City 2 Surf '07
Another City 2 Surf has been and gone and this one was by far the most satisfying for me. A few months back I was laid up with Glandular Fever - I missed 3 weeks of work, put on a heap of weight and the running came to a grinding halt. I had contemplated giving the race a miss this year, but this has become an annual pilgrimage for me and even if it meant walking I made the decision I'd still enter. My first training run was back on the 10th June - I ran for 20mins and it almost killed me. The training picked up and I started feeling pretty good - in the end it was more suited for a 5km run then City to Surf and I knew the last 4/5kms was going to hurt and be a real test. The goal - sub 75mins!
The first thing I realised when I landed on Saturday was how warm it was - there was almost no difference between the temp from when I left Cairns. I spent most of Saturday afternoon just walking around the City trying to 'run' my new shoes in. I had a nice early night and slept like a baby. When I woke on Sunday morning and walked out onto the balcony at the hotel it was as if I was still in Cairns! I didn't even have to take an old sweater to donate to the girl guides at the start line. I got to the start pretty late and could see a couple of Cool Runner caps about 30metres in front - unlike some people, I didn't feel right pushing my way up to the front so was quite content to stand and wait for the gun (horn). To make sure I got the full City 2 Surf experience and in keeping with tradition I did use the portaloos!
This was my first A1 start and to be honest I couldn't really tell much difference from my A2 start last year. I still got knocked around at the start and nearly went A over T at about the 3km mark. My original intention was to run with my mate who came from Toowoomba who was also aiming at a sub75 time. We ran together for about 5metres ( no not 5km ) before we lost touch - I never saw him again. I am terrible at pacing myself and can never gauge my pace but I was feeling very comfortable for the first few kms apart from a really dry mouth. I took a drink at the first station but have decided that I just haven't quite mastered the art of running while drinking from a cup. I didn't get much of a drink but managed to snort half the cup. I went through the 3km marker on around 13:30. Around the 5km point I saw a Cool Running Cap in front of me so put a bit of sprint on and introduced myself to 'Rags'. He told me he was aiming for sub 68mins. At that point I was still feeling pretty fresh and thought I would stick with Rags as long as I could and hopefully get dragged through for an even better time then my original goal. I really enjoyed running with Rags but got seperated at one of the drinks stations - he went to the left, I went to the right and I never got sight of him again until after the finish.
Heartbreak Hill was testy but didn't kill me, the only negative was that I had really bad pains in the stomach at one point and felt like I was going to hurl. Thankfully this didn't last long and once we got back onto flat ground I just eased up on the pace and it went away. I looked at the big clock at the 7km marker and it had just ticked on over 34mins. This was really encouraging for me as I kept telling myself if I could just hold it together for the next 7km a sub 70mins was definitely on the cards. For the next few kms I was just crusing along - I was amazed at how many people I saw on the sides of the footpath getting help from the ambulance. I guess the one thing in my favour was that the heat didn't really bother me that much - I had been training in these conditions for the last 2 mths.
I did it really tough from about 9kms to 11kms. Those pesky smaller hills were hurting more then Heartbreak Hill and I could feel my pace dropping and the legs getting really heavy. I kept telling myself not to look at my watch anymore and just run to how my body felt but as we were approaching the 11km marker one of the guys alongside me asked another what the time was - it was 53mins. Sub 70mins was still on the cards - I just had to stagger my way for 3kms more in 17mins. Last year if you believe the km markers I did the very last km in over 6mins - I thought about this and decided I needed to try and put the accelerator on for the downhill on the next 2kms. I am not sure at what pace I was going but it felt like I was flying. At one stage a guy ran past me and said 'are we on pace for sub 65?' I told him 'not a chance, but sub 70 for sure'. Poor guy - in hindsight I hope he did crack 65 as he was sprinting and this was just after the 11km marker.
Its strange but as many times as I have run this race there are parts of the course I forget or how difficult parts are - the final Km is one of them. I could see the finish line and still hadn't looked at my watch. I had nothing left - I just wanted to fall over. Then I saw the 13km marker! What?! No wonder it took me 6mins for the final Km last year. I could see the finish line to my left yet I had another 1km to run. This nearly killed me, I knew I couldn't maintain the pace I had run for the last 2kms but I did my best. I came round the final turn and could see the clock off in the distance - it was still showing 65mins. I sprinted thinking I could crack 66mins but eventually conceded defeat. My watch time was 66:06 - my card time 66:12 and I couldn't have been happier.
I was haunched over and one of the volunteers came over to help me put my bib number on my time card - my hands were shaking and I couldn't for the life of me do it. He told me what a great run I had done and it was 10ยบ hotter then last year - a total stranger to tell me I had just done a great run was pretty special and made me feel really proud. To top it all off I finally met Tesso just after walking through the finishing gates - how great is that? Got to speak with Tesso for a few minutes before spotted Rags and caught up again.
I hung around the bag collection area for about 45mins waiting for my mate from Toowoomba but couldn't find him, by this time I had developed a huge headache which I put down to dehydration and sitting in the sun. So I took a smelly bus ride back into the city and had a cold shower at the hotel and nanny nap. A great day and can't wait to do it again next year!
What next for me? Melbourne Half Marathon is looking good at the moment.
