King of the Mountain 16km ; 5th in 1:02:55

Really, really cold. The car said -2 degrees at Mundaring Weir. There was a bit of a breeze too to add some zing. Standing on the start in my Strands singlet waiting for the off I thought my nuts were going to fall off – I was starting to feel hungry as well – whoops! I also had a scratchy throat from being out the night before in a really load pub to celebrate a few folk’s recent races and a commencement of their time off. Didn’t really have an opportunity to do much of a warm-up, so a little after my Torq+Guarana Gel we were off.

Felt OK at first but soon the cold was starting to hurt my lungs – I was hoping it would pass and it did, but only after about 10k. Again I started to feel a bit stronger as it went on. A good turnout for the race ; Ingraham, Busi(!), Lee, Stockwell, Fuery etc.

The first creek was much lower than in previous years, so I only really got one foot wet ; the other a bit damp... was confused by the marshall direction here so lost about 10 seconds going the wrong way, so unfortunately lost touch with Liam. I'm easily confused when it's 2 degrees and I'm running hard.

I was overtaken by a couple of guys mid-way through, but I never let them get too far ahead ; It was weird, there was a string of 5 of us – the gaps lengthened down the hills, but compressed up the hills. About 5k from the finish I could tell that Stockwell and a couple of others were starting to struggle up the hills, and the line started to break up a bit.

I managed to pick off the first two to move into 6th,and then just before the big hill to the finish I overtook Stephen. I fully expected him and the stronger of the other two to flash past at any point. They never did ; the guy behind was struggling as much as I was and I managed to hold him off, and Stephen ended up being 15 seconds back.

Thrilled with the run in the end, I didn’t feel too flash but stuck it out and got a result. 11 minutes quicker than my effort in 2007 – admittedly that was 3 weeks after my first marathon.

Its a great event, with a good atmosphere and a nice breakfast supplied at the finish. It’s a tough run – the elevation profile doesn’t do it justice – its pretty bumpy with a lot of steep ups and downs. The Choo-Choo was ideal preparation though, I reckon it helped me outlast runners who would normally beat me.