10km | Race | 42:56 PB I was collected in the Blkbox mobile bright and early and we headed out to Manly for our first Striders North Head run. I took a couple of voltaren rapids for the pesky calf early on and lined up this morning without any real expectations. I said to Will (who was marshaling today) that I would just shoot out for a few Kms and see how I feel. That's probably not a very sound race tactic, but I was secretly concerned about doing damage to my calf, seeing that I have three important 1/2 Marathons coming up in the next 3 months. At the gun I took off chasing the 45m pacer and aimed to get ahead of him by the 1km mark, surge in the second km so that I could settle into an even pace by 3 or 4km and try and hold on. The pesky calf spoke to me a few times up to 4km mark but seemed to settle down slowly once it got warm. So I decided I could got for it. At the 5km mark the lungs were burning and the legs tired. So I latched on to a bunch of fitter-younger-stronger Striders ahead of me and relied on them to pull me home. Many thanks to Strider Paul if your out there. It was his encouragement that got me to about the 9km mark. Anyway from what I saw my splits are as follows: 04:14 01km 04:11 02km 04:12 03km 04:13 04km 04:22 05km 21:11 04:23 06km 04:25 07km 04:19 08km 04:28 09km 04:08 10km 42:56 From my Lane Cove run last month which gave me a 44:04 PB, the minute better time today I guess is about right, seeing I wasn't climbing up any hills like Scribbly. Looking at my splits, it looks like I went out too hard again *rolls eyes*. So with a bit more training (and maybe start some intervals after the Sydney half) I can see the potential of even better results in the future. Mood: --->

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