So Now I Know

Today Total: 21.1k (CC 1/2)
Week Total: 35.1k
Month Total: 27.1k
Year Total: 1390.5k

Late Edit: Posted the Google-Earth image.

The question that has been haunting me these last couple of weeks is could I go under 1.50 for the CC Half?

Answer: Yes I can! 7 seconds under as it turns out. After thinking I had blown it, I sprinted across the line in 1.49.53 :-)


What a fantastic day, there were Coolrunners everywhere, I'll have a crack at naming who I saw and talked to but apologies if I miss anyone. First I saw Kazza and then a steady stream that included: Jen_Runs (on pom pom duty), Miners, Go Girl, Gronk, BennyR, Miss Skarmel *swoosh*, Aunty K, Truckie (water bag duty), Vatman, Johnny Dark, Silver Fox (cheer squad), Blue Dog, Eagle, Bandana, Plu (complete with voice recorder), Gnome, Professor, Gasher, Fake Plastic Trees, Colin, Ewen, Tiger Angel and there may have been more.

At the start line, quite a number of us brought a ticket for the Miners 1.50 train complete with 2nd engine Miss Skarmel *swoosh* - we took our seats in an orderly fashion and waited for the gun.

Being predominately a bicycle track the course is a bit congested at the start but it didn't take long for things to thin a little. I must say it is a lovely flat course with water views for nearly the whole distance and when I took the time to look around the beauty of it always made me smile..

Around 4k I was struggling and seriously thought about jumping off the train. My breathing was a dogs breakfast and my right shin (what the?) was giving me gyp. The left of the two twins also had a malevolent look in his eye till I threw a duster at him and he settled down. Now class concentrate!

I kept dropping off the pack and every time when the gap got out to about 30m I'd put in a surge to catch up, make a few lame jokes, be a little obnoxious and even ocassionally take the lead so I felt like I was doing my bit.

When I was really struggling at the 4k mark I just focussed on Miners heels and hung on for dear life - the only problem was that Miners is about 7 feet tall and I'm er - well a little vertically challenged - focussing on his heels I subconsciously found myself trying to match his cadence - result: I inadvertantly invented the Monty Python Silly Run. After having a good chuckle to myself I found that I could hang on (kind-of).

By 8k there was just Miners, Miss S *swoosh*, Gronk, Go Girl and me still a part of the train and we pretty much went around the turnaround as one consolidated bunch. The pace was good and I calculated we were about a minute and a half in the black.

Some time after the turnaround (my memory is a bit hazy on when) Gronk got rabbit happy and took off, Miss S *swoosh* determined not to leave one of the flock unattended went with him. Whilst in the caboose the gap just got bigger and bigger, opening out to about 50 meters between me and the Miners/Go Girl dynamic duo. Every now and again Miners would cast a glance over his shoulder to make sure I was still in sight. My response was invariably a resounding toot toot which indicated a whole lot more bravado than I was feeling.

At 14k I was really thirsty for the first time in the run. I had made a point of getting 2 cups of water in at every drink station, but at the 12k one I just couldn't stomach the second and poured it over my calves - I was really missing it now. This was where the gap became greatest and I took the decision to take my second Gu, I had taken the first at 9k and with my pace waning it was now or never.

After the 15k water station (where I pocketed a couple of snakes for ron) I picked up the pace and slowly made up ground on MR & GG and by around 16k I caught up just as we turned into a solid headwind (great). At 17k there was Jen_Runs complete with pom poms and Go Husband handing out Truckies water bags - thanks guys you gave me a much needed lift.

It was shortly after this that it became apparent that GG could not maintain pace. I tried good cop then bad cop on her but eventually figured I was pushing the new friendship and let it drop. I felt a bit torn on the team solidarity thing, but as MR was looking after her I pushed on.

When is a train not a train? When there is a pack of one :-) Left to my own devices with no blue and gold caps to spur me on my concentration faded and my pace was all over the place but I wasn't too alarmed as though my cognitive skills had gone missing, there were messages coming from the stem cells telling me time was on my side. Bastards! They lured me into a false sense of security and when I looked at my watch at 20k I nearly had kittens - I only had a smidge over 5 mins to make 1.1k - numnuts!

The last time I looked at my watch was when it clicked over 1.49 and when I looked at how far I had to go I knew it was going to be touch and go. I was panting like a drug smuggler at a Bali airport and I thought I was going as quick as I could but then out of nowhere a girl appeared on my left shoulder with about 100m to go and I took off like I had been stung by a bee.

Nothing was sweeter than to cross the line to the encouragement of CR's and still see 1.49 on the clock :-)

Big thanks to Miners, Miss S *swoosh*, Go Girl and Gronk who all contributed to the motivation I needed.