I stepped up to the startline and put my race head on. Before I knew what I was doing I had barged past everyone to toe the front place. "GO!" (no gun here, no timing chips) and I quickly got into a rhythm. One or two guys cleared off straight away, and another couple were also pretty fast. I settled into 5th or 6th and felt good. My HR was comfortable, so my only limiting factor was going to be my leg power. I say "only" but obviously that is a fundamental aspect. What I mean is that I was able to assess within a mile how I was going to perform, with few variables or unknowns. My power is my limiter in swim, bike and run. My aerobic capacity is fine, and I've got plenty to spare. That isn't the good news you might think it is. The negative aspect of that is the fact that I haven't got as much power as I could use. In swimming I can put every fibre of my being into it, landing at the finish completely spent and breathless - and my HR is only ticking over. That's how bad my swimming is. On the bike I am training very hard, and very smartly. I'm using power ratings, masses of technology, a personal coach, and state-of-the-art training programmes, so the story is similar but not as bad. I can generate enough power to get my HR to about 80%. Running is closer together, and I can get near to my HR max, but I still have an excess of aerobic capacity over power output. Again, the down side is that I should be able to produce more power but can't. However, the good side is that I can pull out a sprint finish..... There was a small group of us, mostly at the same pace, but 2 started to pull away. It was tempting to go with them, but I wasn't confident enough and I let them go. I focused on the rest of the group, knowing that it was unlikely that anyone else would catch us. One guy accelerated every time I came to overtake him, then he'd slow down again until I caught up. As I tried to go past him again he speeded up again. While this was annoying I didn't let it bother me, as I knew he was wasting energy and I'd take him later, so I was patient. I was running at a consistent 7:50 pace which was ahead of my target, and I knew I could hold that and still do a negative split. It was warm, but I was coping with that no problem at all and making sure I took on water at every aid station - about one every 3 miles. At the turn round I had the chance to eye the opposition. I calculate that I was in 9th place but it was a little bit confusing as there were people in the mix who were clearly not doing a half but might have been in the 10K race. I might have been 10th or 11th. I got past the guy who had been irritating me and I had another couple close behind but at this point at least, not a threat. I was quite a way off the next couple up ahead and I took stock. My pace had been good at 7:50; I was now doing 7:45; my HR was well in control and not drifting up too much; I was coping with the temperature; I was hydrating well. I didn't feel the threat from behind was anything I couldn't cope with - I'd watched, listened and learned how they were coping and I felt like I could beat them all. I was annoyed that one of the guys I'd let go early on was only a little way ahead - probably too far to catch but I knew I shouldn't have let him go when I did. I cursed myself for my weakness. The other "escapee" was further up the road, so I might have 10th, and 9th was a possibility but a long shot. I'd passed all the Pasadena Pacers except one, and he was long gone and out of sight; I could have relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the run at that point. I was going to get 1:40 for sure. But I wanted a top ten, and I might just be outside of that. Just at that point a guy came past at a hell of a rate, together with a girl who was slightly behind but clearly faster than him. Where the hell did they come from? It looked like they were in a different race, but we weren't back on the joint course with the 10K so it couldn't be from there. I was shocked and upset. Where was I now? not in the top ten for sure. We hit a hill, and I started to get the guy back, as he slowed dramatically. The girl just ran away, there was no chance of catching her, but the guy was struggling. I went past him and didn't look back. I don't know where he came from and I don't know - or care - where he went, but he was gone as quickly as he'd arrived. I thought I was 10th, but still might have been 11th. I was about 150 yards down on the next guy and about 250 yards on the one on front of him. I started to make sure my pace was enough to get close, and as I did so, I started to assess how strong he was. He had to know I was coming, as I was obviously breathing hard and there is no noise in the desert. He would obviously know that I had made a big effort to catch him so if he had more that would be a problem, but I stayed as even-paced as I could. As it turned out I just slowly caught him up and drifted past. No response. The next guy was now the target. I marked his point, and counted strides until I reached it: 23. I did it again. 22. Again. 21. I worked out how far to go, using Garmin not vision. Visually, you just couldn't tell - I'd been looking at the finish line for a while but there is little in the way of reference points. Later on, as we drove towards Las Vegas I could see it from about 30 miles away but it looked like it was 3 or 4 miles away! I figured I could get him, and I wanted to take him down. I was edging closer but was running out of race. I knew that we were so close to the finish line he wouldn't go down without a fight. I sized him up, lined him up and then upped my pace to gap him. I could feel him coming back and I surged again. With about 100 yards to go I felt like I had it, but I gave it everything to make sure. I was flowing, and fast; my form was good, and I held on. It felt bloody great. I had come in 8th, out of 200 starters. very happy with that! I don't really understand where the form came from, and I wished I hadn't been so negative about the race beforehand, but it was a good outcome. I came 8th, and I won my age category. I also got a t-shirt!
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