R4TK

What a great day.  I woke to find it raining early in the morning, but it cleared to a nice clear and sunny day by the time I got to the race start.  Perfect conditions.  I arrived very early (which I usually do much to the annoyance of those who come with me) and parked my car long way from the start and enjoyed the walk past the MCG and Rod Laver Arena.  I decided on a long warm up of 40min as I expected to be standing around for a while on the start line.  The standing in one spot turned out be for half an hour due to a delayed start, but with over 26,000 people in the race, these things are expected.
 
The gun went off and I was stuck walking for the first few metres.  I'm glad your time doesn't start until you cross under the starting arch.  The first kilometre was chaos with so many people, which was part of the enjoyment, but there is a but.  While I understand that people may overestimate their abilities, I think that if you start in the section which says you should be capable of running 10km in less the 50min, then please be capable of that.  There were a lot of people who decided to start up near the front and walk and even just stop in front of everyone and have a conversation.  I soon got over that as eventually the crowd began to thin out.
 
Running over roads usually closed to pedestrians was pretty cool.  The Domain tunnel was interesting, but not the most pleasant place to run.  The Bolte bridge provided an awesome view across Melbourne.  I initially decided to run the first six or so kilometres at 3:56/km, but soon discovered the kilometre signs weren't accurate.  I knew I was running fast, but I know I definitely was no running sub 3:00/km.  So I gave up on that and just went by feel.  This turned out for the better.  As the race progressed, I kept feeling better.  After the 8km mark I knew I was working hard, but somehow it just felt easy and gradually increased the pace.  In the end I finished the 15.2km course in 57:40.  I was stoked, since before I was hoping to just break the hour.  Looks like my run training has been going above expected.  My improvement over the last three months has above schedule.  I'm hoping I carry this sort of improvement over into my IM training.
 
 
"Everyone in life is looking for a certain rush.  Racing is where I get mine." - John Trautmann
 

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