New City2Surf PB

Update:

• Official net time is 55.28! Very happy :)
• 508th out of 62,644 finishers
  
• Photos at marathon-photos.com

Well, I changed my usual pre-race routine this year by placing my timing chip into my gear bag and throwing it into the truck. I ran down to the start line and queued up and noticed someone tying their chip on. Whoops!

I ran back to the truck, spent a couple of minutes in the back looking for my bag and then gave up and ran to Hyde Park Barracks to see if I could get another timing chip. Luckily, there was hardly anyone else as stupid as me there. They said it would be $20 for a replacement but as I had no money on me, thankfully they said they will charge me later and gave me a new bib and chip.

So with new bib and chip tied to my shoe, I ran back to the start. Because I had got down to Hyde Park so early to begin with, I still had an hour to wait for the gun even though I was not quite as close to the front as I wanted to be.

Once we got underway, I struggled to break out of the crowd and had a slow first km but it cleared as we went into the Kings Cross tunnel and it was plain sailing the rest of the way. I noticed even at the start that I was not quite in the zone as I was in the Sutho2Surf two weeks ago but felt comfortable enough running just under 4min/kms except up the hills.

The hills were tough, particularly the ones after Heartbreak, rather than the big one itself but I love the downhill finish and crossed the line with a big PB of 55.55 guntime on my watch. I was aiming for sub-55 but I am very happy with my time regardless as it was over 8 minutes better than my previous best.

Limped home with a sore left achilles and a smile.