The first few km's were a bit quick and I was sitting in the second group of guys occupying around 10-20th place (including Tom Highnam). The first 10 or so guys had put in a 20m gap after less than 1km. At around 2km, I had planned to ease up and lock in a steady 3:25/km rhythm, but if I had done that, I'd have lost contact with the group I was in. That meant going through 10km in around 33:55, the group was still together, but I was sitting at the back, knowing I was going too quick. You go in with a plan, but need to think quick as the race evolves, so I made a call to stick in with the group and hoped it was the right one.
I got a little despondent in the middle of the race around Pyrmont. I'd lost the group, a couple of places and I was starting to worry I'd pay heavily for going out so hard.
Coming back along Hickson road on my own, I got my head right and felt like a rock star as all the runners going the other way were cheering me on. It really lifts you and I'm just sorry I can't even acknowledge the support I'm getting. A few more lonely kms, I lost one more place but at 16km I knew I was almost home. A marshal was calling out positions and I was 18th and well on target for a top 20 finish. Up Macquarie street I put a real effort in to catch Chris Truscott and did, but he came back past coming out of Mrs Macquaries Chair.
All in all, a good race. A bit slower that I'd hoped, but it's an undulating course (especially the second half) and I finished around where I expected.
Decent runs from the boys, John Bartles was about 10 secs behind me. Macca and Fats were about another 50 secs back. After that, I lost track as marshals insisted I moved away from the finish area. Tom thought we had the England v Ireland race in the bag, but we won't see the official results until tomorrow.
27km for the day and 75km all up for the week.
Nice report John. I think the first 5-10km was too quick for all of us. Worked out that I did about a 2min positive split.
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