Saturday - Sydney Striders 10km, North Head

Well, that is exactly what I was hoping for! Got up nice and early, did a very slow and easy 5km warm-up to North Head. Saw Andy, and so my goal was to try and stay with him as long as I could (as I know he paces very well, and is currently faster than me). Quite thin in terms of competition at the front end of the field, with no Barts, Tom, Quentin, Scotty, Hoey or Robin. Dave Criniti went off like a rocket (and kept going at that pace for the entire race). Tom Middleton, who is in great form at the moment, was in no-man's land in second, before our little pack consisting of Neil, Andy, myself and Anthony Martin (although I think Anthony was just off the back, but did a great job to stay there as long as he did). The pace felt very controlled for the first few kilometers. Neil put the hammer down at the first hill coming back, at about the three kilometer mark, dropping Andy and I in the process. He continued to gap us over the next kilometer or two. At about the six kilometer mark, Andy confirmed what I had been thinking - we were catching Neil. Andy picked the pace up, dragging me along. I coasted (not by choice) as we approached Neil, and Andy kept going. I stayed right behind Neil until the 8km mark, and feeling good, I really put the hammer down. Neil was gone, and Andy was starting to appear closer. Got to the 9.5km turn around, and then the dreaded final 500m uphill was torture. Any hopes of catching Andy were dashed, as I entered survival mode. Crossed the line in 4th in 34:22/23? So for where I am at the moment, this is a great result! Waited around for some others, got cold, watched the presentations before shuffling home over another 5km. All in all, some really solid progress, and definitely more to come! Planning for a nice and easy long run tomorrow, as I will no doubt pull up sore.