Saturday - Parkrun

Far from ideal conditions today, already a steamy 24 degrees at 5:45am with a strong northwesterly (bushfire-like) wind. With this in mind, today was all about getting out there and getting it done, not worrying too much about the actual time. I was stoked to see Mike turn-up, knowing that I would have a race this week (and not run a time trial like last Saturday). We shared the work for the first 3-4km. Remembering the outcome from our last race, I knew that a sprint finish was going to be a disadvantage to me, so I really had to make a break before that opportunity could arise. I could sense a little bit of struggle in Mike with about a kilometer to go, so I had to make a move. I managed to eek out a gap and hold it until the end, crossing the line in first place in 16:36 (3:19’s) - pretty much the same time as last week, but in the toughest conditions we’ve had yet! Mike came across the line about 10 seconds later, with third and fourth about a minute behind. Young Lachlan had a good race with Lauren, and Darren went hard for a sub-18 which was a fantastic effort for his first real ‘effort’ since his injury. Spent way too much time chatting to everyone post-race, so much so that I was actually the last to leave (that has never happened before) about an hour later! A slow and enjoyable 8km cooldown along the coast for 17km all up.