Run Auckland 21km Race Report

Event - Run Auckland Series 21km
Date - Sunday 11th July 2010
Distance - 21km (Half marathon)
Run Time - 1:33:30
Age Group - 30-39
Age Group Position - 6th
Overall Position - 8th

This event was a couple of weeks ago and the final event in the Run Auckland Series and offered up a 6km, 10km and 21km option and I was relieved that the coach had pencilled me in for the 21km. As always the most important element was the weather and the outdoor air temperature on race morning was 2 degrees - a little brisk! Generally I have been impressed with this race series in terms of organisation - as a winter race series you can't predict the weather - there have been sunny starts, torrential rain starts and very very chilly starts - but the starts up to press have been well managed and we have got away on time - a crucial element if you want to have a good crack at a solid run!

Unfortunately for the last race of the series the organisation for some reason seemed to fall down and we were left waiting on the start line for 26 minutes which in 2 degree winter temperatures is not ideal - particularly when you have handed in your layers at the bag drop before lining up - hence half naked in 2 degrees - you get the picture! So as we huddled together for warmth we were fed updates that the delayed start was due to 'traffic safety management'. Now this would have been semi-believable if it hadn't been for the long line of people stood behind the 'updater' queuing for late entries! Now I have no problem with people leaving things to the last minute and rocking up on the morning of an event to enter but I do have a slight issue with people turning up 10 minutes before the start of race expecting to register and being allowed to do so by the event organisers. For those of us who have entered in advance, got to the start with enough time to complete our usual race morning routines and are ready to go at the advertised time a 26 minute delay is a little hard to swallow - I would have preferred to spend the extra 26 minutes in bed! The start time of a race dictates your preparation for that event - when you wake up, what time you eat, when you do your warm up, when you take that pre-race carbo caffeine shot or whatever you use and so on! Consequently as I waited on the start line for the starting hooter to go I concluded that I could have had 26 minutes longer in bed, I could have eaten my creamed rice 26 minutes later than I did, my warm up run could have been abandoned as I was feeling anything but warm at this point in time and the carbo caffeine loaded GU shot I had eaten was doing a great job of keeping me wired on the start line but would have little effect when it actually came to racing!

Finally 23 minutes after the planned start the updater announced a 3 minute countdown to the start........I really had to wonder why it was necessary for a 3 minute countdown and just as I was about to verbalise my thoughts to my fellow runners there were several murmurs of can't we just go now! But no - so we waited out the 3 minute count down - the hooter sounded - and finally several hundred pairs of numb feet were on their way!

I had decided to try and hold a solid first 10km and then hang on for the remaining 11km! The first 5-6km were pretty flat and fast which played well into the plan! I had lost sight of few other runners I was hoping to pace myself against but there were plenty of other people to keep pushing me along the route! I had seen 'Ernie' one of my previous pacers at an earlier race just before the start but the man who races on coke and jet planes was much to my disappointment nowhere in sight - I was sort of looking forward to the offer of a jet plane further down the track!

Once through the first 6km it was really down to business! This course is hilly and solid with long sharp climbs that just keep coming! I had begun to get a little confused as to how I was pacing as the 6km marker was just a few metres around the corner from the 5km marker! Likewise the 8km marker appeared a little too early in the piece - well either that or I was on fire! As you can imagine my confusion as to actually how far I had run was further tainted by the thought that traffic management had an extra 26 minutes to lay the course out yet the km markers appeared to have been haphazardly thrown out at random intervals - there was no further opportunity along the course to get confused however - the 8km marker was the last marker out on the half marathon course!

The last segment of the course involves running up North Head which offers up some really spectacular views over the Waitemata Harbour! The last 10km of the course is pretty scenic but North Head really is the highlight (quite literally). I've attached an aerial shot to the post for you to get a bit of an idea of the views you would get! Once at the top I knew I was homeward bound and although the legs began to fizzle out a little on some of the downhills there is something about knowing you are on the home straight that gives you that little burst of energy to get you to the finish line! The last km feeds you along the beach for some sand running before hitting the finish line which I crossed in 1 hour 33 minutes and 30 seconds! For a pretty solid course I was happy with that and even more happy when I regained the feeling in my feet an hour or so later at brunch :)