What a fun day, it was really nice to spend it with you all – my favourite race with some of my favourite running mates!
That said, this was a hard effort and I pushed a lot. Not much time for chatting or enjoying the scenery, I had to knuckle down and get it done!
Conditions were pretty good although I found that wind a bit restrictive in a few exposed places, but in other spots it added some needed cooling. A little warm but not too bad, got sunburnt as I expected much less sun that what we got. Oops.
I seem to be good at picking up some minor illness before each race, last week it was a snotty nose and a crappy cough. Wasn’t feeling 100% on the morning and was pretty tired… didn’t have a late night but playing a gig never helps. We were ~15 mins late as had to pop home after collecting Kev & The Fox to check if a candle was still burning (it wasn’t, but Laura wasn’t certain she had blown it out). It was just enough time but I could have done with a bit more of a warmup and briefing time with Laura.
I started off in the middle of wave 1 and watched, totally as expected, most people bomb off way too quick. It’s only minor, but that first 4k is almost all uphill so perfect conditions for over-cooking it!
*Fun fact: at 6km I was within 10s of my previous 2 attempts but by 12km I was over a minute ahead.
I gradually overtook people, quite casually usually, for the first 9km, then didn’t really see many other people to catch until the late stages. One guy overtook me and was gone. He had awful shorts on. I hate that guy. His leg tattoo was pants too.
Being chased by bulls was not great, I didn’t take the correct route in that field (we were supposed to run to the middle then bear left, not skirt around the periphery – I went straight down the middle aiming to for the gate!) – it helped me pick up the speed for sure.
I didn’t get lost once this time which was nice, I had the route on my watch but the signage was better and I started to recognise each bit.
The steep ascent after the halfway point felt a bit tough but I carried on going, it was nice not having to walk at the steep wooded section just before 16k so I felt like I had enough in the tank at that point and it helped me continue to speed up. I was high-3’s for the road downhill sections, felt good to stretch the legs out and the shoes performed really well on the tarmac (not like trail shoes at all).
I had the 1st lady in my sights for at least 6km and couldn’t close the gap at all for ages, it was only a few km from the end that I got close enough then she fell (she was fine, I asked) and slowed to recover. I didn’t hang about, then took another 3 guys soon after. Had enough speed in my legs to keep on pushing so was able to get in the 3:30s for a time in the last few hundred meters. Nice to finish strong!
I didn’t think I’d beat my time for the first 70% of this race, but was happy to have found some speed in my legs for the end. Also happy to not have walked any of it (apart from the stiles and one or two big steps up). Didn’t go off too quick at the start, slowest GAP km was in the long-grassed field which was a bit dicey. Overall, pretty good. Same again next year I reckon, sub-1:40 is achievable I think. Annoyed I got demoted to 13th! 12th sounds much better.
*looking at the actual Half segment results (ignoring the new extra 200m) I was over 2mins quicker vs last year, and over 4.5 mins quicker than 2022
