Training Event 2: 16km

Today was training event number 2 for me. After the 14km 3 weeks ago this was the second and last test event for me before the half marathon. This time I had to do 16km - 2 loops of 8km.
The event was out in East Tamaki, about 20km from where I live.
It was pretty much the same deal as 3 weeks ago. It started at 9am and I had to do the course loop twice - just that this time the course was 8km instead of 7.
And let me tell you, I did really well. Actually I surprised myself a little. I finished the first lap in just under 1hour which was already good but I managed to do the second lap at almost the same speed. Overall I finished after 2:02:30. That is a huge improvement from the 14km race which I finished in 1:55:and a few seconds. At the 14km 3 weeks ago I had an average pace of 8:16 min per km. This time my average pace was 7:41 min per km. That is almost the same pace I do during my short 6km run during the week. I'm a little surprised by that myself and of course really happy. It's really great to see the progress I'm making.
So that already tells you that, overall, the race was really good. However, I struggled quite a bit in the beginning. The first 2km are usually good - I'm still fresh and motivated. But then after 2km it starts getting a bit harder and then when I think about how far I still have to go it's really hard to stay positive and motivated. And that is just what also happened today. The course, especially the first 4km, was very winding and lots of little ups and downs which I found quite exhausting and kind of annoying ;-)
But once I had reached 4km it got better. The course got better and the thought that I had already done quarter of the course motivated me. Juts as last time, running past the finish line knowing I had to do the whole thing again was hard. But overall I felt much better than I did during my 14km race. And even now, about 7 hours after I finished I'm feeling OK and nowhere near as sore as I did after the 14km.

I do have to say one thing though. It seems that my idea of "mostly flat" and "minor rollers" is kind of different then the organizers'. On the website they describe the course as:
"The course is 8k loop course over a mainly flat course, it has a few minor rollers but generally this will be a fast course."
I'm sorry, but my idea of mainly flat is something else. There were quite a few ups and downs along the course, OK so they weren't big but still flat is definitely something else. But it's probably good that the course was not completely flat as the half marathon course is definitely not flat, so I need to practice running hills.

Now I have 4 weeks left till the half marathon. And even though today was a good event, I don't think I would have been able to keep the pace up for another 5km, so I still have to do some training. I will do one more long run of 18km, either next weekend or the weekend after, depending on how I feel. Besides that I will do shorter runs and then make sure I'm rested and fit for the half.