Gold Coast Half Marathon

Well today I ran my first half marathon in Australia, so I knew it would be a PB (personal best). It was just a matter of an Australian best or an all time best.

Out of the house at 4:30am to make it to the start line at the Gold Coast for a 6:30 start. My plan was to run it as a 4:45min/km pace. This would bring me in close to a 1:45 half, by no means a pb but with all the training I did last week I didn't want to be disappointed with my results. I went out as per plan trying to make sure I stuck to my pace, if I was feeling good, I would turn it up with 10km to go. The gun went off and 6900 of my closest competitors were off. I wanted to make sure that I hit every water station and keep hydrated. The first few km's were a duck and weave approach, trying to dodge the people who have no clue how to seed themselves properly. The best part was the Japanese runner who stopped, opened her purse and took out a camera for a photo. Tourist and runner all in one. Never seen that one before.

As I came to the turn around, I was feeling good and realized I went out a little too slow. I stuck to my plan though up to this point and ran the race well, so I turned it up and ran a bit faster. With 5km to go I still had gas in the tank, time to turn it up. Feeling tired, but strong, I was picking people off one by one. With 1.5km to go I turned it up again. With the music at the finish line getting louder, I could see the finish, 500m to go turned it on again, 400m to go, faster yet, 300m, faster, 200m left "we need more power scotty!!, I'm givin ya all she's got captain!!" I turned my hat around which was flapping in the wind and went into a full out sprint. Nothing Ben Johnson would do (even without the steroids) but still impressive. I crossed the line in 1:37:39.

As I looked at my splits on my garmin, my last 10km were in just over 42 minutes, with my last km taking 3:27!! SMOKIN!!!

I was very happy with my result, but realize even though I stuck to my plan, I knew I went out too slow. Yes Janice, I didn't pull off a male 30ism I stuck to the plan.

Now as I enjoy a good glass of wine before dinner, I'm feeling good and looking forward to week 2 of program.

Cheers
Richard