Warwick Part II

I hardly remember the road trip or even what Tesso, Glenno, Lizzo and I talked about (they don't all end in o's but I was on a roll). Warwick is a small country town, 2 hours drive from Brisbane but it seemed to take no time to get there. It is a rural farming town that sits on a plateau next to a mountain range that has heavy forest and spectacular rock formations. I had the usual restless night before running and the start of the half-marathon was a small gathering of about 100 runners doing their best to stay warm in the thick fog.

My plan was to practice race strategy by starting easier than normal and negative split the race. Clairie promised that she would stay with me at 5 min per K pace, although it turned out a little quicker, even though we had gone our separate ways after the first few metres or so. What happened at around the 14K mark completely changed the whole weekend for me.

Tara came strutting past looking fresh and gave out a spritely "hello". I just about stumbled off the road into the gutter, I was so stunned to see her. I'm pretty sure I said something like "What the hell are you doing here?". It had never occurred to me that the people I enjoy long runs with every Saturday would be running around me during a race. Previously we had spread out, some in front and some behind, but never constant passing and being caught by each other in a race. Tara surged ahead and then slowed on a hill which allowed me to pass. She caught up with 2K to go and we stayed together until about the last K when we gathered a little momentum. Tara surged and left me with 500 metres to go and had about a 20 metre lead. She seemed to slow a little nearing the end of the race and I measured a fast finish to pass her at the end. The honorable thing would be to cross the line together, but Tara wasn't exactly waiting for me!

After the half marathon we headed out to a dust bowl to gallop around 4.6K of equestrian jumps. This time I didn't dare look behind me after the start and wasn't at all surprised to see Liz fly past as she is all head down and flat out on such runs. Tara popped up at 2K with another spritely "hello" but didn't stay too long ahead of me this time. Now I can look back and see how the various strengths of each person really showed over the weekend. Liz with her determination, Nick's ability to kick when challenged, Clairie's strength on the hills, Tara's strong efficient style over distance and Ciaren's speed launching down blistering the 1500m course.

The third race hit me really hard .....................