The Horrie and Belinda Show

1/10/05

We had a great run out there today. I was the 55 minute pacer with the aim of bringing Belinda with me for a sub 55. This was a bit ambitious considering it has been only 3 weeks since the marathon and Belinda has not been able to do any quality training since then due to her battle with ankle and calf injuries.

We started off at the back of the pack to allow all the greyhounds to get off to a flyer. We went through the first km in 5:23 which was a fraction quick but I always find this the hardest km to pace. I was then able to lock into 5:30 per km pace from there, passing through the 5km mark in 27:20.The 10 second buffer we had was lost in the 6th km where I let the pace slow a fraction as the runners running with me were starting to fade. We reached 6km in 33:02 and I could sense that a few runners here were working really hard to stay in touch but were starting to drop off the train. A 5:35 km here confirmed that were now 7 seconds off the pace. I pushed on ahead to try and reel in the 7 seconds and Pete, my fellow 55 minute pacer dropped behind to help those who were still in touch try to catch up to me. Through this section I joked with Truckie and Superflake that the 55 minute train was looking a bit wobbly with the carriages getting very loose and in danger of becoming a train wreck. I got back on the right pace and ran the next 2 km in 11:00 with Belinda and a couple of others pushing really hard to stay with us. This meant a final km at the pace of the first km (5:23) was required to achieve the sub 55. Unfortunately there were a few testy hills in the last km meaning that Belinda wasn't able to hang on. I managed to finish in 54:56. Pete brought a couple with him to finish not far behind so they finished in a tick over 55. Belinda couldn't quite get there and finished in 55:22.

A fantastic run made even better by the company of all the Cool Runners/Striders out there today. Far too many to mention but this community is getting stronger by the day.