Hooray:) Enjoyable day at the races today. It got off to an intense start when my mum dropped me 3.7km away from Sandown racecourse (we couldn't work out how to get in) at 1:30pm and I sprinted the whole way thinking the race started at 1:45. It was quite a relief when I got there and saw everyone still warming up - apparently 1:45 was the start time for the junior race!
Despite my absolute certainty that the little dashes of rain that were falling would turn into a hailstorm just as the rain started, the weather actually turned out pretty nice in stark contrast to last year's event (where it was about 5 degrees and pelting down rain the whole time). My leg was bugging me a little bit, but I tried to ignore it and after picking up my Waverley singlet, I found Matt Morris and did a little warmup jog with him. We made our way to the start line and just as I'd gotten myself into a decent position in the pack, *bang* the gun went off with no prior warning whatsoever.
I was boxed in pretty badly but didn't mind at all. For the first km, I enjoyed the feeling of having the wind completely blocked out but did have to be careful that I didn't step on anyone's heels. A guy in an 'Australia' yellow top intrigued me. He definitely didn't represent Australia in running, but maybe he was a very fit table tennis player or something:P I tried to stick with him for the pure novelty of it and he dragged me up the field gradually, passing people without much effort. I was feeling pretty good - it felt like a relatively easy tempo run even though we were going 3:45/k. Even going up the nasty yet short hill in the middle of the circuit I didn't feel like I was doing too much work. The second lap was much the same and I really didn't feel like pushing in case it aggravated my leg. I was definitely going to get a big PB, so I was quite content to just potter along.
It did start to hurt a bit on the third lap, but compared to the rasping breathing of the runners beside me, I really wasn't working too hard. The km just seemed to tick over and with the profile of the course allowing me to see the finish line with 2k to go, I knew I'd easily be able to hang on for a good time. Everyone started to kick with 1500m to go, but to be honest it didn't feel any harder than before and I just concentrated on staying with the little pack that had formed in front of me. Usually I try and really ramp it up for the last 500m, but I didn't want to today in case I damaged my leg and just brought it home comfortably with a 3:35 last k. My gun time was 38:02, but I'm going to go with the garmin and claim 37:46 because it easily took me 15 seconds to get over the line. Two minute PB, so I'm very happy with the result:)
5k split was 18:55, so I paced it to perfection. It was one of those fantastic races where you don't push too hard but it all seems to fall into place. I remember last year's 39:59 (but really 40:30 with the short course) hurting a lot more!
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