PB at my Birthday Marathon

New PB! It's not often that one's birthday falls on an event, but this year mine did. Not only that, but a new PB of 4h:51m:28s and 2nd place in the men's walk!

From the start Joff Hulbert and I walked off from the front of the field. The pace was much faster than I had planned, about 6m:30s/km rather than my planned 6m:50s, but I foolishly thought I could keep it up and just hang on. Before we had gone through 3km the first woman, Lee McCracken, caught and passed both of us, and then started to open a commanding lead.

Over the next few km Joff started to open a lead, and the chasing bunch of about four was close behind. By 8km I had closed in on Joff, and Malcolm Gray from Auckland YMCA had broken away from the chasing bunch and wasn't far behind.

It took until about 11km before I was level with Joff. We went through 14km in 1h:31m, still a blistering pace compared to my existing PB of 4h:52m. By this time Malcolm had dropped off behind us, and Lee McCracken was well ahead.

14km also marked the top of the Miramar Peninsular, and from there we were heading south around the bays towards the Pass of Branda and Cook Strait. The southerly wind was intermittent, with stretches of about 50m where it was very strong, followed by a lull in the more sheltered areas. I started racing on this stretch - much too soon - trying to drop Joff during the gusts.

Up and over the Pass of Branda, and along to the turn. We were still walking together at this point, but not for much longer. As we went back up over the Pass Joff started to pull away and I had nothing to respond with. There were lots of runners coming towards us now, although only a few faces that I recognised.

Heading back north was pleasant with the wind behind, and I still kept up a reasonable pace, going through 28km in 3h:08m. The next 750m were also good, but then we rounded the top of the Miramar Peninsular again and were heading straight into strong southerlies. There was nowhere to hide from the wind this time: the angle of the wind meant we were battered by the wind the entire way back to and past the airport. I struggled between 30km and 25km, slowing to an average of 7m:19s/km. Perhaps the one consolation though was that the wind was blowing straight off the airport and we could smell the jet fuel for a stretch of about 3km!

From 35km I picked up the pace to a more reasonable 7m:08/km, but I was still a long way short of my 6m:50s target. It felt like I was working hard, but my heart rate data shows otherwise: I had run out of steam and my heart rate was down to the low 140s.

Just a few more km to go, past the 40km mark, the 41km mark, and then... 2km to go!!! What??? Grrr, if the 41km mark had been accurate I was still on for a new PB, but with 2km to go it was going to be close. My efforts at picking up the pace were not too successful, but with 1km to go I did manage to crank it up and managed to walk the last 1km in 6m:58s.

I was tired and my hip flexors were sore, but I had done it. I had held on to take 2nd place in the men's marathon walk and claim a new PB!

Route (blue) super-imposed on the map from the City Safari.