Striders 10km

Friday consisted of a long, boozy lunch followed by Annabel's birthday dinner. Lots of tasty food sorely lacking in nutrients and lots of alcohol of various shapes and sizes. Woke up at 6am and figured that since I was awake I might as well do the Striders 10km at North Head. I'm glad I did and I actually felt better running than I thought I would. After rushing to get there (I admit, I drove rather than ran to the start), I set out with Scott, Sam, Ray and Richard at about 3:20 pace.

Unfortunately at about 3km I felt like I just couldn't hold it. I've been trying to focus on "control" when running races; exercising control over my pace so I don't blow up before the end! To that end, I slowed to a manageable 3:35ish pace and led the little pack I was in for most of the race. Unfortunately, my pacing was "too good" and I'd left nothing in reserve so about 4 guys came past me in the last few hundred metres! Ended up coming 22nd in 35:53. Pretty happy with the time as it's only about 20seconds off my PB and I definitely wasn't well enough prepared to be running at my best. I didn't feel nearly as good today as I did last week - I missed that floating feeling, when you feel like your feet are hardly toughing the ground and you're just skimming the surface as you run. I suspect the red wine and pizza didn't help. Sam had another great run, getting in under 35mins.

After the race, Quentin (who came 2nd overall) and I did a few more km's - around the North Head trails, down to the Bower and back. Total of about 17km for the day. Then spent the early afternoon moving a few cubic metres of topsoil from the front yard to the back yard - fun stuff. Turned on the TV late arvo and saw Macca winning his Shute Shield game for Sydney Uni. Yet another corporate athlete: giving tax advice by day and smashing heads on the footy field on the weekend!

Balmoral Burn tomorrow. I'm a little nervous after Tom & Tiger's horror stories. I'll see how it goes.