Six Inch 2008

Six Inch was good this year, I had been getting back into running again after some down time and had my sights set on a good time. 4:10 was the goal (1hr slower than my marathon pb) although I knew that a good day would see me closer to 4hrs. The climb up goldmine hill is always tough however I think I was better prepared this year. Was in 6th place, which was a bit of a surprise and passed duffer half way up, I don't think he liked that as he soon passed me again and I didn't see him till the finish. Towards the top of the climb I went passed John Nuttall, but he too passed me as the course flattened out. I could see Epi just ahead and I knew we would be running a similar pace so set my sights on catching him and having some company.

4k in 21.04 and a few seconds behind Epi but not too concerned, caught him just after whittakers mill and we ran together for about 10k. We were in 5th and 6th at the time, which was a little unexpected given how fast we were running and then when I heard footsteps behind us I thought, "For goodness sake! Who's passing us now!" It turned out to be Jason O'Hanlan who had got lost and was just repassing us. A minute later the track makes a left turn and Jason kept going straight, we called out to him but his Ipod was on so loud that he didn't here us, we were screaming at him but nothing. We briefly thought about chasing him but he was going about 30s/km faster and we probably would have stuggled to catch him.

We past 10.5k in 53 minutes so were well up on my 4:08 splits. I decided to have a gel and whilst going up a hill Epi started to pull away, don't think he picked up the pace I was just taking it easy going up. Let him go as the early pace was making me feel a little tired and there was a long way to go. I soon lost sight of Craig however I was still under my 4:08 splits so I though that he was going out too hard and would blow up, after all his goal was 4:15.

Struggled coming into the drink stop however I saw Craig leave just before I got there so I figured he had about 1 minute on me. Went straight past the drink stop, not a second to lose. I knew Craig could climb quicker than me so wasn't expecting to pick him up too soon, more like around 35k, but I kept pushing hard trying to make up time. Made the conveyor belt in 2:23, only 2 minutes ahead of my splits, so again tried to up the pace.

Made it through 'Snake Hill' at Oakly dam this year which was a relief and then focused on the 35k mark. Reached it in 3:02.14, almost six minutes ahead of time. This was always going to be my reassessment point to see whether sub 4hrs was realistic. I needed to run the last 11k in 57:46 to go sub 4hrs and that was close enough so I went for it. Was still a couple of minutes behind Craig, but expected him to blow up over the last 10k so was confident I could catch him. I'm an Ultra runner, so pride myself on finishing well in any race and I knew I could run well to the end. At Marrinup there's 5k to go and I reached it in 3:35.04 - 24.56 for the final 5k was going to be tough but possible. Still hadn't seen Craig and at this point I started to realise that he must be running a blistering race and gave up thoughts of catching him. Well done Craig on a great run, the thing that came to my mind was "Fortune favours the brave." I let him go at about 16k because I didn't want to push too hard too early, he did and it paid off.

The last 5k were a struggle and that tree over the track really didn't help. At 3:57 I realized sub 4hrs was going to be out of reach but only just. The disappoint was evident as I crossed the line in 4:00.34, just seconds from breaking 4hrs and less than 3 minutes behind Craig. Felt fine afterwards and thoroughly enjoyed chatting afterwards over a few beers and some good food. Thanks to everyone for making the run what it was, after running all 4 races I can honestly say this was the best one yet.

P.S On the drive back we saw Christian running back to North Dandalup along Del Park Rd. Stopped and gaave him some water a had a quick chat, the man's a machine and I was a little envious that he would end up with 70k for the day. Awesome effort.

Nate