Sydney Harbour 10km

Not the result I was looking for! Stubborn or stupid? Probably a mixture of both. Most of those who raced last Sunday were smart enough not to attempt backing up again a week later. Neil, Hoey, Tom, Alex, Macca, amongst many others were wise. Barts and I, however, rolled the dice and probably are both regretting it now. The funny thing was that I actually didn't feel too bad warming up and when the gun went off. My race plan was simply to stay with Barts, given that he was the low-32 minute runner! Got into a back consisting of Quentin, two others and Madeline Heiner - with Michael Shelley, Ben St Lawrence, Vlad, and another guy all out in front. The first few km's were nothing special, holding around 3:16min/km pace. We were exposed to quite a strong headwind upon turning under the Harbour Bridge, which certainly didn't help. At about the 3km mark, Madeline decided the pace was too slow, so made a break. This was make or break for me, so I decided to go with her. Held on and broke from the others. However, I realised that this was a mistake at around the 6km mark, as I started to really drop the pace. I was in no-man's land. I had a very lonely run down Hickson St into a massive headwind, where Quentin and another two guys came past. Quentin told me to hang on, but I had nothing. A dispirited final few km's before crossing the line in my second fastest 10km time ever - 33:12. Very mixed emotions regarding the outcome. On one hand, backing up from the Gold Coast Half Marathon a week earlier was never going to be easy, so all in all, I can't be too disappointed. Furthermore, it is my second fastest time ever for 10km. However, my first 10km of last weekend's race was only 3 seconds slower than today's race. Again, given my half marathon time of 70:18, I really should be able to get at least a very low 32 minute 10km in the bag - and really should consider a sub-32 in the very near future. Unfortunately today was not the day. Oh well, running is full of ups and downs, and after experiencing the highest of highs last weekend, I will take on the new motivation and push myself to new limits! Next up will be City2Surf in 4 weeks (and maybe a Striders race), followed by the Blackmore's Half before the big one - Melbourne Half Marathon where I will aim for 19 seconds faster than last weekend!