Post post post mortem

Further minor thought/excuse development:) re C2B.
I have written in previous posts about my approach to pacing, and whilst still under development and possibly not the best way to go about it, I tend to go out a bit harder (within reason) to get ahead of the pace somewhat, try to maintain in the middle and push again in the last k or two. On Sunday, I ran with a mate who was initially looking for 75 minute'ish pace, but was happy to run together and see how we go. I think that was a factor in the end result.
We ran together for the first 4 or 5 k at which point after looking back for him yet again to see how he was going he told me to 'get going' to which I acquiesced. I then picked up the pace a bit for the next 4 or so k's at which point I was feeling pretty hot and starting to get flat and consequently slowing down, and he caught up to me. We ran together for only a few metres when I had to clear my throat over on the grass and dropped off by 5-10 metres which I never caught up. He ended up staying steady and finished in 68:37 or something which was a great effort given the conditions and his prior expectations. He had been training for this race for some time, as opposed to me training for the half, so was reasonably well prepared.
We got together afterwards for a bbq at his place and talked about the pace and he commented that I seemed just a half to full stride ahead of him during that first stretch and he couldn't quite keep up, which is why he told me to go ahead after 4 or 5k of that. During that part, I felt fine but was not pushing myself aiming to run together and keep each other company, and knew I was going at a reasonable pace and still under 6mins/km but not quite as fast as I would have liked. I reasoned that by keeping a steady pace it would allow us both to achieve a good result together, and also leave me with some energy in reserve for the latter portion of the race. That I don't think was the right approach for me. It clearly was for him, and at the end of the day he did better than I on the day and finished 3 mins or so ahead of me which I think surprised him, so shows how a steady even pace was the best approach for him.
Whether it's the soundest pacing approach or not, I believe I get better results by going out that bit harder, holding it in the middle having built a handy buffer, and hopefully come home with a 'wet sail'.
It might only have cost me 20-30 secs per km for the first 5, but on a day like Sunday where the longer you were in the sun the worse it was, I think that contributed to my result falling short. All of the other things mentioned yesterday, particularily the lack of miles in the legs and extra weight, were no doubt bigger factors, but I think my pacing made a difference too. Absolutely nothing to do with him, he's a great bloke, and I made the decision to run as I did but just trying to think through all the angles. Whenever something doesn't necessarily go as planned, I try to reflect on it a bit and use it as a learning experience to improve for the future and that's all I hope to do with this one.
It's great to run together socially but without being mercenary about it, the best approach for me is to run my own race when it comes to an event, unless I am just happy to have a casual run. It might not have made much of a difference yesterday but I only needed 120 seconds more speed to reach my goal. Next time I will make sure first and foremost I have done the work in training, but will also adopt the best approach for me on raceday. I find that the best operators don't necessarily do one thing 40% better than the rest, they do 40 things 1% better, and that is all I am aiming towards, being the best I can be. My god that sounds like a defence force ad!!! :)
Anyway that's my thought for the day, and I have to say when I started this blog as stated I was doing it more for me than anyone else, and it's turned out to be quite cathartic. It really does help you reflect on things by writing/typing them down, and I now know why so many people keep a diary/journal to record things in. Quite beneficial:):):)