As I predicted in my post last week Nic Harman did break Robert De Castella’s (Deeks)  Darlington half record today. Deek’s had ran 1:06:50 the day of his wedding and that record had stood for over 20 years. Today Nic ran a 1:06 dead to become the fastest runner to conquer the Darlington hills on the 50th anniversary of the event. In Deek’s defence Nic has no plans to get married today so he was probably a little more focused than Deek’s when he ran today.

So how good is Nic ? He has a PB for the half of 1:03:46 set in Cardiff this year as a member of the Australian Commonwealth team and he is at that stage in his career when every run is a personal best. (How I miss those days but unfortunately Father Time seems to have caught up with me , finally! ) If he was to find four minutes for the half he’s running sub one hour and all of a sudden he’s playing with the Kenyans and setting Australian best times. Of course finding four minutes is a big task but he is up for it and has the right team behind him to achieve this and more beside.

Speaking to Nic after the Darlington half this morning it’s clear his new goal is the marathon and specifically his first in July this year, the Gold Coast Marathon, on the 7th.  To me the marathon is the perfect distance for Nic , he is the ideal weight,  has the mental toughness required to compete at the highest level, the boy is focused , motivated and has Raf in his corner. Put all that together and you have the possibility of greatness.

Right enough about Nic , a talented runner with his whole glittering career ahead of him and more hair than is fair ! Let’s talk about a runner hanging on for dear life before being dragged, kicking and screaming,  back to the pack with very little hair, which is unfair. After such a long lay off I always knew Darlington was going to be mentally and physically tough. I was not let down on either count. At 5k I was ready to pull the pin and started to think about all the posts I could write on failure and taking the positives from the negatives. It was only my good mate the T-train ( https://www.tonysmithruncoaching.com ) catching me at around the 5k mark that kept me honest. I slotted in behind Tony for a few kilometres and left the group I was running with and continued up the hill.

As you can see from the elevation below Darlington is about 12k up hill and 9k downhill (I’m never sure how that works but there is a loop you don’t run on the way back?) Anyhow I convinced myself things would be better on the final 9k and if I could get to this point I could ‘stumble’ home for a semi-reasonable time. So between 6k and 12k I got my head down and just kept Tony in sight as he gradually moved away from me.

As with all racing it’s easy to think you could have gone faster when you’re sitting at your computer screen, freshly showered and fed and watered. All of a sudden you think you could have gone a few seconds faster here, pushed a bit harder there but truth be told people you ran your heart out and there probably was nothing left in the tank to give. Well that’s racing for me and today was no different. I was not a pretty sight at the end of this little adventure but I’m blaming the humidity which was brutal.

Right we left with me watching the T-train disappear into the distance hanging on to a top 10 position with the downhill section of the race ahead of me. Not much to report on this part really , got my head down and knew if I could maintain some resemblance of pace I’d be a shoe in for a top 10 , which before the start was the main goal. I’ve raced Darlington seven time before and on a few occasions I’ve ‘exploded ‘down the hill hitting times I have never repeated on the flat, today was not going to be one of those days. My splits were best described as consistent and my last 5k was the quickest but really this is a given at Darlington. That’s not to say it’s easy , you just go faster for the same amount of pain ! The Nike Vaporfly 4%’s flyknit’s got their first hit out and I am happy to report they are even better than the original versions. Lighter and more ‘bounce‘  and they fitted perfectly. Thankyou Nike, we really are not worthy.

Finished in 1:22:55 which of course will be rounded down to 1:22 at work tomorrow, sounds so much better and no need to bother non-runners with seconds, it confuses them. I think I was 9th ( mainly due to runners ahead of me deciding to reinvent the course and getting lost within spitting distance of the finish. ) which will be great is that is confirmed and pretty sure I was the ‘first old bugger‘ as Tony puts it. (50-55 age group) All in all a very successfully day but not for all.

Jon had decided to sacrifice a good time at Darlington by watching Kylie Minogue last night and taking on board 6 beers and a bottle of wine. Let’s just say he was not firing on all cylinders and looked like death warmed up at the finish. Certainly proves the well held theory that alcohol and racing really do not mix, like beer and wine eh Jon ? H made up for his slow running by driving like ‘Michael Schumacher on meth‘ to and from the event, blaming his BMW , apparently that’s the way you have to drive it? He also wore the oldest and most worn racing flats I have ever seen. Jon is famous for running the Rottnest marathon in 2017 and then attempting the 5k straight after, with his kids, when the soles of his racing shoes came away from the rest of the shoe, the show literally broke in half !  Jon likes to get his money’s worth from his trainers!

So the lesson learned from today is trust in your training and although it would be easy to pull the pin early that initial feeling of despair , and ‘total abject pain‘ will normally subside over time. Your training will eventually kick in and some sort of bearable pain threshold achieved, this is racing. Nothing beats a bib on your chest and the feeling your heart is about to explode through your ribcage, nothing. The benefits far out weight the pain that you need to put yourself in during the event, you come out the other end a better runner.(or in Jon’s case ….sober!)

I’ve always maintained the fastest way to improve is to race, as much as humanly possible, after your initial “building” training block of course. (and maybe a speed block and some resting ?, check out anything by Arthur Lydiard.) I’m hoping today will be the springboard to a reasonable 10k next Sunday and then maybe, just maybe, the Bunbury Marathon in April. I won this event in 2013 and went back in 2014 fitter and more focused than ever but totally blew up at 10k, made for a very painful lesson. Haven’t been back so it’s about time I returned to right a few wrongs….

Apart from the start line this is the closest I got to Nic all day ! The boy is quick….