Sunday,,,Hunter Valley Marathon

Got up at 4am. Had 3 slices of toast with Jam & a coffee then went with Nat around 4:45am. We got there about 6:10am. Had a toilet stop then we just fluffed around in the foggy cold until we started.
There were 4 of us together at the 1k mark. Did that km in 4:02 so I let the 3 go & sat back abit. I wanted to do around 4:05 to 4:15 pace. I felt great for pretty much the whole run. Went through 1/2way in 87:28. I kept 4th spot until 30k then was in 3rd place. I knew I couldn't catch the guy in 2nd so just wanted to hold the guy behind me off. I knew he was dying. I started to feel stuffed around 37km at the end of the hill before we cross the road. I still felt ok though and was still holding onto 4:15pace. Not sure what happened but as soon as I got to 39km it all got really tough! This bit is on a dirt path up a slight incline. I got to 41km & my pace had slowed to about 4:40ish. I was coming into the finish & about 50m from the line I saw the guy just behind me. I could hear Charlie & Ken Hickson yelling that he was there. I sprinted that last 50m as hard as I could. I came so close to falling about 10m rom the finish line. Anyway held him off and got 3rd in 3:01:18