In what is regarded as possibly HuRTS biggest attending event alongside City to Surf, the S.M.H Half Marathon around the city was the scene that brought a huge crew together on a cracker of a Sydney morning.
Met up with a cast of thousands at the Stone Gates and after warming up with Mikey then the group photos and of course the sledging that went on it was soon over to the start line outside St Mary’s Cathedral
I’d had a pretty good few weeks training over the past 5 weeks since Canberra so was looking for an improvement in my 85 minute time. Went out pretty hard , which was the plan as its mostly downhill for the first 5ks and saw 17.53 flash up (3.34s) Despite running well it was at this point that Angus, Jeet, Pete Walker and Lady Laura all came flying past, Was reluctant to pick it up any further and just decided to work off them and try to restrict the gap from opening too much.
Went through 10ks in around 37.10 and had those ‘bad moments’ around the back of Darling Harbour that I just had to get through before returning to some good support on the edge of the city that saw PLOD and his Cork partner Paulie ‘Cement’ Hanley yelling abuse (or was it support?) as well as Slim Sammy Agnew doing his best ‘David Bailey ‘ work on camera duties.
Coming over the Cahill Express around the 15k mark I could see Jeet looking like he was in the ‘Hurt Box’ and somehow I set about trying to reel him in (or at least get within the 15 seconds of him), Coming up Macquarie Street was a killer and barely made it to be honest as the pace dropped dramatically . I was tempted to head straight down the finishing chute at the end of the road but we are forced to drop back into the Domain for another 4k loop that sends us back down to Mrs. Macs chair and back up. Just on the downhill section I make a quick burst and go past Jeet and pray he doesn’t’ come with me ………..(thankfully he must have felt worse then I was and didn’t).
After one final climb it was then the nasty 500m down College Road and back up , and was in a world of pain as I stopped my watch in 82.55 (later official time of 82.58)
Very happy with that although I did feel it did get away from me over the last 5ks or so , and that’s where the long runs need to come in a bit more, The speed work is coming back and hopefully another month or so and I’ll be stronger yet again. Think the ‘HuRTS Tour Bus’ is heading to Tassie in Mid June for a 10k race so may head over to see what I can knock out before giving another half a go up on the Gold Coast in the first week of July and hopefully sub 80 may be on the cards?
Some fantastic times from the group with many a PB run again, special mention YET again goes to Renee who smashed her way around for a 5 minute PB in 89.40, Angus 81 (PB), Erika Ekland 83.05 (8 min PB) and old mate Enda’s rich vein of form continues with a stunning 75.36 (PB). BUT the Timmy Run of the Day for me was from the Chairman himself Tommy H, Taking advantage of Tucks on Walkathon duty in the Mountains and Barts having a spell on the sidelines , the former #1 was giving C.T a good shoeing on his way to a fast 72.21
The Geordie Boy is all class and I’ve said numerous times that he NEVER runs a bad race, and even more NEVER misses out on a good social night either.
On the betting stakes I went OK , although I did lose out to Enda can you believe , but it couldn’t have been closer. We went 7.21 difference and the OFFICIAL time was 7.22 (Enda 75.36 /Lindop 82.58) so I was $20 poorer for it .
Managed to collect from Jeet, Ronan , Kane and take some beers from C.T (who still has a lot to learn).
A good night followed in the ‘Sheaf’ post race and plenty of drinks replaced all the lost fluids , The Irish were in fine form after taking out the Churchill/ Sands Cup for the first time , although not without controversy (AGAIN) , we won’t dwell on it BUT I really do think we need to review the rules more closely for next year, in regards to certain people running and the finer points like running with the group and attending social events??
Congrats to Enda and his team though, they all run well and it was a close call between the teams.
Will be back out in the morning to continue with the training.
Also huge congrats to HuRTS favorite son Andrew ‘Tucks’ Tuckey who was as mentioned in the Blue Mountains for the North Face 100k Walk, Great effort from Tucks who took out 2nd spot overall and I’ve heard it was a sprint finish over the final 400m.
Rumour going around last night that they both actually broke the 6 minute per/k to finish off the run – something they didn’t manage for the previous 99ks J
* Captain Tom is missing - he was in the toilet yet again for the 8th time
And despite Enda's great form of late he really does need to finish the races off with a little more grace, its getting a little embarrassing
Cheers
Good run Tim.
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