My hubby even got up and walked me to the start line so I got there safely....he is just the best!!!
Once around all the engery of other athletes you quickly get into the excitement and get all hyped up ready for the start. Michael Gorge was fronting up to do 50km (all the way from Isle of Man) and his lovely wife Irene was doing the 30km. Myself and Gorge Megerstar were the only racewalkers today doing the 15km. My goals were to 1) finish STRONG 2) better last years time of 01:36:45.66
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| about to line up for our start at 5:30am |
This is my training ground and I must say ... its really hard to get out of "training zone" when racing on it. Hedges Ave has a nasty wee camber on it with a few little rises along the way so its never been a fast course. I was pretty pleased to have avg 6min kms along it. I knew that I would lose time going over Nobbys hill. Its a short sharp hill. Rises up 20min with an almost vertical stair climb to the top and then a steepish path that slowly drops off. Looking at my km split for that part I lost 20secs going over it ... but coming back to it I lost more as its too steep to racewalk so I had to powerwalk up it, so lost 40secs.
The path way is a nice scenic course as you follow the sea the whole way down to the Burleigh Surf Club, then you turn back and follow it back again. This year they had to change the turn due to another even being on so with some up and down curbs and twists and turns...plus having to wait for a car, I lost a good 20 secs on that km too. But it was the same for everyone else, I am just looking at the data to see where I could pick up time next year.
I kept up a good pace for the return but Nobbys just wiped it out of my legs. Powering up that hill and then trying to get down the little steps fast was a mission. The steps are small and tight so one miss step and you would go over and fall... at first I tried to take two at a time but it was too jarring on my knees so it was quick steps the whole way down. The last 5km you can see in my splits that I was getting tired. My legs were full of laxtic from the hill, but still turning over so happy with that. Lost focus on one km and dropped back to 6:19 but picked up again when I realised I had slipped into training mode. Hitting that home path and knowing the finish is close is an awesome feeling. I tried hard to catch the two runners a head of me but this time they held their lead. I picked up my pace and managed a strong and fast finish then checked my watch... YUS achieved two goals.
Finished strong and beat my time of 01:36:45.66 by crossing the line in 01:33:03.78 (thats 3 mins 42secs faster!!!) whoop whoop.
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| Myself, Michael, Irene and George before the start of our races |
