The 33rd annual great train race, and my second attempt at the daunting Belgrave hills - this year increased from 13.2km to 13.5km
Similar to last year - and probably the 31 other years before as well - waiting for the start we had to endure cold and blistery conditions that is standard for May through to September. The time went pretty quickly as we went to the bag drop - saying goodbye to the last of the warm clothing - and then on a short warmup run.
This year I was just fast enough to sign up for the first of four groups, which was a lot less crowded than all of the others. Smartly they have the group waiting areas away from the starting line, and only allow the runners to go down a few minutes before the 9:30am start. I think this creates a lot less panic and pushing and shoving as people don't think they're missing out on a good spot.
After the traditional national anthem and a word from the driver we were off...sort of. The announcer didn't really introduce the race start well, so when the gun went off the front row wasn't sure if they were meant to start or not. I was about four rows back from the start but as usual I got overtaken by a lot of people off the start. The first kilometre is a great downhill section, but immediately followed by a gentle uphill until the four kilometre mark. The only rain for the day came and went during this section, as did the last remaining McDonald's protesters - significantly down in numbers from last year.
After a drinks break and a couple of kilometres of mostly flat roads I was still feeling alright and improving my position slowly...then we hit the big hill. I think I took the hill conservatively last year so I didn't find it too hard, but trying to do a better time this year it was a much different story. The hill is basically made up of two equal sections. The first kilometre is a lesser slope that gradually wears you down, and the second kilometre is a lot steeper and designed to break you. I like to think of it like a mountain stage of the Tour De France, where one by one the riders (or runners) start to drop off. I was too exhausted to really pay attention to my surroundings, but I don't think many people came past me on the way up, which was my only goal. Jason was just ahead for most of the uphill but dropped back a bit somewhere in the last couple of minutes before the summit.
After a short break at the top of the hill there is a crazy downhill where you have no choice but to ran flat out or risk punishing your legs too much trying to defy gravity. I went way too hard on this downhill not realising the next two kilometres of uphill was just around the corner. Even though this hill wasn't as big it was possibly harder for me because I'd spent too much energy. Somehow I got a second wind after the 9km mark and picked up the pace to reach the 10km train crossing - since I was hearing a few train whistles nearby.
Again I forgot there was one more small uphill to come after the last drink station, but it only lasted about five hundred metres before we had the final three kilometre dash to the finish line. This is my favourite part of the race because it's off road, slightly downhill and the end is in sight. Two guys came past me who were setting a good speed, so I was able to just match their speed. Shortly after I was regretting it as we were going at 3:40/km and I was about to be sick, but I just had enough left to reach the end - just getting through the cruel hill in the last one hundred metres!
According to the official results my final time was
52 minutes and 16 seconds (64th overall) but I think there was a minor glitch in the results somehow and I should have been about thirty seconds slower than that.
