In the picturesque surroundings of Mount Juliet I made my first attempt to the run around the famous golf course, although I spent more time out the back of the estate, than near the golf greens.
I was super surprised with the number of people participating around 640 for the 10km and another 500 for the 20km. Seeing the numbers I was determined to locate a good starting spot as the start line was in a very narrow part of the course. Had a little luck come my way as the start line for 10km was pushed back from the start line of the 20km and so I pretty much ended up right in the first row at the gun.
Now as the run got underway I was now worried that I’d run too quickly for the first 2km given that I might be with a whole load of strong runners up front so keeping my own pace was super important.
I can say that the rear landscape of Mount Juliet is lovely however what isn’t nice is the very stiff long hill out on the back roads towards Stoneyford. That hill nearly stopped me in my tracks and a few people passed which I found a little frustrating. However I did catch a couple of people too so I wasn’t the only one struggling.
After that the run was smooth and I really enjoyed the fact that the run was smooth.
At the very end two guys had obviously saved all their energy for the last 1km as they came blasting by but at that stage I was still happy with the run.
Daniel, MIa, Kate, Sam and Dad in Mount Juliet
I had my little fan club cheer me on at the finish line which was great. Also the estate had put on a great refreshment stand which really helped.
So on the watch I caught a time of 43:55 and off the chip timing 43:55 as well. I’m more or less on track with my times at the end of 2012 which I think is good as I want to built up to have some strong runs and times in 2013. I was 27th out of 633 registered runners, strollers and walkers which for me was a great result. Finally I leave the course also wanting to try a 20km just to see what its like, I’ll certainly aim for this towards the end of March.