I set my alarm for the first time in four weeks last night, and as per the usual script, I got up before it went off, I have no idea why this happens, but 9 times out 10 it happens this way. I was up at 04:00 to get prepared for the Bridge to Brisbane 10 km run. My longest run to (recent) date was not much over 5 km, so I was a little concerned. So much so, that I made a special playlist for the tunes I would be listening to to take my mind off the pain. The predicted temperature of 7 degrees thankfully didn’t great us, which was great, it was a balmy 10 as I headed in.
Temperature heading in
The line ups at the start were amazing! Line up for parking, lineup for the toilet was scary and I second thought my pre-run visit, and the line up for the start was massive.
Part of the lineup for the start
Nothing like the lineup to pick up my race pack on Friday
Last night I tongue in cheek posted a response to Nathan’s facebook post (Nigel you really should join in with the kids) , that I would see him at the start line, and after sending each other good luck twitter messages from the massive pack behind the staring line (actually behind and around the corner quite a ways), he is standing beside me saying ‘hey’… He was a 10 min pace faster in his goals, so I let him go ahead as we headed up the bridge. I spotted a photographer I know taking shots for the event, and I would have distracted her for a bit as I called out her name, and took her eye away from the camera. I actually got my photo taken by a shooting pal of hers at the finish area as well, but I digress…
I think the event itself helped carry me along, all of my concerns about breaking down, having to walk, seem to drift away as I chugged along at my pace. I really enjoyed the temperature, sun on my back for the whole run (more or less), the sites of crazy dressed runners, bands lining the route, along with my soundtrack carrying me, that before too long I was at the 7 km marker, and actually ahead of my ultimate goal time of 60 minutes. The hill after the Breakfast creak hotel was a bit of a heart breaker, and there were even more slow joggers and walkers that I had to avoid and navigate. I am sure I ran a lot further during the course because of this throughout the course.
I crossed the line (I think) around 55 mins after I started, and I will get official times in the paper tomorrow, but I am pretty stoked with the result. I had the runkeeper app running for the race, and my run is found here. In the end, Nathan and I (though unknowingly) pretty much ran the same pace all the way through.
I was pleased that my pace was pretty steady all the way through (if you take into account I started the logging early as we were shuffling to the start). I know they aren’t so fast, just happy I didn’t die in a heap after 5 kms. I am keen for next year, and 50 mins is my target now.
I was home by 8:15, and whilst the girls were awake, the household was still all in bed, well Charlie was certainly trying to get on the bed.
I was feeling pretty euphoric, and after doing a couple of jobs, and knowing the Wallabies had me in their power from 1:00, I decided to get out the photo gear again after a bit of a break. I haven’t posted on flickr in quite a while, so I put together a quick lighting setup and snapped this one.
Thanks to my bride for letting me watch the rugby at “not normal” sports watching time today… First half was 6-6, but the second half was a fantastic performance by the wallabies finishing the winners (with a bonus point) 32 – 6. I need to revisit our travel itinerary staring this Saturday, and sporting bar locations that I didn’t think of when we started booking this trip 🙂
Mixed Tape 