SMC Series - a pb!

I ran my first SMC race this year. I contemplated heading over to Pymble to do the star but opted for Smithfield instead. Great crowd of familiar faces in attendance including Tesso down from Bris and Ray backing up from last weekends effort.

The aim was to run a firm 1/2 without doing anything silly. I wanted in particular to run the hard 3rd 5km split well today. Anything else would be a bonus.

I got out of the gates really well and settled into a good rythym early. I ran with another bloke who I didnt know for the first 6kms, well actually he literally carried me to this point, I wanted to get in front so I could take the pace but just couldnt do so comfortably. I felt a bit guilty that I had been on or around his shoulder so long that I took the pace coming up the hill back to the lights after the turnaround(about 6.5kms). I expected him to come with me but he must have dropped off a little here, which to be honest wasnt the intention.

The next guy was a country mile in front but I kept him in my sights (one of the few advantages of these long straight line courses which can be a bit boring by yourself). He then did me a massive favour by stopping at the 10km drink station to take a gu or something and I closed the gap to about 40 metres. This then really gave me something to chase up the hill.

I even tried to make a bit of a move running up the big hill but he ran this well and maintained the 40 metre gap. We came down the hill to start the second lap and Chris, the bloke from Nike who was running late had come from the start and got between the 2 of us. He caught the guy in front and passed him.

I was unable to go with either now and concentrated on maintaining my own pace & allowed them to go, hoping I could peg it back in the last 5kms on the run home. Best laid plans however, the gap just bigger and daylight restored its place between us.

Still I felt good and whilst not red lining I was running pretty much as hard as I could. My heel from about 14kms however started to give me some grief. It did not slow me down but it was a little mental distraction I was having at a time I least wanted it. At the turnaround at 16kms I was about 75 metres in front of 7th and 8th and now thoughts turned to holding these guys off!

I had a little incident when the extraordinary Frank D and I arrived at the 17.5km drink station at the exact time. He was moving a little slower than I but in the end we both managed to get a drink. I think I would have been exiled from Striders if anything had happened to Frank!

From here I just pushed home by reaching little milestones until I got to 20kms. I was on pb pace and decided to have a red hot go to home. In the end I was able to manage a 27 second pb of 83.13.

This is particularly pleasing as I had no intention of going at this pace, it just happened. I fully admit to suffering racegun fever, where once it goes, I am going to go as hard as I think I am capable of.

The positives were that I was able to manage this despite a dramatic decrease in both intensity and mileage. This is a bit of a fools paradise however, as eventually the lack of miles will catch up with me. The other pleasing aspect is that it now establishes me as a sub 85 minute 1/2 marathoner with my last 3 efforts under this mark.

There is not much fat left now however. Realistically the next challenge will be a sub 82 minute effort, I dont think I can go much quicker.

The downside is that my heel feels as bad if not worse than ever. Yet again I am now on a forced break. So the cc 1/2 is definitely still on, just 2 more weeks to juggle the training to get me across the line, then its breakesville until this old unit is back to 100%, that is a promise I make to myself.