Over the weekend Scott Endurance athletes' Marijke Ralph, Carolyn Dews, Michelle Wells, Cathy Tulloh, Steve Newman and myself Ed Birchall, braved the cold start for the SMH Half Marathon in Sydney. The conditions were perfect for racing with clear skies and little wind.

With a narrow start and over 10 000 starters, it was quite slow going to the line after the gun was fired. Eventually I made my way through and started my 21.1km with a fast downhill section to Circular Quay.

As I hadn't raced this course before and deliberately didn't look into the profile of the course, this downhill section took me by surprise and lulled me into a false confidence and was feeling good... That was until a minute later when we had to climb back out of The Rocks. Even with the climb i was feeling ok and realised that I should settle into a more sensible rhythm. The rest of the first lap felt pretty good with a couple of challenging uphill sections leading back up to the start/finish area in Hyde Park.

It wasn't untill halfway through the second lap that i began to feel the burn from trying to up the pace at the half way mark. With an aim of 90minutes in the back of my head and the added goal of trying to beat Marijke!!... I kept pushing on.

In the end I finished in 93.57 which I was very happy with. Especially considering eight months ago in the Sydney Running Festival Half I ran a 1:43:44. So a 10 minute PB is fine with me. Unfortunately for me Marijke did an amazing 89.45 and ended up twelfth in the 25-29 age group... Next year!!

On an equally amazing note, Carolyn finished in 9th Position in the 40-44 age group with a 91.07, Steve finished in 89.14, Michelle with a 120.17, and Cathy (Couldn't find her time in the results, but I'm sure did well).

You can see all the results here and our glamorous photos here