For my May Half Marathon, I ran the Rocky River Run in Rockhampton. This kept me streak of running a half marathon every month in 2026. Following on from the Northburn 100, in April I did a long training run in Melbourne on Anzac day. We were in Rockhampton a couple of days before and I noticed the race, so signed up. No training or planning, just go for it.
Rockhampton put on a good event with 440 runners in the half, with more in the other distances. It was two loops around Rockhampton around the river, past a band and some noisy crowds.
This one started at a great time before the sun came up at 6:15am which meant we got some of the first loop without the blazing sun. The first 10km was around 5:44 pace. Then after that I kept trying to pick up the pace. I got to 5:05 pace for the 15km.
But things started to slow down a bit after that. Despite drinking and eating what I thought I was appropriate, I don't think it was enough to cope with the sun that had come up and was beating down on me. My worst pace in the last kms dropped down to a 5:23 pace.
I know for many people those are slow, but as it turns out I was on pace for a personal best. At roughly 20.5km there was a slight incline, and I slowed down to a walk so I could fiddle with my watch and see if I could figure out my overall time (sometimes its hard without glasses).
And... I sprinted to the end to get my personal best beating the time I got in the First Half, official time 1:58:24. And this time without zero heart problems.
Later on I realized that I was so dehydrated when I kept drinking so much water, for hours after.
It was a great event in Rockhampton and I'm happy I got to run it.