Sutherland to Surf

Up at the alarm at 6 for the customary strong cup of coffee and two bits of toast with honey. Pottered around home until a bit after 7, and cruised over to Miranda. I formulated a bit of a plan during the week to park there, jog the 4k from there to the start as a warm up, do the race, and then jog the 7k back to the car as a cool down.

Parked near the soccer grounds at Seymour Shaw Park and jogged 4.14km in 19:39 to the start. Legs felt pretty good during the warm up, and I had a great time joking around with the police,volunteers, fellow spectators and entrants ("you're going the wrong way", drinks offered from water stations, etc, thanking the police for clearing the road for my warm up, etc) and by the time I turned up at the start I had a bit of a grin on the dial. I turned up right as the walkers were starting, and was slightly intimidated to see a fall in the wheelchair brigade at the start of the walkers' event! Jeez, if they were that serious in the walk, how was the race start going to be?!?

Caught up with most of the usual suspects at the start, although we were probably a touch further back than I would have liked.

I wasn't nervous at the start. I only had a vague notion of what time to expect, and thought sub 41 might be respectable, with sub 40:30 a nice number. Alja (a guy who ran a 2:18 marathon in the mid '80s) at SW's squad said sub 40 should be possible, not to be too scared of the splits through 4km, and be wary of the hills at 7.5k and in the last kilometre or so. Decided to keep it simple - concentrate on good rhythm and form through the opening downhills, don't do anything stupid up the hills, and only push into breathlessness in the last kilometre.

The start was pretty ordinary, with a wall of people shuffling away, and I had to resort to ducking and weaving, eventally making my way over to the footpath to make headway through the slow starting field. After about the first km, which I think I got through in around 3:40, the runners had broken up enough to see who was up ahead. I could make out Action and Andrew G, with Springer just ahead of them, and decided to set after them. Picked up Blue Dog at around 2k, and we were under 3:30 per km pace here, and made comment I was a little surprised to see him up here. Had a little duel with Aimhigh, seeing him off at around 4k or so, and had a good little duel with another Strider, Richard Green which toed me through to get Luke Skyrunner just out of Caringbah.

I finally got Action coming through the shops at Cronulla about 10k, and picked up Andrew T coming out of Elouera Rd, trying to drag him along to help me run down Springer. I really started to push here, and thought I was a really good chance to get him.

Not to be though. WHO put those last two hills there? The first one was bad enough, but the second hidden one was a shocker. I hit the downhill right hander completely anaerobic, and with the finish so close I simply had to put the hammer down and go to the finish, lest Andrew T or Action come by. Paid off though, sneaking in under 39 minutes for a 38:58. Garmin read 11.02km - the course seems to be pretty accurately marked, with the kilometre markers close to the Garmin's readings, and consistent.

Map drawn via Sport Tracks and Google Earth

Rapt with the time, and felt I put in a good consistent effort through the whole run, with smart efforts on the uphills. For the first 3k I didn't think I was making ground on Action, Andrew T and Luke Skyrunner, but coming off the first uphill I made quite good inroads which lifted the spirits. This bodes well for the City to Surf in three weeks time - a good 'baffle' clearer, if you will

Jogged the 7.12km to Miranda with O Runner at a conversational pace, knocking the cool down over in 36:45, making for a good morning.

102km for the week, and 343km for the month to date. Some pretty good quality in there as well with two good speed sessions and a strong race. Things are going along nicely at the moment - I should definitely slide under 52 mins at C2S, and the hammie and hip were none-issues today.