Jetty 2 Jetty

It's always nice when the pieces of the puzzle seem to just fit and today was one of those days!

The Jetty 2 Jetty Half Marathon this morning was my first attempt at racing a half-marathon and also the first step in a longer journey towards competing in a 70.3 triathlon towards the end of the year.  I carried a lot of confidence in to the event having run over 90km a week for the last 4 weeks and also after my result from the 10km Running 4 Research fun run not so long ago.  However 21.2km is a long way and there was a certain element of unknown going into the race.

The biggest factor was controlling myself at the start and not going out too hard and as the gun went off I found myself at the front of the field but fortunately at a pace I could control and going through the first km in 3:32 I still had a few runners around me.  And personally I made one of the smartest race decisions at this point and didn't continue with the guy that increased the pace and even sat back as another guy ran past me in the opening km's.  After settling in to my own pace I slowly began to real in the two leaders and at the 11km point I caught the leader and was still feeling great so made a determined effort to push the pace out and around the jetty, which also happened to be into a fairly strong headwind, wanting to put a gap between myself and second place.  I knew there was still a lot of running to be done and was still holding a pace that I would by no means call comfortable but something I could maintain and trying as hard as I could not to look back and focus on my own race.  It was great going past all the other runners who provided me with some fantastic support on the trip home but there were certainly some lonely moments when all I had to focus on was the lead bike ahead of me but that's what long distance racing is all about! 

Coming up the last hill and still with approximately 2km's to go I took the time to look behind to check where everyone was but didn't want to relax incase I'd missed anything. 

The most satisfying moment of the entire race came just after this when a spectator told me not to worry and that there was no one in sight which allowed me to enjoy the final 1500m and I don't think I stopped smiling the rest of the way home.  And to top it all off I ran past all of the guys and girls that I train with who were doing their warm-up for the 5km and was able to enjoy the moment and even slow down to give them all high five's before the final down hill run to the finish.  Just made the race that little bit more special!

I crossed the line in 1:13.07 and was and still am completely stoked with not only the result but the time as well because I had thought I was capable of a time around 1:16:00.

I couldn't finish this blog without mentioning all of the guys and girls that I train with who also competed in either the 3km, 5km, 10km or half-marathon events.  Well done to Geoff who continues to amaze all of us and finished 2nd in the 50-59 age group and improved his time from last year.  Also to Tom who finished 3rd in the 5km after a lengthy period off running through injury and Wyatt who finished in the top 10 and is a star to watch for the future.  And of the girls, Emily who took out the girls 5km and Bonnie who claimed the runners up position.  I thoroughly enjoy training with everyone at DAT Racing every single day and to be able to share today's race with some of them was something special!

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