On a cold but dry morning I was in two minds whether to get out of bed for this one. A couple of ales the night before didn't help my decision making process either!
The fact that it was my local race ended up making the difference, and I left home at about 6.20, arriving at the start a little after 6.30am with plenty of time to register and do a small warm up.
Pushed close to the start and got a clean start after the gun.
Went through the first km relatively slowly and tried to pick it up for the next km up to the flat section before the downhill to the roundabout when I again tried to pick up the pace. I was feeling comfortable through this section and felt that I had more in me so kept pushing down to the turnaround part, pacing myself off those around me who I felt were also pushing.
After the turnaround, I again felt strong up the small hill back to the roundabout and back on to the flat section before the small downhill to the car park turnaround area. By this time, despite feeling that I was pushing myself, I was behind where I wanted to be on the watch for some reason. Maybe I was feeling better than I was running? Whichever, there weren't a lot of people coming past me so maybe I was being lulled into a false sense of security.
With that in mind, again I tried to push things up the small hill to the flat section before down to the final turnaround. Just after turning I noticed that I was catching up with a large group and so I decided to try and hang on for as long as I could.
With only a couple of kms left, the group started to splinter and I managed to keep with the leading few down to the car park loop. There were about 4 of us at this point, and with about 200m to go, I did my customary sprint for the line, managing to pick up all but 1 of the group to cross the line in 42.34. Disappointed not to crack 42.30, but still happy with the time.
After a quick recovery I grabbed some fruit and headed home - back by 8.15. So convenient!
When I got home I checked my times for North Head last year and was surprised to see that I recorded 43.30 and 44.11 so I was a lot quicker than that...in fact I was a lot quicker since 2008 when I was cranking out all my PB's!
The aim for Lane Cove has to be early 42's if I am going to give a sub 60 at the C2S a decent crack...
Splits went as follows:
4.14
4.18
4.07
4.20
4.16
4.21
4.16
4.16
4.20
4.05
Quick final km...and overall a little slower than I was aiming for, plus with last month I need to keep the foot down and keep my concentration for kms 6-9.
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