On Sunday, 22nd August, at the ACTVAC Annual Half Marathon, I managed to take 13 seconds off the time for my Australian Record, W80 Half Marathon set on May 2nd of this year!  That's all it was......13 seconds !  I suppose that makes it a new Australian  record!

I'd entered for this event a few weeks prior but left it till Saturday afternoon to decide booking Saturday night accommodation rather than driving down so early on Sunday morning as intended.  I managed to secure a very nice room at Olims Hotel, not more than five minutes from the start/finish at Stage 88, Commonwealth Park.

I had a cracker of a run!  Felt great the entire distance, even those three monster hills couldn't slow me down;  I just ploughed onwards and upwards, never stopping!  And as for passing other runners.....well, what can I say!  Scenery beautiful, off road and a glorious morning for running : no wind, no rain, just sunshine all the way.  Catching up with Strewth, CJ, Peter and some other ACT friends was the icing on the cake and many of these also received medals for age category wins.  Smiles all round!

As well as setting a Record W80 Half Marathon time for the ACTVAC, I was positively astounded to be called out to receive and to hold for one year,  the lovely trophy awarded for "Performance Records (Age%) - Women, with a score of 79.7%.   It will be engraved and returned in time for next year's event.

Time = 2:17:12
5km Splits: 33:19, 32:13; 32:34; 32:40; (6:19).  Avg. Pace = 6:31 min/km

No wonder than, having run my heart out and received the awards that I was so exhausted I had to break the drive home by stopping at three different rest areas and wander around for a few minutes in a daze!

With only 4 weeks to Blackmores Marathon now,  that's the end of the fun and games for the next few weeks!