Canberra Road Running Festival Half Marathon

Well.....I had a very happy run today!  The weather was absolutely perfect;  I didn't feel it at all cold as I walked less than 10 minutes to the oval and did a short wam-up at 6:30am and then lined up for the start of both the marathon and half marathon runners at 7:00am.

My plan was to start at 6:38 min/km which would have me finish in 2 hours 20 minutes......one minute faster that my recent best half marathon of 2 hours 21 minutes at SMC on April 18th!  I kept at this pace in the early stages despite the urge to go faster, telling myself that if I did, I'd slow down towards the finish.  Experience is a great teacher!

The plan was a good one, because I had plenty of energy in the second half and was able to draw on the very last of my reserves to finish 4 minutes faster than the SMC half  last month!

Time 2:17:25(official).
Avg. Pace 6:28 min/km
AHR 133 (84%);  MHR 153 (96%)
5km splits     33:57;    32:33;    32:51;    30:40;    (7:25 for 1.1km)

The day was a tremendous success for the ACTCCC who put on a brilliant day, a fast course, great volunteers everywhere encouraging each runner often by name and  finishing,  where again each runner was called by name wherever possible, by doing a round of Manuka Oval.  This was a very special thrill!  Was I the only one whose age was also announced as I ran down the finish chute?  That was another special thrill!!    


While talking of thrills....another was 1st place in age category,  a kiss from & photo taken with Rob de Castella!  I'll put the photo here when it comes up on the website.

Altogether, a great weekend catching up with friends and spending up at the Expo! Now, to get ready for the SMH Half Marathon in two weeks' time!

Enquiries are being made to see if this is a W80 age-category Australian Record for the half marathon  & the likihood of it also being  the world's third fastest of all time W80 half marathon!  Will update when I find out how to do all this and what the results are.