Half Marathon...

Another date to note in my diary: 11th September 2005 - Sydney Half Marathon.

I'm runner number 3398. I understand that there will be far less than the 60,000 City to Surfers taking part in the Half Marathon, so there'll be no excuses about being caught up in crowds. This race uses timing chips, so I can't even play around with my finish time either.

I intend to really make a big effort on the long Sunday runs. That's where I'm going to teach my body and mind how to run for what's likely to be close to 2 hours. Maybe I should introduce some hill training during the week too.

I've run two half-marathons in the past. The first was Portsmouth 1993, where I finished in 1:38 - which was a great effort achieved with particular assistance from the two hares I was running with that day (big thanks to Chris and Simon). The second was Singapore 2001, where I finished in 2:01 (agonisingly close to a round 2 hours).

Now considering that Singapore was typically hot and humid that day, and the organisation was terrible with no water available by the time I reached the water stations (and I certainly wasn't anywhere near the last to reach them) - I should definitely be able to beat the 2 hour mark. I should probably wait until I see how I go in the City to Surf, but if I achieve my target time of 75 minutes there then I should be in line for a 1:55 finish for the half marathon.

But a 1:45 is a much rounder number, isn't it?

Wish me luck!