great to see all the Cool Runners and Striders out in force in all the events on the day.
The Cheer Squad by the time I left at the Marathon 4hr stage wouldn't have been about 50 people. Awesome.

Some great marathon runs by Glenn Guzzo getting 3rd overall and 1st Aussie, Uncle Dave 5th,
26 Miles going sub 3hr and Blue Dog belting out a 3:09 after some 100 miler 2 weeks ago.

Thanks for everyones support on the course. The guys that I was running near for most of the race were amazed at how many people yelled out to me, including a mate from my Surf Club at that coffee shop in Prymont before you cross Darling Harbour.

I am still amazed at the pack mentality of runners who play follow the leader. I followed the racing blue line all the way and when it wasn't I ran gutter to gutter. Saved heaps of leg work.
Took a photo of the male winner and Jenny Wickham the lead female Strider(5th I think).