Melb half marathon 2008

A 1:55. And big negative splits are cool.

I arrived at the MCG at 6:30am and after wasting 15 min unsuccessfully trying to drop of my bag I went back to where I’d locked my bike up & left the bag there. I then should have gone to the MCG toilets to do no.1s and no.2s, but foolishly headed to the start area instead. Of course there were long toilet queues at the start area so didn’t get to go. I was down the back so there was no chance of starting with the 1:50 pacers. The first k or so was very congested & slow which I wasn’t concerned about. I went to a toilet block near The Tan and had a wee. The cubicles were too busy so no.2s were deferred again. I walked and drank through the first 3 drink stations. I crossed the halfway mark in just on the hour. Along Beaconsfield Pde (12k’ish mark) I ducked into a toilet block and did no.2s. I also loosened my shoelaces during this pit stop as my feet were a bit tingly/numb (I decided to wear 2 pairs of socks, which seemed to have made my shoes too tight). At last I was running with no toilet concerns and blood freely flowing into my feet. What a relief.

From here I was passing a heap of people and very few passed me. I remembered feeling ordinary from the 12k mark last year, but this year was different. I had barely noticed the Fitzroy St ‘hill’ as I passed the coolrunning cheer squad. I grabbed one last water satchel as we hit St Kilda Rd I wasn’t thirsty so I just squirted it on my head. I kept on going at a good pace along St Kilda Rd passing virtually everyone around me. When I got to 3k to go I thought ‘less than a lap of The Tan to go, and no Anderson St hill’.

My legs were really quite tired at about the 19k mark and I was very keen for this thing to be over, but it going. We ran past a bloke lying on the road being attended to by medicos on Flinders St. There was a nice downhill bit before entering the MCG. I looked around and soaked it up once inside. Some of the seating bays looked full! We were running in front of quite a crowd! I ran a 1:55:16 by my watch which is a small PB. I’m not at all disappointed about not getting the sub 1:50. From the start I knew I was in for toilet stop/s and quickly accepted this. Also, the first 2ks were very slow due to congestion.

I’m very happy with the big –ve split, and that’s including the 4-5 min pit stop in the 2nd half. Finishing strong is certainly the way to finish a half marathon.

Joined the group of CRs at the Transport bar and cheered on the marathoners before heading home to put the feet up & try to justify to the kids why I didn’t win or at least come second. They are far from convinced.