Woke at the ungodly hour of 5am to catch a cab in with Sam, Dickyboy and Ben. It was blinking freezin'. And dark. Wondered what the he'll I was doing. A few stretches at work and a very short jog before being called to the start line very early. Stood around having a chat with Tucks, Steve Jackson and Keith. Everyone seemed to be there -particularly from th HuRT Squad. This really is a runner's race.
Gun went and got myself a clear path through and immediately felt pretty good. No idea about km splits as I'd decided to run without a watch again. Soon found myself in a group with Tucks, Jonathan Bleasel, Quentin, Quentin's friend from the USA and another chap who I think was called Geoff judging by the shouts from the side of the road. Speaking of which, that was the best thing about this race. Lots of loops back where you passed runners from behind going the other direction and got loads of shouts which was always a lift.
Went through 5km in 16:43 with Keith a good 30s in front and Tongey about 10s in front, having gone off fast once again. Our group was just sticking together though working really well - pretty rare in shorter races. Nikki Chapple, the first girl, was just in front and remained there from 5km to 15km, working by herself rather than in the group of 7 which couldnt have helped her. At 10km (34:03) we caught Tongey who I thought might immediately drop off but he raised the pace to stay with us. Had dark thoughts coming back along Hickson Road but worked the hill up to Kent Street well (i seemed to run the hills well today) to regain touch. We caught Nikki coming into Art Gallery road and I hit the front of our group with a rash surge of confidence only to have Tucks come past soon after. Still kept touch with him coming around Mrs Macs chair where we caught Keith (who suddenly stepped aside? - i'll claim the win in any case). However, Quentin and Tongey then came past at the ABC Pool going strong and gapped me. Legs were tiring rapidly and just held on from there holding off Jonathan and pipping Quentin's mate in the run in.
Chuffed to bits with the time. I was hoping for a sub74 so to run my second fastest on a tough course (and I'm still dubious of the accuracy of the Blackmores Half when i set my pb) was great. Bit disappointed not to challenge Tucks and Tongey in the run in. How come I manage to finish 5 seconds behind Tucks whatever the race distance? Plainly a psychological issue there.
Great to catch up with everyone after. Amazing run by the Chairman to run 70:45, the bloke's a machine. JF suffered over the distance to run just over 76. Same with Bartles who started strongly. Enda came good for a mid 76. Clyde ran mid 74 off little training. Even Kanser and Durante were out for a run. Other good runs out there. General consensus seemed to be that it was a tough but fair course. Even achilles OK so happy days.
8 comments:
Absolutely stellar run Tom! Your 100+K weeks for many months now have definitely helped, especially at the longer distances. This should be a huge confidence booster for Gold Coast.
Today I learned that 60K/week mileage is not enough (at least for a bum like me) to improve on a 75min PB! Felt solid and on track for PB until 15K, when the legs absolutely positively died and I lost 15-20sec per K until the finish. Need to either increase mileage, or stay consistent and only focus on 10K.
Congrats again! JF
Great run Tom. You looked strong today. I came in just behind Enda and in front of Pete Walker.77ish which is pb on a smh course.
A fine , fine performance Tom congrats, all that mileage has been worth it!
Great Run Mate !
Really miss running with you guys,
Big wave from Switzerland
Top effort mate. In my mind that is in the top two performances I have seen you do (5k in the heat at Homebush a few years back was awesome also as I think you would have gone sub 15 if it wasn't 34deg and windy). Anyway, I reckon you would go sub 70 on a fast course. That course is slow at best and pedestrian at worst.
Great run. BTW, I see Timmy Lindop listed with you in the results. Didn't see him but he must have been on fire also!
Cheers Guys. Serg, good to hear from you mate. Heard a rumour that Muz is returning to Oz before the year is out. Any chance you can rejoin him?
Clyde, that wasn't Timmy just behind me, it was Quentin's mate from the US who Timmy gave his bib to. Apparently he's a 4:02 miler, certainly looked very comfortable plodding around with us. Rumour has it Timmy was only prepared to hand ver his bib to a quality athlete who would get him a preferred start next year. Poor old Kanser was denied.
Great run Tom! I loved being able to see you guys on the turnaround, I was impressed with how close your group and Clyde's were to the leaders at that stage.
Good run Tom. Tucks is useful to be behind as he makes a good windbreak on a windy day. Hope the Striders don't pickup Tims new PB as he will never break it again. Kanser said he was pacing a couple of mates under 90 and he ran 88 with them in tow.
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