Saturday - Parkrun

I’m loving my Saturday morning Parkrun’s, a massive change in mentality from just a few weeks ago. Quite a humid and windy morning, not the near-perfect conditions of last week. Looked around the start line to see if I had anyone to race against, and didn’t recognise anyone. The gun went and a guy who I see running around Manly most mornings (I later found out he is a triathlete named Chris) was off to a flying start, really pushing the pace. I wasn’t sure whether he would be able to sustain it or not, but I ensured he didn’t get too far in front. Nevertheless, the first kilometer was definitely a bit too quick (3:10 into a moderate headwind). I could hear someone on my tail, discovering it was Harlan (the quick young kid who beat me two weeks earlier). This was great news, as I knew he would be fast. So I sat with him as we wheeled Chris in over the next 500m. From the 2-3km mark it was a bit of cat and mouse between the three of us. I’d sit there in behind them, get frustrated as the pace felt slow, take a lead, watch the two of them sit on me, so I’d sit on them. At the three kilometer mark, Harlan and myself put in a bit of an effort to drop Chris. Then it was much of the same - cat and mouse until the bridge at 600m to go. The only chance I had to beat Harlan was gone by this stage, as I’m never going to get him over a sprint finish. And so it was, with about 300m to go he went for it leaving me in his wake. Got home second in 16:23/4 (3:17’s), fractionally slower than last week (but in much tougher conditions, and in what felt much easier intensity-wise thanks to a working pack). So still very happy with that. Chris came in third about 10-15 seconds behind. A brief chat with everyone before a long cool-down along the coast with Darren. 17km all up, not a bad way to start the second day of the long weekend!