Run 2:42:00 [3] 34.2 km (4:44 / km)
Headed out earlier than usual for a winter Sunday, with the plan being to get back in time to watch the women's marathon (which started at 9.30).
I hadn't planned to go into the 2.40-plus range, but, with the assistance of a non-existent bridge across the new freeway in a place where I thought there was one, it became apparent at the far end that this one was going to be longer than intended. For the first half it was a steady but rather slow run, plugging away without a lot of inspiration through the hills of Templestowe and Donvale, but once it was clear that this was going to be a particularly long one I was happy with the way I settled into concentrating on the job at hand. A brief flat spot around 2.20 but finished off strongly; would certainly have had some more distance left in me (and might have thought about doing so had I not had other plans involving watching other people running for a similar length of time at somewhat higher speed). Picked up my pace significantly in the second half and was at 4.30 pace for the last 15k, although the terrain helps there - it is almost all either flat or gently downhill.
Watching the Beijing marathon was an interesting experience, not only because I knew somebody in the race (we got to see Lisa exactly once, at the 15k mark, but to come in the top half and get within two minutes of your PB in Beijing's conditions is a pretty respectable effort), but also because I've run significant parts of the course before when I was there in 2005, especially the bit from 38 to 40k which was the standard route back to the hotel (although I was dodging the vendors on the footpath rather than chasing the blue line on the road). At least the conditions were a good deal more pleasant than some of what we had to deal with in 2005.