First preferred start for me in a major race. Loved having to not line up before the start, although when I arrived to drop the bag off at 6am there were not too many people there. Funny considering the 13,000 entrants.
The start was a chilly 8 degrees and in the shade and wind it felt colder. Had a good start and was running almost straight off the gun. Had clear space just after getting into Macquarie St so was happy to keep the pace going. I don't like the Cahill Expressway to run across as there is no crowd and it just seems like a raised LA freeway. No soul.
My pace was ok and I went through the 5k in 19:10 which was about the same as last year. After that I began to lose focus and was not impressed by the hill up to one turnaround in Pyrmont. Surely there is a better spot? As the 10k approached I was met by Sub50 and Hamburglar who after both running 37's at Striders last week I thought would be ahead of me. 10k was passed in 39:14 but I wasn't running well as I couldn't get any faster than 4 min k pace.
Arrived at the 13k mark on Hickson Rd still with a 50 sec buffer under 4 min k pace-51:10. After that I completely lost form as I headed up HAKA hill(Hickson to Kent) and from there up to the corkscrew. Reaching the 15k in 59:52 I had lost the buffer and the downhill of the corkscrew with a nasty uphill at the end didn't help.
Tried to force my pace along the Cahill and was doing 2:28 ks with the screwed up Garmin at one stage. It didn't like the tunnel obviously. Up Macquarie St was a struggle and I only started to feel better after I did a few Hail Marys past the Cathedral. Downhill to the chair I tried to claw some time back but it didn't work. Made the 20k in 1:20:36 and missed a free lap dance as well. Bugger!
Struggled to the finish seeing what look liked my one year of SMH preferred passing as the clock ticked into the high 84's. Finished eventually on 85:02 off the gun and have thankfully been given 85:00 as my net so should keep the preferred start for another year. I think they use 85:59 as the cutoff so I should be ok.
Course was very tight in parts with the crowd. Especially around near Star City and then across the flyover which was really narrow. Thanks for everyone reading.
The start was a chilly 8 degrees and in the shade and wind it felt colder. Had a good start and was running almost straight off the gun. Had clear space just after getting into Macquarie St so was happy to keep the pace going. I don't like the Cahill Expressway to run across as there is no crowd and it just seems like a raised LA freeway. No soul.
My pace was ok and I went through the 5k in 19:10 which was about the same as last year. After that I began to lose focus and was not impressed by the hill up to one turnaround in Pyrmont. Surely there is a better spot? As the 10k approached I was met by Sub50 and Hamburglar who after both running 37's at Striders last week I thought would be ahead of me. 10k was passed in 39:14 but I wasn't running well as I couldn't get any faster than 4 min k pace.
Arrived at the 13k mark on Hickson Rd still with a 50 sec buffer under 4 min k pace-51:10. After that I completely lost form as I headed up HAKA hill(Hickson to Kent) and from there up to the corkscrew. Reaching the 15k in 59:52 I had lost the buffer and the downhill of the corkscrew with a nasty uphill at the end didn't help.
Tried to force my pace along the Cahill and was doing 2:28 ks with the screwed up Garmin at one stage. It didn't like the tunnel obviously. Up Macquarie St was a struggle and I only started to feel better after I did a few Hail Marys past the Cathedral. Downhill to the chair I tried to claw some time back but it didn't work. Made the 20k in 1:20:36 and missed a free lap dance as well. Bugger!
Struggled to the finish seeing what look liked my one year of SMH preferred passing as the clock ticked into the high 84's. Finished eventually on 85:02 off the gun and have thankfully been given 85:00 as my net so should keep the preferred start for another year. I think they use 85:59 as the cutoff so I should be ok.
Course was very tight in parts with the crowd. Especially around near Star City and then across the flyover which was really narrow. Thanks for everyone reading.
2 comments:
Congrats on retaining the preferred start for 2012. Might make an SMH comeback for that one (if they limit the field to 10,000!) - the fat part of the field would have been cosy. You look to be running on a clear piece of road.
Nice report and really a solid run. You should be pleased as you sound disappointed.
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