Saturday 6th Feb: First race of the year and I decide don the Sun Run 10km. A coastal run from Dee Why to Manly that also features on the list as a city2surf qualifier – run sub 37 and you can get a preferred start. With brother living down the road it seemed like a good opportunity. Getting the excuses out of the way the holiday season has meant slightly less than ideal preparation for this run but nonetheless I should still be able to give this target a good go. PB from Nov was 17:45 and that was a hilly course.
5:20 alarm for porridge and tea before setting of from Curl Curl at 6 for the slow jog to the start. Chris Truscott passing me on route up the hill to DeeWhy to get his warm up completed (I walked up the hill). Lining up about 5th row back I was joined by Toby and Charlie from HuRTS while CT and Tom were up front in the seeded.
At the gun we headed up the hill towards Curl Curl and Toby took off andI decided not to try and follow, I headed up the hill keeping a solid pace and then opened up on the downhill. Turning right along Abbott Road we headed around Greendale Creek and I dropped into a pack of runners averaging 3:40’s. Hitting the 2km marker however I felt completely dehydrated and couldn’t even spit – not something I normally suffer but clearly hadn’t drunk enough the day before.
Back towards the beach and the rain started which was nice and thankfully there was a water station as we headed back onto Griffin road and the beach front. Just a mouth full of water seemed to make a difference. Realised that the group I was with as I grabbed water had already started to drop back and I was running 3:50’s – not good. With a couple of mouthfuls of water I joined the road again and looked for the next group to join. The wind had now picked up by the beach and I was being blasted – only option was to put an extra spurt in to try and catch the next runners to act as a wind break. Now in singles and twos I pushed and joined a tall strider and another (see photo). Soon it was just myself and the strider and I as much as I tried to hide behind him his pace was slowing and the wind was increasing! Coming past beach street and the corner of the headland I had slipped to 4’s, left my windbreak behind but and there didn’t seem to be anything I could do about the pace.
A couple of downhill spurts and the wind dropped slightly as we headed back inland. There was an out and back section by freshwater beach and Toby came past me looking cheerful. I wasn’t feeling so cheerful and decided to stop worrying about the time and concentrate on increasing my cadence. Looking at the watch wasn’t going to make me run faster, it was my leg turn over. At this point one woman and one guy came past me and I made an effort to latch on. We hit the next big hill (Undercliff road) and I reeled them back in but I knew my pace had slowed.
Over the top and the woman came back past as I heard someone call out she was in 6th position. she was quick on the downhill sections and I decided my target was to catch her. The 8km had been and gone and we headed down to the Manly. The other guy came back past at some pace and just kept going, I wasn’t going to catch him but I was neck and neck with the girl. Wind back into our faces we went past the 9km marker on the floor – it had been blown over in the wind – and I put my foot down to open up a gap. With the wind I didn’t seem to be going any faster but I can created a few meters between us as I could see the finish ahead.
As I crossed the line I could hear the man with the mic at the finish calling out ‘here comes a Woodstock’ and Toby straight ahead of me shouting ‘she is going to catch you!’. Over the line and watch stopped I had beaten her by a few metres and only really been overtaken by one other guy. A slow run outside any PB and 2mins off the target sub 37 I wanted for City2Surf but in current form and with the wind I don’t think I could have given it anymore.
38:53 official time – 34th out of just over 3,400 or so runners.
on the run 