Rottnest half went very well. Trusted in my training and yet again it delivered. Finished with a comfortable second place after racing for the first 2 kilometres and then realizing that my opponent was running my 5k pace and was relaxed doing it. I had discussed the start with my friend (coach?) Dan Macey last night and his final words were go out slow and build into it. I did smile to myself when the first kilometre came up at 3:15min/k with the second only marginally slower. Time to wave goodbye to Stuart Caulfield, the winner by over 3 minutes in the end. Please note Stuart was running in the 20-24 age group. Doesn’t matter how much training I put in, age and talent will always beat plain hard work unfortunately. It was nice to keep Stu honest if only for 2k !

After Stu left I settled down in to a pace I was confident I could maintain to the finish and was happy with a 1:17:06. The conditions were brutal and I felt for the marathon runners. This year was the first year the marathon started nearly 2 hours later than normal and the weather had not been kind. I was done by 9:45am but most of the marathon runners had not even hit halfway. It got very warm very quickly.  So massive kudos to anyone who ran the marathon today, you earned your medal.

It wasn’t easy  running the half and seeing all the marathon runners working so hard. Running 2 laps on Rotto’ is hard work but the 4 lap course tests you like all good marathons should. Add in the 4 hills (I missed one when I was discussing Rotto’ a few days ago!) and times that by 4 gives you 16 hills and the heat was brutal..  All my friends reported suffering to new extremes and I was very quiet when asked how the half went. Couldn’t really compete with their ‘war stories’.

So todays lesson is again ‘trust your training’, if you put in the hard yards you will be rewarded on race day. I’ve said it so many times but this needs to be repeated, running is an honest sport, if you put in the time you will be rewarded. I’ve questioned myself over the last 4-5 weeks as I’ve been running some serious kilometres and then racing at the weekend. So far I’ve not been let down. Now though it is taper time and this is a difficult time for us runners. We love to run and the thought of not running does not excite me but I realise it is for the greater good.  I must admit to sneaking out for a 10k recovery this afternoon but I did take it easy and I’m a big believer in the benefits of running on fatigued legs.

So I have a week in Rotto with the family for the first week of my taper culminating with the 5k World Masters track on Saturday. This is a starter for the main course on November 6th, the marathon. ( http://www.parth2016.com ) It’s been a long journey to this race and I can see the finish line, just got to try and not run as much as normal. How hard can that be ?

Finally a bit shout out to Thomas Millard who ran 3rd male in the 5k and also first in the under 12, 20:25. It gets better, his sister, Jessica, was first female in the U12 and 7th female overall, 25:12. That is great running and the two of them are certain stars of the future. What a family, must be something in the water in that household. Outstanding.