20 May 2006

The Sydney Morning Herald Half Marathon

Well, it's done. Things got interesting last night when I was getting ready. I double checked my route I have been running to get a pace time for the race and discovered that what I thought was a six mile circuit was really only five. Meaning that the past few weeks when I thought I was running twelve miles, I was really only covering ten. Meaning it's the night before the race and I'm still three miles short. And meaning instead of running 8 min/mi (or 7:30 last Sunday), I'd really topped out at about
9 min/mi. My adjusted goals were 1:55 for the race and 5:30/k. So here's the damage:
1K 5:48
2K 4:57 Good view of the Opera House from under the Harbour Bridge.
3K 5:33 I missed the marker for 4K, so 3K and 4K are averaged. Happened again at 13K/14K--same place in the course. There is a big climb at the beginning of 3K and I think that's why I missed it. Also made 3K (and 13K) the toughest in the course.
4K 5:32
5K 5:00
6K 5:18
7K 5:17
8K 5:02
9K 5:11
10K 5:14
11K 4:40
12K 5:26
13K 5:20
14K 5:20
15K 5:03 Hips start hurting.
16K 5:31 This is the farthest my training ever took me. Everything beyond here is uncharted territory.
17K 5:28
18K
5:18 Feet start hurting.
19K 5:36
20K 5:18
21K 5:06
TOTAL 1:50:57
AVE 5:17/K (8:28/mi)


All in all, I was pleased. I took another 30 seconds off my mile time under race conditions while covering an extra three miles. And I felt good when I finished.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! Good job!
Dad

Anonymous said...

That's awesome! The best time of anyone I know. So how's the full looking to you now??? :)