I was really on the fence about the pace I wanted to run. The race was supposed to have a 1:30 pacer and I had considered lining up behind that group and seeing how things went, but the coach (bcagle25) thought I should start a little more conservative based on recent training runs + the impact some of the hills may take for later on.

Lining up behind the pacer turned out to be a moot point as he seemed to have slept in and never showed up for the race. So when the horn went I just set off at a comfortable pace and tried to stay with others to keep myself out of the wind as much as possible over the first 5km. I wore a throwaway sweater through the first couple of km to stay warm and then was able to ditch it at the first water station. The first 5km ticked off pretty quickly and for the most part I stayed with others but found myself alone a couple of times and picked up the pace to bridge up to other runners.

The group around me consisted of most of the same runners for the first 10km and we were ticking off a good pace. The only real hill on the course is right around 10km and that pushed the effort level up for a little bit, but I recovered quickly.

Around the 12km mark Ben's coaching email started to come true as my left quad was starting to twinge a little bit. I brushed it off as much as possible and focused on maintaining the pace. As we went through the turnoff between the half and full course the field thinned out a little bit, and I remain impressed with those who were running this pace but heading off for double the distance.

Runners really thinned out a bit more over the next couple of km and I passed some runners who were obviously starting to fade a little. I was starting to suffer and when we turned dead into the wind for a short stretch I was feeling it. With 2km left the legs were close to seizing as they were really tight and sore. I just had to remind myself there were only a few minutes remaining. The race also had a clock posted at the 19km mark and it showed just shy of 1:23, so I knew any hope of 1:30 was out the window at that point. I didn't think it was possible based on a few other km, but I had avoided checking overall pace up to that point. I passed a runner who had just walked a couple of hundred meters later and told him he only had 1500M to go and to pick it up - he ultimately passed me in the final 500M.

The last km is a little cruel because you can see the finish but you have to run what feels like a interminable long way around the lake to loop back to the finish line. A girl who I had passed at the 20km mark came around me in the last 100M and all I could do was smile. My legs were wrecked at that point and I was just hanging on to get to the finish line.

Saw the clock, and saw a PB and raised my arm a little in triumph. Made sure NOT to push the stop button on my watch as I went through the finish line...:-)

Km Pace Avg HR
1 4:26 157
2 4:32 166
3 4:25 169
4 4:15 169
5 4:16 170
6 4:27 171
7 4:19 170
8 4:16 171
9 4:12 170
10 4:18 169
11 4:28 174
12 4:17 170
13 4:19 170
14 4:18 171
15 4:14 172
16 4:10 173
17 4:21 174
18 4:18 178
19 4:20 178
20 4:19 179
21 4:12 181


Training was not perfect for this race, but it was the best race I could have run on the day. No concerns or regrets with how I ran the race. A few seconds per km faster and I would have hit that 1:30 mark, but being honest with myself, I didn't have it today.

Made my way to the massage tent right away and they worked on me for 15-20min. Really glad that was available as I couldn't even crouch over at the end. I definitely buried myself to get this result. Stretched a little after the massage, and then hopped a shuttle back to the race start and my car.


Not 100% perfect training. I could have done with some more long runs, and I fell off the training wagon a couple of times as life got in the way, but no regrets.


New PB - I obviously like the venue.