1 Feb 06, Sunset Series 8km race at the Melb Zoo

12km today and 39km for the week so far. 1/1 runs for the month & 25/32 runs for the year

Its 4.30pm and it looks like I will be wet when racing at the Melbourne Zoo. Race report to follow later on this evening.

Report
Not a bad run tonight...I enjoyed the change of scenery, haven't raced the zoo before and it is one of those courses that you could only compare it to the zoo and not another 8k race. Dirt path, concrete, loose gravel, grass, road/ashphalt & board walk all of the surfaces that we covered tonight.

Race scheduled to start at 7pm, didn't start until 7.30pm, not very good MCS. But as I had little expectations tonight, surprisingly I wasn't too worried about this.

Good to catch up with TigerBoy & Cubs, Eat Em, Pepster, Michelled & finally got to meet Mickatie & also Marty. As well a few CRs, Downunder, Alison, Sparkdriver & another. I also spotted a couple of other CRs not in uniform and also the better half of Journeyman, as well lots of the AV crew in attendance as well. Seemed to be quite a few very fast people. Talking fast, I would have enjoyed seeing the finish of the 4k race, with the first 3 men crossing 13:23, 13:24 & 13:25 (from memory), whilst I have seen and heard of faster, three men coming down that last 500m would have quite exciting!

Anyway my race report is without a finishing time, because I have forgotten how to use my watch properly and I looked at the walkers finishing clock and not the runners :roll: :roll: :oops:

Started off to far back from the start line, was passing way to many people, I need to remember to this for the next race, probably 5-8 deep from the starting line would be appropriate, not 7-8 seconds back, too far. As I said before I didn't have expectations of going to fast tonight, lack of quality sessions in past month and racing last night, so I started in control. I suspected that most of the crew mentioned above were sitting just behind me, TB, EE, Mick, Pep & TB's mate (Mick too???), but 'not surprisingly around the 500m mark the familar figure of TB moved past me :roll: , basically we were along side each other, TB asked for a 1k split 4:03.... then he moved ahead of me, I moved past TB around the 1500m area, but he did past me again in the zoo (great start TB). After a few windy paths in the zoo, finally a straight, I spurted and moved past about 10 people, hit the 3k mark outside the zoo and realised then I had stopped my watch and not hit the lap function, going again, so I have missed 2kms worth of time. On the start of the second lap (forgot to check the time) I felt very much in control, I probably should have picked up the pace a little here to take advantage of some room and flat, but didn't :roll: . On entry into the zoo, I got stuck behind a couple of slower guys and hip & shouldered a bin, too fast on a few other corners which in turn slowed me a bit. Started my run to the finish at the 6k mark (probably 500m too early), struggled mentally in the last 700m or so, but got through, should have been more confident and guts it a bit more.

I suspect my time is in the mid 32 minute area, which I'm kind of happy with. Splits: 1k - 4:03, 4k - 4:05, 5k - 4:02, 6k - 4:14 (windy paths), 7k - 3:57, 8k - 3:57