Firenze 2010

Sosa

dermCu wrote: »

2:45 delighted, tough second half, off to the bar.

Great running derm....well deserved...looking forward to the report

misty floyd

Excellent stuff Derm, congrats and enjoy the craic.

Abhainn

A fine performance and result. You certainly overcame your disappointment earlier this year. Thats the way to do it:)

Krusty_Clown

Well done and congrats on doing it in true Italian style. Delighted for ya.

village runner

great running well done.

theboyblunder

super time! well done, well deserved.

dermCu

Sorry, its a long one:

I was nervous enough at the start line; how could I not be after London? Doesnt matter how many big sessions you've done or how many tests you've had done, there is only one way to find out that you'll be ok in the heat of a race - and I was about to find out.

The trip over was fine no drama, hotel was in a great location (walking distance to the start and finish areas) and the expo was smooth enough if a little uninspiring. Saturday was such a nice day - a bit chilly but clear skies and sunshine would have made it a perfect race day. Of course it goes without saying that race day was the complete opposite - grey skies with constant rain.

The start of the race is a bit of a funny one. They have a shuttle bus up to the Plazza Michelangelo. When we arrived there was only one marquee ( for 9000 people) that I could see which was packed when I got there. Naturally I weasled my way into a corner near the door and settled down to wait for 30 mins nice and dry out of the rain. Then we were marshalled into corrals but that's not the start line so after a wait they walk everyone about 800 meters down the hill to the start. Of course this is Italy so the official start time is a bit of a joke, 10 mins late? 20 mins late? bah we'll start whenever we feel like it!

Bit of a count down, gun goes and my race is nearly over within 1 minute. Its a really fast downhill start on the smoothest road in Florence but this muppet here manages to find what must have been the one and only pothole on that section of road and he goes and sticks his right root in it. My foot started to roll inwards but I just caught it before it got too far. It was still enough to be sore for the next few miles but luckily it wore off after that. A very close call.

Considering how fast it was I was really happy that I held back the first mile to 6:06. After that it was the usual first few miles of people sorting themselves out. I had no problems letting people past me. Off you go lads, I'll see most of you later. After about 5k a bit of a group started to form ahead of me so I made the decision to bridge the gap and run with them. It was a good choice as a few of us stuck together until after half way. I was number 528 and there was an Italian guy who was 527. I thought he was going well so I stuck with him.

Hit half way in 1:21:45 and I was happy. I felt like I had a lot in reserve. I didn't know that I'd need it soon enough. After about 25k we turned north and the race pretty much changed from then on. A dirty headwind popped up out of nowhere and guys started to get shelled out the back of the group until it was just me and 527. We stayed together for a while but things didn't get any easier. Beforehand I had memorised as much of the route map as I could. Considering where the wind was coming from I knew that the next 10k was going to be hard. 527 was slowing. I had another choice to make. Slow with him and try to regroup later or plough off into the sunset on my own. So I headed off on my own. I'm glad I did; the poor bugger blew up and finished in 2:54. Looks like he had a horrendous last few miles.

So for most of the remainder I was on my own. I had to focus hard for the next 10k. Just keeping the same pace actually took a lot of extra energy. I'm interested to hear if other people found that section in the wind as hard as I did. I was passing people all the time but none of them fell in with me. I was hurting when I hit 37k. I had given so much energy to go on my own into the wind that I didn't have too much left and I slowed badly in the last 2 miles. A 6:43 and a 6:38. I only realised at the last corner that my number was half hanging off. I made a half hearted effort to sort it out but as I did a guy in green went whizzing by me - the cheeky bugger, I didn't have time to react and he beat me to the line. I didn't really care. Looked at my watch - 2:45 YES!! Punched the air Misty Floyd style and let out a shout, more out of relief than anything else - I've had my ups and downs and it's taken me a long time to crack out a marathon I was really happy with. It was worth very step along the way.

Its easy to think 'Oh if I'd just held the pace for those miles I'd have ducked under 2:45' - But that's not the way it works. I'm delighted with the way I ran, especially a difficult second half. The stat that I'm really happy with is that I was in 155th place at 5k and I finished in 89th. For every single split time on the results I passed more people than passed me. In fact very few people passed me from 25k on - maybe 2 or 3. Now it's time for a bit of a rest - when the dust settles I'll have a think about what's next but there's a few beers to be had between now and then....

RacoonQueen

Great report. Congrats on the brilliant result.

heffsarmy

Great report, nothing worse than hitting a head wind on the second half off the course. No rest for the wicked, after a great run like that you will have to conquer London.

asimonov

Great run dermot, I cyber-stalked your video and you looked strong till the finish. nice finish btw. Hopefully that's whitewashed london out of your memory

I'll post a report in the events thread later, but i had the same experience in the second half, I found 25 - 35k tough going in the wind and even though i felt good at the time and I was passing other runners, I definitely paid for the additional effort over the last few k.

well done again; its a nice number to have as your PB.