A later start would have been awesome to know about earlier - I had gotten back home at approximately 3:15 that morning, from seeing Beauty and the Beast The Musical in Sydney, where my uncle is playing Cogsworth (which was an amazing show by the way! So good!), and then took the late train back up north - then ate and drank tea for a while, then at about 4am I had a power nap of about 45 minutes (my 'sleep' for the night). So by the time the race rolled around in the early hours of yesterday, I was feeling pretty wrecked - I've said it before and I'll say it again: missing sleep and feeling that tired makes me feel like I'm off my face or drunk! When this was obviously not the case. I can't do an all-nighter and no sleep anymore! Wrecks me. Ohwell. It didn't affect my running too much, I suppose, as I still ran a 1:39 half, however, this is a whole minute slower than my last two races, and not that 1-2 minutes faster that I was aiming for. I couldn't do my usual strong/fast/sprint finish either, and whether this was down to being severely tired and drained from travelling, or the heat of the morning, I'll never know. This race certainly felt a lot harder than the last two races, although it was really great having a local race. Not least for the awesome support network!
I've recently started going to a few events/runs with a local running group, who are phenomenally supportive and enthusiastic! (Not to mention: a lovely group of runners with some excellent banter.) Here is our group photo at the start of the race. Spot the odd one out (yep, time to get myself an official red shirt methinks!):