BEATING THE GUN

Having already run my Clubs Colour Standards for the 10 and the 15 earlier in the year and with most of my trail racing over for the year, I turned my sights to the Half and a 3rd Colour Standard time... 3 Colour Standards in a calendar year, that would give me Club Honours, and something to race for...

Not leaving anything to chance I put in a couple of hard week training and then, while still training this last week I made sure I hit the good stuff:

building up the tired legs

So with the legs feeling strong it was time to think about what to run in... Well it's a road race and after the blue and white stripes of VOB I was thinking shoes... Now on the trails I run in my New Balance, and I have a couple of pairs I could run on the road with, but I decided to to go old school!!! I was bringing out the old racers, a pair of Nike Air Zoom from 1997:

MY "MAKE ME FAST" SHOES

With the start and finish being about 2km apart I parked near the finish and jogged through as a warm-up. The drive in had lead us to believe that the weather was perfect, but on the Eastern Seaboard there was a bit of wind...

18 000 people is a lot, but lucky for us only about 5 000 were running the half! I didn't even look back to see how far back the runners went, I just joined from the front!

Then with a "BANG" from a small cannon we were off... Passed the Soccer stadium around and to the Waterfront. First up, 21.1km is a long way to be out there running on your limit, so as much as I had to run fast I needed to feel relaxed and watch the clock. I was after all 'gunning' for a time!
When I was a younger man I would go for it putting the body on the line from the start, but not any more. Now I read my "Log book" and it tells me what time I can aim at and I run for that time...
Having looked at the race route I knew I had to go out a little faster so I would have time in the bag for the long hill.

A lot of people started fast and while I know the perils of going out to hard I also know what pace I can come back from 3:19 for that 1st km, and while I was still passing people I wasn't running any faster. The running was easy and I was feeling good, so as the 2 and 3km boards past and Ms 310 (aka Garmin) showed a time of 10:04, it was now time to watch that speed, so I slowed a bit running the next 2km in 7:00. 5km down in 17:04. Game On...

The 6th km was full of turns and we lost focus and with that a couple of seconds, but 7 and 8 I was back in the groove with 2 x 3:20. The 9th km was out and back and Dawn, who had been cycling with the front runners decided to now, was there on the side of the road. She had spotted me down the road, my Orange cap stands out. With her in my corner I now not only was running for time, but for MONEY, I was in 6th place (40+). With the out and back behind me 3:28 I had already moved into 4th.

Another 3:28 took me to a 34:37 for 10km and I now had also caught the 1st lady, and the 3rd 40+ wasn't far ahead as we headed down Beach Road to the turn at 12.2km... At this turn we climb UP to Kloof Rd!!!

Not wanting to explode I took the hill easy, but still dropped the 40+ guy, I had now caught, and the 3 other guys I had been running with... Dawn on her bike also fell back. I wanted to switch into hunt and destroy mode as I past the 13th km mark 3:56, but sanity prevailed. The last bit of the climb wasn't the steepest, but we now had wind to contend with as well and I ended up running my slowest km of the race 4:07!!! I had lost a full minute now but the hill was over and it was now time to drop back down to Beach Road and head back to the finish.

3:20 and 3:15 took me to the turn and then it was home time... I was running on my own with the wind behind and Dawn on the bike shouting at me!!! Some-one was catching me, Dawn was cracking the whip egging me on. While I wasn't slowing she wanted me to speed up and hold onto my place, but I didn't really have much left and with the clock now on my side and the guy catching me wasn't in the 40+ age group... I just had to hold it together!!! 3:19 and a couple of 3:30's took me to 20km. 1.1km to go, I was ready for the race to end as I counted down the distance 100m at a time. (Thank you Ms 310)

Working hard

With the sea to my left I crossed the finish line in 1h14:26 to finish taking 25th place and 3rd 40+, Mission accomplished

So with the 10km (33:26), 15km (51:51) and the half times now achieved, do I see if 3 weeks is enough time to train for a Marathon and give 2h40 a go?