This year's race was looking like being the first wet race with an unprecedented amount of rain throughout the night. Lucky for us, Dave had organised a designated driver for the day so we were able to stay dry on the way to the race, and the MCG had good cover close to the start line as well.
About five minutes before the race we headed off to the start line, Dave jumped in to the Red group queue and Jason and I went up to the "preferred" group with about one hundred other runners - most better than me. Nobody actually checked if we were meant to be there, so anyone could have managed to sneak in probably.
For a change the race began on time, and without a pack of runners to navigate through it was clear running from the start - first down a big hill and then back up it on the way to Federation Square. The rain was still quite heavy so it wasn't a lot of fun, but if the weather radar was to be believed it wouldn't stick around for the whole race.
After turning on to St. Kilda Road we did a loop through the Burnley Tunnel and came out behind the Arts Centre before rejoining St. Kilda Road. At the entrance to the tunnel was a big speaker stack playing a song that sounded very familiar but I was sure it couldn't be...but it was, the Pokemon theme! That was pretty good for motivation, as I was already starting to fall behind Jason a little bit but managed to catch up after the tunnel.
So back on to St. Kilda Road after the first drink station, we were already through to the four kilometre mark and the rain was just starting to clear up. I was already feeling like I'd been pushing too hard so had to back off just a little - the road is a gentle slope down to Albert Park but we also had a strong wind coming in the opposite direction which negated all of that.
I was feeling pretty dead as we turned into Albert Park and passed the next drinks station after seven kilometres, but then had a bit of a recovery which didn't last long. Albert Park is used in a lot of these races and I always find it mentally tough because of the wind and the long straights that feel like they go on forever. By the time we'd made it half way around the lake I was struggling again as we reached the ten kilometre mark, I was a good ten seconds behind Jason now and looking unlikely to catch up - a couple of people had overtaken me for the first time in the race as well. There was a small high school band set up just after the drinks station who were starting to play Spiderbait's F**ken Awesome which was also a great choice, maybe not as good as Pokemon though.
I just tried to zone out on the way back to Fitzroy Street, and attempted to maintain a pace under four minutes per kilometre. There was finally some relief as we got another downhill section to head for the home stretch along Beaconsfield Parade, but once again a strong wind had picked up at the worst time - Dave was back on Albert Park at this point and got caught in the rain, somehow we managed to just avoid it's path. Finally turning the last corner I was surprised how close the finish line was, since the end of the race was dramatically different to previous years. I did as much of a "sprint" as I could manage, I didn't catch anyone but I wasn't overtaken either, so consider that a success.
At the finish line everyone is a winner (gets a medal) along with free Gatorade drinks, Chobani yoghurts and bananas - almost worth their weight in gold at the moment, so not a bad selection. While waiting for Dave we went for a cool down jog further down Beaconsfield Parade which was freezing cold with the wind coming off the bay - half of the road was flooded from the rains too.
We just missed Dave coming across the finish line, but found him a few minutes later at the drink station - they don't call him Drink-Station Dave for nothing! Final results:
Jason 57:18 (74th)
Brad 57:57 (88th)
Dave 1:22:22 (2948th)
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