Sydney 10 - Sub 33!!!

Finally felt ok upon waking this morning, the first time in over a week. By all sounds of it, the rain had subsided - but for how long was the question? Got out to Homebush, spent about 30 anxious minutes lining up to register (there was a massive que), but thankfully the organisers let common sense prevail and adjusted the starting time by 15 minutes to an 8am gun time. I actually took my warm-up seriously this morning, and got in some really solid strides - much longer than normal as well! The race plan was to go out and try and sit with the leading female runners - Gwen Jorgensen from the USA, and Eloise Wellings from Australia (as they ran mid and high 32's last year respectively). Given that my goal was 33 minutes flat, I reasoned that if I could keep them in site (especially Eloise), then I may be in with a chance. The other key for my strategy to work well was to NOT go out too hard (which I am infamous for doing so)!

The gun went off and, as usual, I probably went a bit harder than planned - purely so I didn't get stampeded on though. Got through the first km quicker than planned - 3:04. Found Eloise and her pacer, and just sat with them - confident that their pacing would see myself hit a low 33 10km. Went through the 5km mark setting a new PB of 15:59 - which made me slightly concerned. The pack of runners ahead started to disintegrate from about 7km onwards, so we started peeling them off one by one. At 8km, I was in a world of pain. A good strategy that I find helps is to visualise where this would be on my normal run - the thought of Manly to Queenscliff SLSC made it slightly easier. A nasty hill at the 9km mark and entrance into the stadium ripped my soul apart, but given that I was on for sub-33 even if I had have jogged the final 400m lap of the track, I was relaxed. Crossed the line in the official time of 32:48 - a massive 51 second PB (and the single biggest chunk I have ever taken off a 10km PB, so very satisfied)!

A big thank-you to Sean Williams and Keith Bateman, who have helped me immensely over the past 6 months with coaching and technique respectively! Also a massive congratulations to everyone else out there today, PB's or no PB's - it was a great event all around! I'm going to savour this one for some time, as cracking 32 minutes for 10km is a whole other level - one that I am not entirely sure is genetically possible for myself to achieve!

Lastly, a massive congratulations to Barry Carey on absolutely smashing his previous 10km time by more than 2 minutes, running an impressive 35:15! At that rate of progression, he will be one to watch out for in the not too distant future!