EPIC race report Perth Half Marathon

It was an EPIC race, for both me and Sofia! I am so proud of her and very happy with my performance. As I said, I had little expectation about this race as I feel my mind is shattered these days and I have been tired overall due to intense work. But woooo.. being transported to this beautiful, quiet, calming city, being with family and friends, de-stressed me. I was closer to my A+ goal than A goal.

The half marathon starts at 8am. R and I left our place 7:06am, we walked, and got to the starting line 7:36pm, longer than expected but on time for the assembly at 7:45pm. It as 14C and cloudy.

Once the race started, I told myself, enjoy the race, see what you’ve got. The first mile was slow (8:53) because it was packed, 4800 runners, which was good to start slow for the warm up. Then I went a bit faster but still very comfortable pace and clocked in 8:10 and 8:01. Then my mental calculation started, if I can keep under 25 min per 3 miles, maybe I can get close to my A+ goal. The second 3 block went well, holding on the pace and feeling good 8:03, 8:07, 8:21 (we were in the tunnel for this mile, so GPS was not affected). I took a caffeinated gel at 45 min mark per my coach advice. Once halfway through, I was more confident about getting to at least my A goal. By that time, the sun came out and it was getting hot. There was no shade all the way to the finish, and I could feel the sun was getting annoying, but I told myself, you’ve endured Jakarta heat and humidity, what the little sun could do to you. I kept holding on my pace, starting to pass other runners. It was not comfortable but I knew I could hold on to it. RPE closer to 8 then. It was a calibration exercise, how much to push, how long I could hold, and focusing on the music instead of letting my urge to slowdown. 3rd block 7:55, 8:09, 8:07. Last block, I was approaching the home run, I wanted to leave all I have on the race, so kept passing people, took another gel at 10 mile, and just kept pushing, counting songs to finish the mile. 8:00, 7:56, 8:01. Not comfortable, still in good mental space, optimistic. Last push, I saw the 20km, I forgot the watch, kept on passing people, turned the music off, kept pushing and pushing, my watch marked 13 mile but the finish line was still far, never mind, kept pushing for the victory entrance to the stadium. Last mile 7:54, 0.2 mile 7:32.

Final time: 1:47:10, 497 of 3700 finishers, 90 out of 1800 female, 17 out of 180ish in my age category. That was 8 min PR from my last half marathon in 2016! 8 years older and 8 min faster. So happy!

Sofia started her 4km race at 9:40am. By 10:10am, we still didn’t find her. I thought she took it super easy and was still running. Then I got a call from a local number, Sofia asked someone to call me as she couldn’t find us. To my surprise, she finished under 20 min.

Net time: 19:53, 128 out of 1500 finishers, 43 out of 840 female finishers, 17 in her age category. She really surprised me!!! She didn’t practice run for this race. This performance is all due to her swimming training and mental toughness I guess.

my friend R suffered the heat and had to stop often after 19km as he was feeling very dizzy. There were many runners that didn’t do well and were resting/lying down on the side given the sun and heat. R finished 2 hrs 30 min.

What a fun race. I am so glad I didn’t sign up for the marathon though because those last 10km would have been brutal given the condition, 20C and direct sun exposure.

Things that worked well:

• bringing my whole hydrating. I didn’t stop for water, I bought two small bottles each holding 300 ml with LMNT.
• My sunglass saved my race. UV is super strong in Perth and I couldn’t open my eyes without sunglass after I finished.
• I only took 2 gels and felt stable energy. I was concerned about my stomach acid reflex, but the relaxed vacation mode kept it at bay.
• The course was beautiful the second half as it went around the lake. I actually liked that there was no entertainment, performance, and little crowd cheering runners. It was quiet, only breathing sound of fellow runners, so I could focus on my pace and the view.

Things that could have improved:

• Temperature could have been cooler. We started at 14C but once the sun came out it was 20C.
• The sun was brutal.
• The crowd at the start. I could have gone 30 sec faster in the first mile I had room.

None of these 3 things were under my control so I don’t mind. It was as perfect as I could have hoped.

Clocking 8:07 min/mile for half marathon blows my mind. It is testament of hard work paying off, training working well, and that I can still get faster as I age. 😀