Sunday, 7 September - AV Half Marathon

Got the usual pre HM jitters overnight and woke up a few times - 2 am, 3 am - before springing up out of bed with my alarm going off at 6:25 am. Having meticulously packed my bag and laid out my things, I only needed the five minutes to get ready before Liam picked me up at 6:30 am

Got a drink of water, then slowly got dressed as I pondered what the day would bring. I was on my way out the door to wait outside my house when Liam pulled up. Great timing. Hopefully a good sign of things to come

We picked up Brian from his house and took City Link into town, going through the Burnley tunnel and out onto Burnley Street and we were very soon at Kevin Bartlett Reserve. All up the journey took less than half an hour, which was very quick! Was very pleased with that as it allowed plenty of time to mingle and chat before doing my warm up

Did not want to leave a thing to chance. Went for a ten minute warm up and thought the body felt a bit heavy, not altogether that fresh. Then went for a nervous wee before going through a proper stretching routine - something I usually skimp on before a race. Was in the middle of that when Allan Cook from Western A's came over. He runs pro's like me and is also an ex-AFL boundary umpire so we have umpiring in common. Finished stretching and it was only five minutes to the start

Removed the rest of my warm up gear then wandered over to the start line. Pushed my way as close to the front as I could. The worst part about these races is sometimes I get caught at the back (usually because I am gas bagging) and have to work too hard to get clear. Not this time. So the starter gives a little spiel about the race and I am fiddling with my watch when ... BANG, the gun goes off. No warning. Shit! Start running but also fiddle with my watch for ten seconds befire I can get the thing started

So far as I could tell, through the first couple of kilometres in 3:35, which was a little quicker than I had intended. Still it felt reasonably comfortable and I tried to hang onto that pace. Went through the 5 km mark in 18:05 or thereabouts. It was in this period that I started to feel that things were starting to get a little tougher and I hit a flat spot. I had been keeping in tough with a group through these early stages and they started to pull ahead of me and I lost contact

Perhaps I was thinking too far ahead, with the 10 kilometre marker a psychological marker for me. From about the 7 kilometre mark, all I could think about was getting to that 10 km point, which seemed in my mind far away. Not sure why this point was so hard but I started to feel good again at around the 11 km mark. Also, it was a little windy through this first half of the race and when I lost contact with that group I was running mostly on my own. And it was on this section that the winner of the women's section passed me like I was standing still, which did not help my mood at that point. Even less the team mate of hers that was so obviously pacing her

Anyhoo, at the 10 km stage I was on 36:30 or just under. Pretty close to that anyway. From here on in, I started to pick up individual runners and started to drop those that had been around me intermittently including my track nemesis Dave Ulbrick from Melbourne Uni. Up to the Bridge Road turnaround for the second last time (13.5 kilometre mark) and I knew that crucial 15 km mark was coming up. In other races, I have hit the wall at this point, which has prompted a big increase in mileage these last two winter seasons

I tried to focus hard on the road in front of me and to put everything else out of my mind. And it seemed to work as the going seemed to get easier. Not sure what i went through the 15 km marker in, but I knew from about this point that I was on track for a personal best it was just a matter of by how much. I did have an idea there might even be a 76 in front of it.

Down to the Monash Freeway end for the last time and I saw one of our club members Margaret Cassidy ride by on her bike. She yelled out to me and I yelled out to her, "I'm going to do a PB here!" I must have been feeling good. I tend to do that - stupid banter - when I am feeling good in a race. Adrenalin fueled stupidity. Just one complete three kilometre stretch to the last turnaround and then home!

Tried to push the pace here and as this last up and back bit progressed I noticed that I was starting to pick up the runners I had let go in that group from earlier in the race. By this time, however they were all strung out. Went through the 18 kilometre mark and on the river path I saw AFL goalie Michael Hammond who had trained with Coburg a few years ago in order to get fit enough to make the fitness requirements the AFL demands. Hammo is now training for his first marathon! He was out on his long slow distance run for the week

Up to the last turnaround and I really tried to push even harder for that last 1600 metres home. Did take in my 20 km split as being 73:13. As I got closer to the finish, I could see on my watch that I was a chance to break 77 minutes, of course forgetting in my fatigue that I had to add ten or so seconds to the time. So as I crossed the line, I had in fact broken 77 minutes on the watch, but in the end officially credited with a time of 77:05. That was good enough for 46th place (or 52nd overall if you include invites, but I don't). My best ever placing in an AV event and a massive personal best by 42 seconds

So mission accomplished and those many long runs over the course of the winter, including three two hours runs in the last two months, made all the difference. A fitting reward for a winter of hard work. Our top team finished third - our second third placing of the year, so proud of the boys for that and even happier for our second men's team who also placed third and their second third placing for the year. And the women's team had their best result for the year with ninth place. Remarkable when you consider they had the ninth placed female and one of the last placed females in that team

Afterwards I enjoyed a hot shower in the skanky clubrooms - it's a shared facility with football and cricket. And while we waited for the pub to open that we had booked lunch at, we had a beer at the Royal Oak and that first taste was heaven! Then we went over to the Granf Hotel for a meal. We were in the beer garden, which was great as it had turned into a gorgeous September day. We were very fortunate

Enjoyed a very nice lunch on my brother-in-law who not only paid for my lunch but drinks as well and then he drove me and the children home. Bought some beers on the way, tucked the children into bed, and we settled in to watch the footy. Kylie went to the game and not a great result for her or my brother in law

Threw a couple of things together for the children's dinner and once they had wolfed that down, got them down to bed nice and early as Kylie and I settled in to watch Dr Who - me with a couple of glasses of red wine. The perfect end to what was a perfect day

TOTAL DISTANCE : about 23 kilometres including warm up