SMH Half Marathon

Didn't know what to expect today? The only reason I stopped racing half marathons and focused on the 10km in recent years was due to the discrepancies in my times. I set my half marathon PB of mid-74 minutes back in 2011, but was only just scraping under 35 for the 10km. In other words, the people who I was hanging onto in the greater distance were killing me over the shorter race. I figured the way to drop my half marathon time was to reduce my 10km time. Furthermore, I absolutely hated the shorter race, as I felt that the red line between aerobic and anaerobic threshold would be crossed more often than not!

Having had the race of my life two weeks prior at the Sydney 10, I honestly had no idea what to expect. My coach Sean Williams put the task to me of a sub-72 minute half, but I just laughed it off! No way! I thought that sub-73 would be a great effort. Nevertheless, curiosity once again got the better of me, and I calculated that in order to achieve Sean's ambitious target, I would need to hold 3:24 min/km - in other words, put two 34 minute 10km runs back-to-back, then repeat for a final 1.1km. Given the undulating nature of the SMH course, I didn't like my chances. Furthermore, considering that just over two weeks ago my 10km PB was fractionally below 34 minutes, it seemed mission impossible.

Moving forward, following an accidental increase in size of pizza for dinner last night (half salmon, half zorba large pizza from Alimento at Collaroy Beach last night) I was absolutely full of energy (and felt about 10kg heavier) on the start line. The gun went off and I stuck to my race plan of holding 3:24 for 21.1. Got through the first 10km in 33:51 feeling surprisingly comfortable. Was in about 13th position at this stage, but in a pack with three others. It wasn't until about the 15km mark that the Kiwi gentleman and myself were able to clear the other two who cracked, and then we both worked together to reel in the front competitors one-by-one. It was a phenomenal feeling running past a few guys that I have never even dreamt of beating before. Within the final 2km, we were sitting 5th and 6th respectively. My GPS went mental after the tall Sydney buildings rendered the signal weak, so wasn't entirely sure what pace we were holding. Got to the 20km flag, looked at my watch which read 68 minutes (not sure of the seconds, as the good old Garmin excludes this valuable information once you surpass one hour - well, it does in the specific display settings that I had used). It honestly wasn't until this point that I really actually had to dig deep, as the thought of a sub-72 minute run flirted with my mind. My fellow Kiwi competitor sensed the same blood, and like that we both simultaneously picked up the pace, our respiratory rates now finally going into overdrive. A few nasty little hills on the way back from Mrs. Macquaire's chair were luckily not enough to put a dent into our ambitions - hitting the line with no time to spare for a super stoked 6th place outright - but more importantly a 1:11:59 half marathon time. I was in disbelief! I still am.

Star of the race however was a tie between two others - Tom Highnam, who finished an amazing forth place in a time of 1:11:13 - a new PB for him, bettering his Gold Coast time (which apparently is a much faster, straighter, and flatter course)! The man is flying, especially on the back of his 32:07 two weeks earlier at the Sydney 10. Rhett Gibson, a fellow runner from Sean Williams' squad put in an amazing run to cross in 75:02 - that's a huge effort considering he was aiming for somewhere between 76-77 minutes (which in all honesty sounded probable pre-race)! He will no doubt be around myself in the not too distant future. It would have been interesting to see what Brad Bannister would have run, given the form he is currently displaying - but unfortunately he succumbed to his niggling right-sided anterior compartment symptoms that have been dogging him over the past two weeks. An unusual injury that one, I'm not convinced that it is entirely mechanical in nature.

It's been an unbelievable two weeks of racing for me, and I owe the gratitude to two people in particular. Sean Williams firstly for all his amazing input as the worlds greatest coach! And Keith Bateman, the man who first came to me in October last year trying not to offend me by telling me that my running technique was absolutely rubbish. I am sure that the recent tweaks over the last 4 weeks have made a substantial difference. And, as mentioned to him post-race, it's the first time post-race that the only part of my body that is slightly sore are my calf muscles - which is a great sign.

These results have thrown up a number of future races that I wasn't previously considering. Not too sure if I will, but I might now look into flying down to Tasmania for the Launceston 10 in four weeks. I will have to see if any others are thinking the same from around here, and potentially make a good weekend out of it (never been to Tassie). Nevertheless, the Gold Coast 21.1 is now looking likely on the first Sunday of July, followed by the Sydney Harbour 10km seven days later (or the Sydney Harbour 9.6 as quoted by a number of the Manly runners due to the dubious GPS measurements and the massive PB's thrown up by just about every competitor crossing the line)!