KOM
I managed to pick up a stomach bug from my son on the Saturday night,
which meant a poor night’s sleep. It is funny how you can manage to
finally get into a sound sleep just before the alarm. Anyway after not
wanting to get out of bed I got up and got ready for the run. It was
cold at the start so after registering I went back to the car and played
dinosaurs with Adam. Eventually I decided to get out and move about a
bit to loosen my body up and bumped in Marie and the KJ’s crowd for a chat.
Tanya and Adam came to the starting line and Adam asked me if I was
going to win. I said I would try. I kissed my family and was off. I ran
at a reasonable pace and the cold made it hard to breathe. I passed
Marie and co and after a km and settled into my pace. The first few km’s
are quite flat so it is a nice warm up and then there are few decent
hills before you hit the dirt roads. I ran well up the hills and
although tired I felt ok. Once we hit the dirt I was happy since this
was my long run training ground and I knew it well. I seemed to be
running with a young fellow with a Billy Bushies shirt and another guy
in a red singlet. We all ran the up and down hills differently but all
came together on the flat. It is funny how you always end up secretly
racing a bunch of people you do not know. As we came to the 10km mark I
started to feel light headed and very vague. The race became a bit dream
like. I started to wonder if I was going to have a story that had the
line in it “next thing I remember I was laying in the first aid tent”.
But fortunately I kept going and the weird feeling passed.
Still with the 2 other guys we arrived at the start of Mt Skanzi. I
grabbed and piece of orange and had a drink and started an easy run up.
It is not a bad hill but enough to feel you have had a decent climb.
Billy Bushie was way ahead and the red singlet was a only a few seconds
behind as I hit the top. Another piece of orange and I caned it down the
other side. My knee and ankle were really starting to hurt on the
downhill but I just tried to relax and let gravity do the work. Got the
road, which I think is about 6km from the finish and could see in the
distance Billy Bushie and another guy. I thought about running them down
but decided to relax and focus on my stride. I ended up making up ground
on them and so now I focused on catching them. As I passed the first
fellow I could hear someone trying to pass me. I did not want any part
of this and stepped up my pace. Blew passed Billy Bushie and for the
next 5km ran hard with someone breathing down my neck. I think that the
person behind me had given up the thought of passing and was happy to
draft behind me. We passed about 4 people in the last few km. In the
final stretch I gave it everything I had and ended up with a time of
2:46. Once finished I did not feel to crash hot and after a brief chat
with Carolyn, Dougal and Marie and the KJ’s I headed home with Tanya and
Adam and needed a cuppa and a lie down.
This entry was posted
on Monday, July 18, 2005 at 1:22 PM.
