Albert Park XCR 15 10km

Early start yesterday morning to get to Albert park early so Sophie could warm up for her 3km road race. I warmed up, doing 2km with some of the Glenhuntly guys while she was racing. Didn't feel the calf which was great, but I was still sceptical about how I would go because of this week's minimal running. Sophie ran 11:25 for the 3km which I think she was happy with.

The start line was a bit of a mess with the Div 1 and 2 men and women being given access to the front line although the Div 2 most of the U/20's are faster than Div 2's. I lined up with Will and JB, the gun went and it was really compacted. I stayed on the tail of Will while he weaved himself through the crowds. Felt really easy and the watch gave me a 3:16 first km. The plan was to go out with everyone then reel it in so I didn't go out too fast. Kept the pace easy and the watch gave me another 3:16 and then a 3:20 odd. Bit nervous now as I had gone out too quickly, just staying with Will and JB. I settled back into a rhythm of around 3:30's at around km 5 which what I was meant to do after km 1.

Split through 5km in around 16:45 on this flat course and headed out for my second lap. Passed a few guys here who were pretty good so I felt pretty solid. Will and JB were ahead of me now but after km 6, the fast start caught up to me. Dragging myself along, my breathing was really fast but I focused on my form. Each time someone went by I stuck with them for as long as I could and I felt like this really helped.

3:35 - 3:40 was the pace now and coming into 2km to go, I was really hurting. Lost focus here and more and more people came by. Into the stadium for the last 300m I told myself to hold my place. Did so until 20m to go when I got outdone by some speed demon. Absolutely finished on the line with a time of 34:51 so first time breaking 35 mins! 50s PB so stoked with that after this week of inconsistency. Definitely went out too fast, so I'll keep that in mind for my next longer race. Will ran incredibly in a time of 33:39 and he's only in year 10. JB was at about 34 flat, big Sammy Toll managed a 33:07 and Beau was mid 33's with Will as well.

I think I was 19th in U/20 and I'm still bottom age so good stuff. Both calf's are stupidly sore now so I'll jog this evening to hopefully stretch them out a bit.

Here's a classic snap of me on the line attempting to fend off even more speed demons.