First road race in 4 weeks, following 4.5km Manly scenic fun run back in May (came 2nd), prior to that hadn't raced in 10 months. Per previous post, went into Mini-Mos just wanting to put in a decent well paced effort, perhaps run up near the front, but also to enjoy it - as much as you can enjoy a bl**dy hilly course at 8am in the morning...
Happy with the effort and result, most happy with my pacing. Uphill start followed by a nice downhill with ocean views, I was sitting in 10th at 1km (roughly 3:15 I think based on someone else's Garmin beeping - I've recently decided to ditch mine for races, train religiously in the Garmin, but to quote a mate, I like a race being "catch the b*stard in front, catch the other b*stard in front. A normal watch will do fine for racing).
Caught a couple of guys on the next long uphill to 2km, and with the first 3 guys having cleared off by now, 2 to 3.5km was spent trading places in the "chase" pack of 4th-7th. Couple of young guys had me on the downhills, but I pushed the ups to get back on the pack and occasionally edge just in front, just to show em we can still run in our thirties...haha. Heading up the long final hill, which must start somewhere around 3.7km and winds and drags for probably 800m (and is a decent climb, especially at the end of a race), reeled in the young Sydney Strider in 3rd and despite some pressure, held him and the others off. Was also catching the guy in 2nd, who beat me by 9 secs, but I ran out of road :) Photo from around this point, courtesy of Abbeydigital:
Overall, a great day out and decent hitout for my first slightly bigger fun run back - even if it was just the easier 5km, rather than the full 10km...The relentless Mosman hills meant I never really relaxed, but was pleased with how I ran the ups, and finished strongly. Next race should be flatter, and I'll probably start faster.
64km for the week, pretty consistent with the last 3 or 4.
Well done Daniel. Course was re-measured this year, pretty sure it was unchanged as both 5km and 10km were already spot on. I've never run there, the hills must be a bitch!
ReplyDeleteThanks Gary. When I last ran it in 2008, I got it at 5.2km, but I cant remember if the course has changed since (I know the 10km has slightly). Some others today got it at 5.3km, so I can only hope. Doesnt matter anyway, a decent hitout in lieu of the usual Sunday long run
ReplyDeleteMaybe i'm wrong, but as you say 'doesn't matter', it was what it was.
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