Darlington Half - PB and met my goal

Wanted to run under 1.25 and managed to achieve it finishing in about 1.24.35. Stopped my watch at back of chute at 1.24.38 so will wait on the official results for actual time.

Big PB for me although my half PB was pretty soft as it was only the third time I have raced the half marathon distance or further. 1.35.49 in 2007 Perth Half Marathon after I had been running for 5 months and went through halfway in the 2008 Perth Marathon in 1.34.07. DNF in 2008 Fremantle Half Marathon.

Great conditions for running this morning, about 10 degrees and no wind.

I was my usual inefficient timekeeper missing some km splits but have reconstructed what I can from my stopwatch:

Km 1-3 in 12.28
4-5 in 8.14 (20.42 @5km)
6 in 4.15
7 in 4.21
8-9 in 8.35
10 in 4.00 (41.56 @10km)
Halfway in approx 44.30 (missed exact halfway mark as too concerned about trying to get a gel and a drink in)
11 in 4.29 (not sure about this one maybe previous km was bit slower as don't think I dropped from 4.00 to 4.29 in space of a km)
12-13 in 7.40 (13km in 54.06)
14 in 3.59
15 in 3.43
16 in 3.45
17-21.1 in 19.00 (21.1km in 1.24.35; Second half in 40.05)

Strong finish on the predominantly downhill second half. A little disappointed with the first half, especially after the work I have done on the hills in recent weeks but I think I can partly put it down to the fact that I was running on my own from about the 4km mark. In fact I think I was in 12th position at 4km and that is where I finished. I could see a group of about 4 or 5 (including Sugar and Epi) about 80m in front of me and they slowly pulled away from me. Not sure there was much I could do about it as it wasn't that a group ran away from me between about 2.5km and 4km but more that that a group seemed to form up ahead of me. I'd like to think that if I had been a part of that group, I could have hung with them for a bit and got up the hill a bit quicker. Maybe wishful thinking and only got myself to blame although even the bloke who passed me at 4km couldn't get on to the group. Last two races (Matilda Bay and this one) I have run on my own and have dropped off the pace. Will make a conscious effort to make sure this doesn't happen at the Bridges run in 5 April.

Felt like I was flying down the hill but unfortunately couldn't pick up any of the runners ahead of me. Had one bloke on my hammer for last 5km so was very pleased to hold him off. 19 minutes for last 5.1km is quicker than I thought I could run at that stage of a half marathon. Sugar had gone past me at about 2.5km and had blasted up the hill at a quicker pace than I thought he was going to run but had then eased off a bit and ran conservatively coming back down (after a 35km run yesterday). Couldn't quite catch him but going from the comments on his blog looks like I picked up about 1 minute 10 secs on him in the second half. He finished about 5 secs in front of me.

Met Epi http://anampofepistat.blogspot.com/ after the race. He ran a huge PB and finished 8th in 1.23.06. He followed up his good run at Matilda Bay and is in great shape to run sub 3hours at the Canberra Marathon in April.

Also caught up with friends Sharon and Erica. Sharon ran a very strong PB finishing in 1.51. They were great supporters for me in the 2008 Perth Marathon and it was nice to chat with them before and after the race.

Also ran into an old friend Brad who ran a 1.41 in his first half marathon.

For me, another confirmation that I am right on the threshold of sub 3hour shape. Last hard week of training this week which will culminate in a long run up the Pipeline on Saturday. Recovery run tomorrow with intervals scheduled for Tuesday but may switch this to Wednesday depending on how I am travelling.