Where was Ireland? Looks like the English thoroughly put them to the sword this morning. The Churchill/Sands trophy will stand proudly for a year alongside the huge monolith that is the City Mile Dash trophy.
Drove Ben, Dicky, Big Sam and Charlie Girl in this morning after waking at the ungodly hour of 4.45am for the 2nd time in 3 days. A few run throughs then stood on the start line with loads of familiar faces around It's what I love about this race, tends to bring out all the good runners ready to give it a go.
Felt great at the start heading the second group as the group of about 15 leaders quickly gapped us. Ran through 2km in 6:29 with alongside Bleasel, Geoff Arnold and JB with CT about 20m in front. Bleasel then puts in a burst which I wasn't willing to go with so continued on with JB and another tall chap until Pyrmont. As we went over the flyover I worked the hill and felt as though I was making good ground. Then all though Pyrmont from 7km until squashed car roundabout at 14km I felt fantastic - relished all the crowd support and it just felt easy. Caught Bleasel and CT and tried to push on but without gapping them. Went through 10km in 33:37 thinking a sub72 was in the bag. Then from nowhere at 14km Tongey and Nick Bellemore overtake me and I try to stick with them going up the big hill all the way to the corkscrew. This hurt quite a bit but meant I'd gapped Bleasel and CT. Held on to Tongey and Nick until Macquarie St by which time we'd caught a tiring Vlad but my legs just failed me going up Macquarie St. I was then by myself just holding on. Felt OK going downhill to Mrs Macs Chair but it was a question of just putting my head down and working to get back up.
Rounded the final corner but with no sprint to get under last year's time. Ended up with exactly the same time.
Pretty pleased with the run. Would have been nice to hold on to Tongey and Nick but they were just too strong. Still plenty of time until GCM to work on that and taper properly.
JB finished in 73:38, Fats another minute behind but still in front of Ireland's first counter with Macca running 74:38. Nice PB for him but sure there's still more to come. Bartles beat them both with a high 73 just behind JB. J-Fen was next looking slightly disappointed with a low 75. Kanser's shoes didn't agree with his Central Governor and got him a low 76. Best of all was Timmy pipping Enda by 4 seconds despite Enda bludging off him the whole way. Dicky rounded out the Poms with a low 79 beating the final Irishman (Eoin) by a few seconds. Big Sam surprised me in particular by showing up despite being sick all week (I was about to drive off this morning before Ben spotted him jogging down Griffiths St!) and pulled himself around just over 80mins. He reckons the Tiger was just in front so looks like I'll be taking another $50 off poor Gary.
May even make some beers this arvo if the Sheaf lets 18month yr olds in. Just to see Enda and POD. Wonder if they'll buy my kids their drinks too?
3 comments:
Well done Tom, great run from you. I had my worst run in living memory and Timmy only managed to pip me so good luck to him... By the way I think we decided this week the bet would be first 5 runners home which means Team Ireland take victory...!
Nice run Tom, worth a low 70min in my books, that has you set for 2.29-2.31 at GC Marathon by my calcs
Good run Tom. Sounds like you should get sick before races more often.
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