Saturday - Sydney Striders 10km, Homebush (34:08)

Really happy with this, as I completely trained through it, and it actually felt more like a 10km tempo run than a race (intensity-wise), so that is super encouraging. Slowly building my confidence back, which has been shattered from the events of this year. Rocked up to Homebush for a freezing reception. Did a shorter warm-up than usual (3km), turned up to the start line and was stoked to see Gary Mullins turn-up (he's in great form at the moment, having just run a 33:20-something two weeks ago in Launceston). So the plan was to try and stay (and work with him where I could) with him. As it turned out, this was excellent as we both shared the work throughout. A few times towards the end he would put the hammer down - but to no avail. We got to the final kilometer and I was feeling fine (I'm super cautious though, as I know that I can redline suddenly with no warning in the 10km). Made sure I held back to save myself for that stupid bridge at the end - which was my mistake. In hindsight, I should have made my break here, but a lack of confidence saw me just sit there and bide my time. Got to the bridge relatively fresh, but my lack of top end speed and lost hill strength saw Gary push ahead for the final 100m. I honestly didn't care that much, as I crossed the line just behind him in second place for 34:08. So very happy with the time (fastest since Sydney 10 in May 2016), especially on the slowest of the Striders' courses. Even better was the fact that, although spent as I crossed the line, I kept the effort firm and controlled (and probably could have taken a good 20-30 seconds off this if my life depended on it). A nice 5km cooldown with Hamish and Stephen before collecting a bag with a nice Mizuno t-shirt and water bottle for claiming a podium (much more generous than anything Fairfax could offer). 18km all up. Not sure if I will race the SH10 next Sunday, I kind of want to simply focus on getting some solid and consistent training in over the next six weeks in the lead up to the C2S, Blackmores, and perhaps (if all goes to plan) Burnie 10.