As I was unsure of the start times, number of runners and walkers and the process for registering the Cathay Pacific half marathon I was up at 5.00 AM for my usual pre-run breakfast of two slices of toast and an instant coffee. I was out the door by 5:30 and on site at the start line at Okahu Bay by 6.00, thirty minutes before the late registration office opened.
Once I had bought myself a coffee from an all night café and got my self registered it seemed I had been over cautious! But I did get a park by the finish line which was great as I could have ended up an easy kilometer away later on.
The event is informal with no results taken, plus the start time for the 2 hour half marathoners was officially 8.30 and I was not going to hang around for 2 hour. As it is such an informal event you can pretty much start when you like, so I watched a couple of runners go off with the walkers at the official event start time of 7.00 and elected to run at 7.30 which was what I was guessing would have been the start time for the runners anyway.
I had a good start, as always faster than I wanted, though I was felling good for the first 8Km’s and played tag with another couple of runners which kept the motivation going. I was running a few seconds faster than my planned pace and I think that did not server me well later on, though I was reasonably cautious. By local standards this is quite a hilly half and I was feeling good up the first few climbs taking advantage of the water stops with a brief walk while I drank the water down. The morning was quite warm even at that time of day and by the time we hit the waterfront again at Kohi I was soaked and suffering a bit from chafing. The last 4kms were tough, even though it was dead flat with a mild tail wind I struggled to finish. Normally I can put in a fast last kilometer but I just had nothing left for this one. The lack of sleep, the amount of training in the past week and the complete lack of carbo loading finally caught up with me in the run. I finished in 2:01 which is 1 minute out of my target time. I was disappointed yet happy with the time given the bad build up to the race.
There is one more half to do before the full and I hope to complete that run a lot quicker than this one.
There are some big training weeks coming up over the next month so diet and sleep are going to be essential, I am a bit concerned with the chaffing issue as well as I am using an ant-chafe cream.
Sunday afternoon I went out to a free concert in Huia, I saw Tahuna breaks and a bit of Ddub. Both reggae/blues style. It was a great show and I took a couple of shots.
Tahuna Breaks
Ddub
I Reloaded the MP3 player today with a broad mix of pop and a small smattering of punk and metal ready for the next long run. I plan to run home from work on Wednesday night, 17kms. It is going to be tough as I am not great straight after work.
Once I had bought myself a coffee from an all night café and got my self registered it seemed I had been over cautious! But I did get a park by the finish line which was great as I could have ended up an easy kilometer away later on.
The event is informal with no results taken, plus the start time for the 2 hour half marathoners was officially 8.30 and I was not going to hang around for 2 hour. As it is such an informal event you can pretty much start when you like, so I watched a couple of runners go off with the walkers at the official event start time of 7.00 and elected to run at 7.30 which was what I was guessing would have been the start time for the runners anyway.
I had a good start, as always faster than I wanted, though I was felling good for the first 8Km’s and played tag with another couple of runners which kept the motivation going. I was running a few seconds faster than my planned pace and I think that did not server me well later on, though I was reasonably cautious. By local standards this is quite a hilly half and I was feeling good up the first few climbs taking advantage of the water stops with a brief walk while I drank the water down. The morning was quite warm even at that time of day and by the time we hit the waterfront again at Kohi I was soaked and suffering a bit from chafing. The last 4kms were tough, even though it was dead flat with a mild tail wind I struggled to finish. Normally I can put in a fast last kilometer but I just had nothing left for this one. The lack of sleep, the amount of training in the past week and the complete lack of carbo loading finally caught up with me in the run. I finished in 2:01 which is 1 minute out of my target time. I was disappointed yet happy with the time given the bad build up to the race.
There is one more half to do before the full and I hope to complete that run a lot quicker than this one.
There are some big training weeks coming up over the next month so diet and sleep are going to be essential, I am a bit concerned with the chaffing issue as well as I am using an ant-chafe cream.
Sunday afternoon I went out to a free concert in Huia, I saw Tahuna breaks and a bit of Ddub. Both reggae/blues style. It was a great show and I took a couple of shots.
Tahuna Breaks
Ddub
I Reloaded the MP3 player today with a broad mix of pop and a small smattering of punk and metal ready for the next long run. I plan to run home from work on Wednesday night, 17kms. It is going to be tough as I am not great straight after work.
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