Sunday, March 29, 2009

Herald Hill to Harbour Half Marathon

The left knee felt good.

Good weather for running, nice and cool and very little breeze. I did a couple of kms warm-up, then lined up for the start (which was slightly delayed). Soon we were off and I settled into the run in 4th place. The first few kms were flat and the first climb wasn't until Fort Scratchley where the course became more technical and this was made worse by the course not being marshaled at key intersections. Luckily for me, I don't think I made any wrong turns but I certainly was slowed to ask people the way! The hills were brutal but I felt good on the flatter/downhill sections. I decided not to bother with the km markers as they seemed to be missing or inaccurate.

The second big climb was as we approached the turnaround point, followed by a long downhill section to the 10km mark. Then we had to run a lap of a park which again was poorly marked adding more confusion. By this time there were 3 of us vying for 3rd position. The climb back from the turnaround was a killer - it must have been close to 2km. At least we were now on the return part of the course so there should be no more course confusion. By 15km we had to climb up to Fort Scratchley a second time. Again very technical with lots of twists and turns. The last flatter section of the course to the finish I had fallen into 5th position but I still thought I could catch the 2 runners who were just in front of me. But it wasn't to be. I finished in 5th place overall (the last 2 kms were run in 7:09), and my finishing time was 1:18:19.

A very tough course not made any easier by the course being poorly marked. Despite that, I was pleased with the run though the time was slow. I still felt strong at the end - a good sign for the marathon.

And the left knee is still good. That's a major positive.

All up 67.2km for the week.

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