Sat 22 Jul 06, AV State XC Champs

17km today and 74km for the week so far, 18 runs/22 days this month

A cold and windy morning filled with Little A's XC & then soccer but the afternoon at Wheelers Hill (Jells Park) was a pleasant winters day, with little wind and a top temp of 15 degrees. The men's race was to start at 2:45pm, but I arrived early to support our U20 men & the open women. The majority of the men's team warmed up together and ran an easy lap of the 3k course, just to familarise ourselves, then some stretching and a few strides and lots of chatting with guys & girls from other clubs who I have got to know very well throughout the past few years.

On the start line I started with the Western A' bunch and nearby were Clarkey (invite runner) & TB (Richmond), the gun went and I waved goodbye to Tony. Myself & Clarkey were near each other for the first 3k but he steadily moved away, with the formula of lots of long runs helping to build both of these guys into quite strong runners at the moment (meaning ahead of me). I appeared to be running near the usual faces so I was fairly happy with my pacing but after a few hints from the coach in the final 5k or so, I realised I hadn't been concentrating on my arm action or using the down hill to my advantage.

Splits:
12.36
13.23
13.35
13.54 (this includes the added 150m final straight)

The course didn't suit me, but then what course does, but overall I was fairly happy with the run, I approached the race in a positive manner and didn't have any head games (why why why sort of thing). I will probably start to run better when I manage a few consistent weeks, so hopefully Ballarat will start to show some benefit of the past 2-3 weeks.



This picture was taken with my phone at soccer on Saturday morning. Kaelan is four months old now.