GC reflections

My pacing was better than in Canberra in April. Until 29km, my fastest km split was 4:16.7 and the slowest was 4:33.7, though most were very close to my goal pace of 4:25. I felt OK. I'd been struggling with a sore throat in the week before the race but managed to avoid getting sick.

The 29th km, I ran 4:13.7, which was a bit fast. Then at 30km I had to stop to look for a bottle I had put on the special needs table and couldn't immediately find it. My left leg was getting very sore in a way that made me feel I could cramp or injure it if I wasn't careful. At 37km, I ran 5:07.3 for a km, the first one over 5 mins. All I could do was try not to walk and try to maintain a jog. My final 1.2 km was done in 6:19.2. Usually one finds an amazing amount of spare energy at the sight of a finish line and speeds up.

So perhaps I was wearing too light a shoe for the hard and pancake-flat course. Perhaps it was too soon after the previous marathon. Perhaps it was not feeling 100% health-wise in the week before the race.

It is all part of the experience and it makes you realise not to take any good races and/or PBs for granted. I needed a lot of willpower to keep running when it was so tempting to start walking. I still managed to finish in 3:15, which is a fabulous time, just not the one I had in mind.