The first thing I realised when I landed on Saturday was how warm it was - there was almost no difference between the temp from when I left Cairns. I spent most of Saturday afternoon just walking around the City trying to 'run' my new shoes in. I had a nice early night and slept like a baby. When I woke on Sunday morning and walked out onto the balcony at the hotel it was as if I was still in Cairns! I didn't even have to take an old sweater to donate to the girl guides at the start line. I got to the start pretty late and could see a couple of Cool Runner caps about 30metres in front - unlike some people, I didn't feel right pushing my way up to the front so was quite content to stand and wait for the gun (horn). To make sure I got the full City 2 Surf experience and in keeping with tradition I did use the portaloos!
This was my first A1 start and to be honest I couldn't really tell much difference from my A2 start last year. I still got knocked around at the start and nearly went A over T at about the 3km mark. My original intention was to run with my mate who came from Toowoomba who was also aiming at a sub75 time. We ran together for about 5metres ( no not 5km ) before we lost touch - I never saw him again. I am terrible at pacing myself and can never gauge my pace but I was feeling very comfortable for the first few kms apart from a really dry mouth. I took a drink at the first station but have decided that I just haven't quite mastered the art of running while drinking from a cup. I didn't get much of a drink but managed to snort half the cup. I went through the 3km marker on around 13:30. Around the 5km point I saw a Cool Running Cap in front of me so put a bit of sprint on and introduced myself to 'Rags'. He told me he was aiming for sub 68mins. At that point I was still feeling pretty fresh and thought I would stick with Rags as long as I could and hopefully get dragged through for an even better time then my original goal. I really enjoyed running with Rags but got seperated at one of the drinks stations - he went to the left, I went to the right and I never got sight of him again until after the finish.
Heartbreak Hill was testy but didn't kill me, the only negative was that I had really bad pains in the stomach at one point and felt like I was going to hurl. Thankfully this didn't last long and once we got back onto flat ground I just eased up on the pace and it went away. I looked at the big clock at the 7km marker and it had just ticked on over 34mins. This was really encouraging for me as I kept telling myself if I could just hold it together for the next 7km a sub 70mins was definitely on the cards. For the next few kms I was just crusing along - I was amazed at how many people I saw on the sides of the footpath getting help from the ambulance. I guess the one thing in my favour was that the heat didn't really bother me that much - I had been training in these conditions for the last 2 mths.
I did it really tough from about 9kms to 11kms. Those pesky smaller hills were hurting more then Heartbreak Hill and I could feel my pace dropping and the legs getting really heavy. I kept telling myself not to look at my watch anymore and just run to how my body felt but as we were approaching the 11km marker one of the guys alongside me asked another what the time was - it was 53mins. Sub 70mins was still on the cards - I just had to stagger my way for 3kms more in 17mins. Last year if you believe the km markers I did the very last km in over 6mins - I thought about this and decided I needed to try and put the accelerator on for the downhill on the next 2kms. I am not sure at what pace I was going but it felt like I was flying. At one stage a guy ran past me and said 'are we on pace for sub 65?' I told him 'not a chance, but sub 70 for sure'. Poor guy - in hindsight I hope he did crack 65 as he was sprinting and this was just after the 11km marker.
Its strange but as many times as I have run this race there are parts of the course I forget or how difficult parts are - the final Km is one of them. I could see the finish line and still hadn't looked at my watch. I had nothing left - I just wanted to fall over. Then I saw the 13km marker! What?! No wonder it took me 6mins for the final Km last year. I could see the finish line to my left yet I had another 1km to run. This nearly killed me, I knew I couldn't maintain the pace I had run for the last 2kms but I did my best. I came round the final turn and could see the clock off in the distance - it was still showing 65mins. I sprinted thinking I could crack 66mins but eventually conceded defeat. My watch time was 66:06 - my card time 66:12 and I couldn't have been happier.
I was haunched over and one of the volunteers came over to help me put my bib number on my time card - my hands were shaking and I couldn't for the life of me do it. He told me what a great run I had done and it was 10ยบ hotter then last year - a total stranger to tell me I had just done a great run was pretty special and made me feel really proud. To top it all off I finally met Tesso just after walking through the finishing gates - how great is that? Got to speak with Tesso for a few minutes before spotted Rags and caught up again.
I hung around the bag collection area for about 45mins waiting for my mate from Toowoomba but couldn't find him, by this time I had developed a huge headache which I put down to dehydration and sitting in the sun. So I took a smelly bus ride back into the city and had a cold shower at the hotel and nanny nap. A great day and can't wait to do it again next year!
What next for me? Melbourne Half Marathon is looking good at the moment.
posted by the_en4cer at 12:44 PM
2 Comments:
mate - great effort, especially with the timing on dodgy course markers! Shame I didn't get to see you again - but as we're both suckers for this race, no doubt we'll catch up one year.
Make sure you arrive 1.5 - 2 hours before the start next time and join the party at the front of the A1 group!
Congrats again on such a great run.
Pity you didn't make it to the pub, we will have to continue our conversation in Melbourne.
Meanwhile it might be worth your while investing in a CR cap so others spot you. Oh, and it makes you run faster :-)
Post a Comment
<< Home