Nowhere to hide

gold coast marathon 3.51.23

was thinking the same thing about the camelbak and gaiters jen :)

i think mr bleakman described it well.
the thing about marathons is there is nowhere to hide.
you can't just walk up the hill or hide and sit under a tree inbetween checkpoints.
'nowhere to hide' describes my first mara in 2001 perfectly.
ran the first 30km too fast and walked the last 12 along a long long very exposed busway in brisbane on a very warm day finishing in 4.16.

yestreday was much more cruisy.
kept pretty much perfectly to plan.
ran 5.20s to the turnaround (15.5km).
slowed a tad for a 1.53 halfway.
not so quick toilet stop (had to line up) and a gentle slowdown for a 3.51 finish.
dont wear an hrm but from a heart/lungs point of view it was very comfy.
the legs felt the last 6km which was just perfect.
saw a few people cramping in the last few kms and thought i was going to join them for a while.
great training run.

for the record 5km splits were 26.41, 26.35, 26.53, 27.13, 28.21 (dunny), 27.16, 27.34, 28.25, (12.22)

amazing how warm it gets on that exposed section from 30-34km.
wouldn't want to be out there on a hotter day.
the crowds pissed me off a bit especially the lady who was elbowing people 2mins after the start trying to get her ipod in order.
and those darting in/out at different stages especially at drink stations.
nice to run with a few CRs at different stages: puggie, seris.
racing a couple of HMs in the past the turnarounds have pissed me off: hard to concentrate seeing people coming the other way but was entertaining yesterday.
saw heaps of friends out there racing and pacing.
and a dude in a black sepultura tshirt just behind the 3hr group too.
now thats one hard rocker.

was thinking in the car on the way home how fast i could do one of these things.
then 0.1 seconds later was thinking about trail.
glasshouse 50km in 3 weeks.
12 foot 2 weeks after that.