I thought it was in the bag. 1:45 headstart for Timmy, had been feeling good, finally record a good time and I turn around after finishing to see Timmy crossing the line within 10 seconds of his PB! Hats off to the fella, things are obviously a bit tough at home to put so much effort into getting $20 off me. Tucks did question whether he'd hidden behind a tree and avoided the final loop of the horse track but I've got more faith in him - Timmy's an honest grafter. So he gets the cash by running 1:42 behind. Amazing how close we manage to make it though. Last time it was an 80 second start and he finished 80 seconds behind. I put it down to two consistent performers who know how to get the best out of themselves. Others may put it down to two old buggers who are scared to get out of their comfort zone.
I was chuffed with my race. Told myself beforehand that I wanted to push hard for 5km then hold on. Even ditched the watch as well as i just wanted to race it and not worry about times. Plan was to stick to Tongey who always seems to go out hard. That plan went out the window after 50m when Tongey didn't go out hard, so stuck to Tucks (as ever) instead. He was generally in front other than for short periods when the pace dropped a bit and I'd take a turn. Went through 5km in 16:30 and realized going round the car park that we were in front of the Horne which was a bonus. Tucks was pushing on between 5-7km and I was just hanging on but the hill killed me and I had a shocker km between 7 and 8km where Tucks gained about 10 seconds and sure enough I hear the quickfootstpes of the Horne approaching. I tried to hold on to him when he went past just after 8km to let him drag me around which worked to a certain extent but then I hear Tongey approaching too. Desperately tried to lift the pace past 9km to avoid a sprint finish with Tongey but to no avail. Started sprinting over the bridge and start catching the Horne at the same time. Too short though. Finish in 33:29, a NEW COURSE PB! Haven't said that for a while so very chuffed.
Did a warmdown with Tucks and Wildman, who turned up to collect his $50 from Timmy (he had to get under 34 mins) and ended up giving Dave Criniti a run for himself money finishing second in 32:15. You could sense he was disappointed not to get the win. That's the difference between champions and us also rans.
Beautiful day - cool, sunny and no wind.
5 comments:
Great work Tom. good solid run by you and it took a course PB and a 4 year best run from me to take the money, and even then it was only by 3 seconds ?
Better make the next bet 2 minutes to be on the safe side????
Tell your brother never under estimate the 'young Stoke Boy' :).
Cheers
Nice run Tommy.
I'm glad that the 'loss' to Timmy didn't take away from your terrific performance!
Saw you listed as "Unknown" in the results ! you'd have thought after all these years!!
Cheers
Great run Tom. Was it the course where you start each lap running around the car park? Why didn't it double up as the State 10km?
Hey Matt, yep it's the old course going around the car park. The State 10km is next month on the much quicker route starting and finishing on the main road next to the Olympic Stadium. Hoping for a quick one there.
Decent run Tom but the fact that you slowed in the last few kms and let a few people run over the top of you is concerning. For 10k this is easy to rectify but for the marathon it's far moe challenging......whatever you do, don't let dark thoughts creep into your head about slowing down in the latter half of a race
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