Back in business

79:16

Faaaarrrrk.

Got into town very early (5:30) and got a really good park. I'm not sharing where. It was a bit of a punt, technically the car probably wasn't fully in the space, but it was either that or metered space.

Went for a walk and had a solid stretch in the park next to the Palisades Hotel. Pottered back to the car around 6 to get my back, and overheard a quite entertaining argument between two guys about a parking ticket and the definition of parking "all night". I'm sure the nearby residents were loving it. There was something about dogs mating.

Over to the Strider safe house in The Rocks, and I was first there. Again. Oh well. Others started to roll in pretty well right after me. After a bit of chatting, caught up with Mohammed, and we did a bit of a warm up, probably 10 or 15 minutes, before pushing our way to the front of the line just before 7. Well, really, there weren't many people waiting, they were busy checking in bags and going to toilet. Started to collect a bit of a CR crowd around us.

I got progressively more nervous as the start time approached and frankly it was a relief when the gun suddenly went off. Worked my way down Hickson Road, just focussing on getting a comfortable rhythm going and not running into anyone. Field was pretty well behaved - don't recall any major dodges.

Missed each of the km markers up to the 5km mark, but was basically running with Jenny Truscott and sitting just off a group that included Peter Truscott, Action, Andrew T and Springer. Tried to maintain a 'constant effort' philosophy where I felt like I wasn't offering resistance to the uphills, but making sure I made solid work of the downhills.

Hit 5km at 18:48, which was a bit of a surprise - it certainly hadn't felt like that, and the 19:20 plan had pretty well gone out the window. Had a quick think about it, and remembered back to 2004 where I'd made a horrible mess of the opening 5km and gone through far too hard. Nope, didn't feel at all distressed. In fact, I felt like a million bucks. Plan of action - maintain current speed.

I'm a little vague on the next 5km. I recall the Domain section seeming a lot shorter than previous years, and being a bit disappointed that the road from the Art Gallery to the cathedral was in fact slightly uphill. Plenty of CR and Strider support out there, too. The Argyle Cut went pretty well, I didn't push hard up there, and I picked up Easy Tiger just as the Kent Street descent steepens to Napoleon Street. We made a quick inquiry of each other's progress, and I continued on. Through 10 (I assume that was the distance of the big clock on the right) in 37:48 (from memory - it might have been 37:40). Jenny had pushed ahead to Action's group, from which Peter started to drop, and I picked him up at the first bridge over Hickson Road. We had a brief exchange about his brother thinking that just because he'd won the Brisbane Half Marathon it was okay to go to the Barossa Valley with his wife instead of run the SMH Half.

Mentall the race started to change here. I was feeling very good, so the focus shifted from keeping an eye on 5km splits to people who were in front. Jenny, Action and Andrew T were attractive lure, and I jokingly 'shhhhed' CRs and Striders who were cheering in case Action realised I was there (I later found out he was having the same problem with Cam). I picked up their group at the start of Pitt Street, and Action, Andrew T and myself had a good stoush through to the drink station at Mrs Macquarie's Chair. At 15k I realised I was in a very good position to go sub 80, and was trying to fire myself up - should never be afraid of the self-motivating shout, even if others think you're strange(r).

I knew Action was getting a drink at Mrs Macquarie's Chair, and I wasn't, so I continued on my way. Up ahead were Tux and Cam. Got out of the Domain in reasonable shape, but was greatful for the short downhill along College Street to the turnaround, before the quick uphill back to Macquarie Street. I was just focussed on getting to Macquarie Street here, and settling things down before the second last big push for the event, down Hunter Street to Circular Quay.

Eased past Cam along Hunter, and tried to fire myself up. Argyle wasn't too bad the second time, and the short downhill afterwards to the left turn at Kent Street was another opportunity to again get settled for the final push home. And push we did.

I couldn't stay with Tux but was more than happy with my own run home, which did seem to go on forever - it's bordering on cruel to have it right up near the Harbour. It was sweet relief to cross the line and get the job done, but I knew from hitting Hickson Road off Napoleon Street the sub 80 was a done deal, the only question was by how much. 44 seconds was how much - 79:16. Preferred for '07, something that seemed well out of reach a couple of weeks ago.

Great to catch up with everyone afterwards, both at the Strider safe house and at the Palisade, where there was a good crowd. I gave it away a bit before 12, and headed home, very pleased with a job well done. Icing on the cake - no parking ticket.

So, the Gold Coast campaign is back on track. I need to realign my shorter goals (McMillans is not kind on that front!) but there's plenty of time for that in the second half of the year. They're not priorities. It's nice to get the reward for the hard work - I can deal with the well documented 10k struggles of recent times. My preferred at City 2 Surf is definitely safe now, so while I was probably going to get a second chance anyway, that's one less worry.

For the record, splits were 37:48 through 10k (3:47 pace), 41:28 for the back 11.1 (3:44 pace), for 79:16 and 3:45 pace overall.

And, as it was my fifth SMH Half (it was my first ever race back in 2002), let's look at the times over the years:
- 2002 1:54:52
- 2003 1:39:47 (-15:05)
- 2004 1:29:16 (-10:31)
- 2005 1:23:27 (-5:49)
- 2006 1:19:16 (-4:11)

...and people wonder why I love this event.