This year, the weather was very kind with an air temperature of -4˚C and clear sunny skies.
Opting to run a half marathon distance at this stage of the year is a great motivator to get the year off to a good start and to keep up with the training, regardless of the winter weather. I had a good base already and was targeting sub-1:48 for the race and when I went outside to test the weather on race morning I opted for my lighter shoes (red Saucony Kinvaras) and just 2 layers. When I got to the race site, I started to regret my decision, I was freezing as I lined up for my timing chip, and the line was so long I didn’t get a chance to warm up or make a pre-race bathroom visit. The starting area was crowded and I couldn’t get as far forward as I wanted. I had forgotten that this was a “gun time” only race, but as we were huddled in the starting enclosure I finally heard about a change in the course. It wasn’t really clear to me at the time the exact details of the course change for half marathon and marathon runners, I figured I’d just have to stay alert as I started the race and look out for course marshals directing the runners. It was a little unsettling not to have a clear picture of the route I was running in my head, but I just shook it off and listened for the gun.
The gun was deafening (they use a huge army cannon) and we were off. The Winterman race is a mass-start with all distances (5km, 10km, half marathon and marathon) starting at the same time so it was a slow start and I had to duck and dive looking for some free road to run on as runners of all abilities were moving on masse towards the first hill of the race.
Soon enough I had settled into my pace and any time I lost at the start I was able to take back on the downhill over the railway tracks. I felt fine at 5:05/km and held it there as I was directed towards the course change that they had mentioned at the start. Marathon and half marathon runners had to run past the off ramp to Tunney’s pasture and further up the road (marathoners to a turnaround 1.1km away, and half marathoners to a turnaround 550m away). Then we were directed onto the off ramp to Tunney’s pasture.
This course change was a mistake by the race organisers as now a whole bunch of runners, running at a ~5:00/km pace were stuck behind runners running at 6:30 - 7:00/km pace at the narrowest part of the course. It was like hitting a wall to be honest. I managed to cut in and out and find some room, nearly slipped on a patch of ice and was starting to feel some frustration at the situation. Then I realised that I was losing my focus, “it is what it is” I told myself, I decided that I wouldn’t let this give me ready-made excuses for not making my goal time and I would look for gaps and hammer the pace to get into them and then slow if I needed to get ready to sprint for another gap. This is something that running has taught me, you can stay in your comfort zone and if something goes against you, you can easily start lining up the excuses “if it wasn’t for this or that I could of…” etc., or you can take risks, get out of your comfort zone and if you fail, then you fail, no excuses, at least you had the guts to try. I used this “no excuses” thought as my mantra as I weaved in and out of the traffic and ended up losing no time at all. I had a quick glance at the clock as I came around and into the lap chute and it was definitely wrong, by about 5 minutes according to my garmin.
1st lap (garmin data started at start line)
1km - 5:15
2km - 4:53
3km - 4:57
4km - 4:55
5km - 5:00
6km - 4:51 (29:51) - 6.1km race split - (30:43 - includes time to cross start line).
Starting the next lap, I could feel that the wind had picked up a touch, it was a side wind so I knew I wouldn’t get much relief from it coming back in the other direction. I held my pace at as close to 5:07/km as I could, I was feeling really good but I wanted to keep it comfortable so that I could run the last lap at a faster pace and really hammer the last 2.5km.
I took my first gel at 7km and headed down the off ramp and into Tunney’s pasture for the turnaround, the pack had really thinned out as all the 5km runners were now off the course and the 10km runners were mostly on their final lap.
Annoyingly I had to stop to tie my shoelace as I came into Vimy Place by the museum but as I came around the bend to the lap chute I was pleased to see that they had fixed the race clock. I saw a friend amongst the spectators that I hadn’t seen in some time so that gave me a boost. I was also starting to get too hot so I threw my hat to the side of the racecourse. The rest of my race attire was perfect, so although I felt really cold at the start I had made the correct decision.
2nd lap (garmin splits)
7km - 5:06
8km - 5:03
9km - 5:12
10km - 5:07
11km - 5:02 (25:30) (55:21 total) (6.1 - 11.1km race split 25:36)
Now the course was really empty, just the marathoners, half marathoners and marathon relay runners. I always find this part of the half marathon the toughest mentally, you are past half way, but not near enough to the finish to really sense it, you just have to keep willing yourself forward, keeping an eye on your pace and just tick those kilometres off as you complete them. I took my 2nd gel at the 14km point and started to think about my tactics for finishing the race, i.e. when to pick it up and gut it out to the finish. Just then, the leader of the half marathon race powered past me and into the distance, I find it incredible to see athletes like that up close under race conditions. I knew that as I rounded the bend to finish my third lap, he would be cooling off having finished the race 8-10 minutes earlier.
3rd lap (garmin splits)
12km - 5:08
13km - 5:12
14km - 5:09
15km - 5:08
16km - 5:00 (25:37) (1:20:28 total) (11.1 - 16.1km race split 25:44)
Last lap, the time to hang on in there and wait for my chance to pick up the pace and finish the race as strong as I could. The course has a few ups and downs and all I could think about was that final climb up and over the railway tracks before coming down and around to the museum. As I turned for the last time at Tunney’s pasture I took one last swig of water and told myself it was “go time”. I powered up the last hill as hard as I could and then hammered it down the hill and into the museum reaching a flat out sprint as I hit the line, with a just a quick glance at the clock that was just moving to 1:47.
4th lap (garmin splits)
17km - 5:06
18km - 5:07
19km - 5:06
20km - 5:05
21km - 4:39 (25:03)
0.1km - 0:44 (200m by the garmin - 3:40/km) (16.1 - 21.1km race split 25:05)
Final race time - 1:47:05
All in all I was really happy with that race. I feel I am stronger and faster this year and have set myself some pretty tough goals, so to run this race over 6 minutes faster than last year was very pleasing.
