The Greenbelt and I have history. It was the first half marathon I ever ran, in 2006, and I have completed it every year since. That first year I struggled through the hail and walked quite a large portion of that last 2k to finish in 2hr11mins. The last two years I have run the Greenbelt with other races on my agenda, but I couldn’t miss it – it is a great, truly Adelaidian Course.
This year the numbers were up 30% on previous years and there were people everywhere at the start. As usual the bus ride from the finish line to the start line seemed to take for ever and had everyone thinking that they were mad running all the way back. Alas, the buses departed to ferry the 10km entrants and so there was nothing left to do but a few seconds of warming up and then gather at the start line with the other couple of hundred other runners.
It was rather an unceremonious start as the babble of the large crowd drowned out the starter and slowly the front runners moved off and we just followed like a conga line.
The start of a run for me is just about relaxing, getting comfortable and finding a groove. Today it took two kilometre to thaw out my toes, but I soon found my groove and started darting through the crowd until I found others in a similar groove.
What followed was another 15 kilometres of leap frogging, surging past people only for them to surge straight back past, 100m or even 10km later. I had a few of those flat moments where I am just hanging on for dear life to those around me to get me through without losing too much pace, but not as many as usual.
When I caught up to my new nemisis (he burnt me off over the last couple of 100 metres of the Carisbrooke Classic…you know who you are) he kept me from slacking off. So my pace didn’t dip but that didn’t stop one of the other runners I had been playing leap frog for 20 and half kilometres surge past with almost the finish line in sight.
By jingoes! I was not having that and one last surge and a short sprint-off later I got back the place by a nose (sorry red-shirted stranger, but thanks for the challenge).
(oh crap, stop the watch you idiot!)
1:52:57. NICE! Almost a 7 minute PB from the SMH Half of 2007. Superb day, superb run!
4 Comments
May 4, 2009 at 9:29 am
Greenbelt: it’s a great event, you ran very well, congratulations, and a great race report.
I must come and run it again one year. I ran it many many years before the current course came into existence so will definitely do the half – or the full marathon – on that course sometime.
Also I love the Victor Harbour region, that run looks like something my running pals and I would enjoy very much.
Numbers in races are up, all around Australia, and given the large choice of events, it means there is a real surge in running everywhere now.
May 4, 2009 at 9:48 am
Awseome effort, big fella!
May 16, 2009 at 3:57 am
Simlin,
Great finish at the Greenbelt, could not keep up over the last section, will be looking forward to the next time.
May 22, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Well done! Doesn’t that make you faster than Rachel?