The Torrens Classic

So here I was at the Torrens Classic on 18/6 with a firm goal of getting under the hour. My preparation was sound and I was wearing the right gear this time and had not scoffed too much grub the night before and nothing to eat that morning. I also had one of my fellow group members, Phil, out to run with me and assist me with pacing if required.
It was quite an eerie morning actually. The course was run on linear park along the Torrens and it was a beautiful morning, with a bit of fog still lingering. I was standing there stretching before the race, at the start point which was just behind the Adelaide Zoo, and all of a sudden a few of the lions decided to provide a morning wake up call to the rest of the inhabitants. Quite surreal standing there listening to these huge roars in a shallow depression with the fog and sunlight, still sticks in my mind to this day.
Anyway we were off and I concentrated on running a steady pace and getting to the half way mark in around 29 minutes or preferably just a bit under. The course was pleasant but quite undulating with lots of small inclines/declines to keep you on your toes. I concentrated on trying to lengthen my stride somewhat on the declines to maximise speed benefit and pump by arms whilst shortening my stride on the inclines to sort of 'drive' up them. The challenge was then to keep an even pace at the top of the incline and level parts and maintain the gains from those efforts. This was achievable most of the time but struggled at a few points in the latter half when I was getting tired. Phil kept an even pace throughout as he was running to a heart rate of around 140 and at various points was either in front or behind me. We did spend a fair but of the run going side by side and it was great to have someone there to chat with and also to act as a pacer /barometer for my efforts.
We made the turnaround in just over 28 mins so knew that we were in good shape as long as we kept a reasonable pace and although pushing myself, I still felt quite comfortable anyway.
Had a good 2nd half but was tiring a bit towards the end however still managed to pick up speed and bring it home strong in the last k or so. End result was over 4 mins off my pb and a final time of 56:16 which I was very chuffed with. Phil certainly helped me on the day but confident I would have broken the hour regardless, just would not have had that verbal support and 'fixed point' to measure myself against. Even though I was ahead of him at numerous points throughout, it really helped to check my progress when we caught up to each other or he passed me or vice versa. So I had finally achieved my goal on the 3rd attempt to break the hour mark, and had done it convincingly in my own mind too. Where to now I thought...........