Sydney Morning Herald Half Marathon 2007

I hadn’t planned on running this one hard as two days before I was supposed to be pacing my brother in-law to a 1.50 finish. With that in mind I went through a fairly big week mileage wise with just over 100kms in the legs on race day. The brother in law dns’ed with illness at the last minute, so I figured I’d run it as a long tempo run with a 95 minute finish or so.
I lined up with Sub50 and Keith from work near the front figuring it would be good to at least get a good start given the bottleneck a kilomtere into the run.
I joked with Horrie and Professor at the start, as more 90 minute runners joined them on Horrie’s bus.

Pat Carroll got us under way and the early pace was fast. Sub50 and Keith soon disappeared and Horrie and the 90-minute bus pulled away too. In fact by the time we made it into the Domain they were out of sight! I looked at my 3km split of 12:34 and figured that would do, I will back off and run my own race now not worrying about pace buses etc. It was kind of nice rolling through the Domain, pushing but not killing myself. I was steadily knocking out 4.15s, which surprised me, and wasn’t feeling overly taxed aerobically. I had no concerns I could maintain this speed with the high mileage of late, it was just a matter of the aerobic capability.
Every now and again I would notice a few of the 90-minute bus guys ahead in the distance. Horrie was still out of sight but I could see Langswm, Professor and Brick at times. Coming out of the Domain on the first lap, I passed Brick. I was feeling great and looking forward to the Hunter St downhill and the flat stretch to the Argyle Cut.
The CR cheersquad were brilliant, a great lift just when you need it at the bottom of the Argyle St climb. The legs were doing ok on the uphills a tad tired but what surprised me most was how easy the flat speed felt. I would catch runners I know are faster than me on the flats only to have them pull away on the hills. I would have imagined it would be the other way round? I passed Langswm flying down Napolean St and hit the half way mark in 44:50.
The addition of sportsdrink at the end of the first lap was welcome this year.
The run back to the Domain on the second lap was just a matter of holding the pace and keeping a little in reserve for the last 5km. I passed Prof as we wound our way around the rocks but he soon repassed me along with Tom Silk (who went on to have a great run, well done Tom) on the climb up Hunter St where I slowed a little. Once at the top however I settled back into 4.15s and caught Prof on the way into the Domain.
Heading down to Mrs Mac’s chair I could see Horrie on the other side, probably 400 metres ahead? Brick was just ahead (having overtaken me again) too looking like he was struggling a little.
I ran hard up the hill by the Art Gallery and out onto the turnaround passing Brick.
Again back on my favourite part of the course I ran steadily along Macquarie St and then bombed it down Hunter St passing a fair few runners, downhill trail running paying off I guess. At 18km-1.16:07 I realised I could go sub 90 for the first time and this gee’ed me up no end. I ran well up Argyle St to the 19km mark, 1:20:38, so sub 90 in the bag, let’s see by how much now.
I spotted Horrie in the distance and thought hmmm... is he slowing, maybe I can catch him? Once over that little rise along Kent St I thought bugger it, let’s see if these legs have any speed in them now. I flew down Napolean St knowing quite well there was a long stretch to the finish line. Not wanting to redline I eased off a tad and just stayed under anaerobic. With about 300mtres to go I figured I’d sprint in. I did so passing a number of runners; Gun time 88:59, unbelievable! It’s nice to see the efforts of recent training paying off. It was also great to see so many CRs finishing under 90 minutes.
Back to the White’s house in the rocks for some afters (thanks guys) and then off to the Palisades for a few ales, a perfect way to end the morning.
Oh and before I forget, thanks to Dave (ORunner) and Hamburglar for suggesting 90 minutes. You must have gotten into my head guys. :)

Splits:

3km-12:34
4km-16:57
5km-21:03
7km-29:41
8km-33:40
Halfway-44:50
12km-50:13
15km-63:15
16km-67:26
18km-76:07
19km-80:38
21.1km-88:59

Weekly total- 124km.