No good Timmy sporting effort should start without a lack of sleep and this was no exception. My Saturday started with a 4 hour sleep , waking at 4am to head of to work marking the route for the RTCC training ride. The afternoon wasn't too bad, mostly wedding prep and then dropping Jem off to her Hens night. It would be another late one as I picked Jem and her friends up after their shenanigans finally hitting the hay at 3am. The Alarm would only just wake me at 6am. I rushed to get ready only having 2 slices of toast for my pre-race meal.
After a decent pre-race stretch/warmup We toed the line at 7:15 for the start. After the gun went off everyone settled into a rhythm. It took a few kilometers of fire trail for the field to start to spred out. I couldn't believe how close to the front I was. I entered the first section of single track about the 5km mark in equal 5th position. We would then run together all the way to the first aid station at 18km. The scenery through Bobbin Head was amazing as always. We caught up to the 4th place runner at the aid station. I had a really quick stop, filled my bottles, grabbed a banana and left, unfortunately leaving my running buddy behind but moving up into equal 4th.
The other guy was quicker than I was and I decided not to be too silly and let him go after about 1 kilometer. Settling into a lonesome 5th I continued to stick to my race plan. Run all the flats, take it easy on the downhills and power walk anything even resembling a steep uphill. My goal was to complete the course in under 5 hours. My dream was to complete it in under 4.5 hours although I didn't really think it was doable. I had set the pace alarm on the Garmin for 4.5hour pace to keep me motivated. Within a few kilometers of the aid station, I came across one of the runners hobbling back towards the aid station, he had fallen and badly rolled his ankle. He said he would be ok so I pressed on now in 4th position.
About 25 kilometers in I started to overtake the walkers doing the shorter 24km route. It was motivating to hear their words of encouragement. Also around this time I finished off the last of my snakes and would have 1 gel every 30mins to the finish. Right before the 30km mark someone cheering me on said "come on mate, your in third, second is only 200 metres in front. I later found out that one of the guys that was in front had taken a wrong turn and would go on to finish fourth. I was right on his tail within a few minutes. I sat in behind him for a kilometer or so and dropped a gel before passing him. He was quicker on the firetrails but slower on the more technical single track. I couldn't believe it, I was in second place!
I was really looking forward to refilling my bottles at the Davidson Park aid station but it was very poorly marked and I ended up running straight past it. Not good as I now had no water for the final 10 kilometers. My energy levels where plummeting by the 36km point. The lack of water was really not helping. Each kilometer seemed to go on for an excessive amount of time. The only thing keeping me going was the fact that I couldn't believe I was in 2nd coupled with paranoia that someone was going to overtake me in the final kilometers. I was actually longing for a steep climb because then at least I could stop running.
Finally I saw the track up ahead. I started the final climb up to the finish. Atleast I was able walk for bit. About halfway up I passed a guy who gave me a cheer and said i was inside the final kilometer. I was spurred on and started a weak jog. Sure enough it wasn't long before the trees turned to grass and I could see the cricket nets at the top of the hill. I crested the hill and ran the final half circuit of the oval crossing the line in 4:26:25 to a cheer and my name and position being announced over the loudspeaker.
I couldn't believe I'd managed to hang on through the final 10km with no water and still go under 4.5 hours. I was completely blown away by the fact that I came second. 1st was nearly 30 mins ahead of me but I am not to phased buy that as I later found out his road marathon PB is 2 hours 20 something!!! 3rd place came in about 10 minutes after me with 4th a further 10 mins back. It's a huge confidence booster for my running. Can't wait till the next challenge!!!
Strava GPS Data:
