Tease

6.15 am, 2 * 3.73 km circuit, Centennial Park

I was in bed by 9 pm last night and after 3 attempts during the night to blow my nose off, I finally woke up at 4.30 am to the sounds of rain and wind.

The rain wasn't that bad, just the wind blowing it right through me. There was a surprisingly good crowd at Sean's training. I was drenched by the time I got to McKay Oval. We were to do 2 laps of the inner fence (sealed walking path) at Centennial Park.

It wasn't a great warm up in the dark, but I started the first repetition well. Then I remembered the hamstring lesson of Saturday, so eased off a touch into a nice steady pace through the various water hazards. As is becoming custom at training, I have Acceleration Andy sitting behind me during the repetitions: he either doesn't trust his pace judgment, or doesn't want to catch my pubic lice. I could hear him splashing behind me with a km to go and closing the gap. I kept the same pace as he quickly cruised past with about 500 m to go. I finished 10 seconds behind Andrew in 14.17 as he was doubled over gasping for breath.

The second lap I started a bit slower concentrating on not aggravating any niggles. Andrew never appeared. I finished in 14.18, now that's pace judgment. Andy accelerated through the finish 50 seconds later, and he seemed to be scratching the front of his running shorts afterwards.

City to Surf is looking good if I can run like that over the next month and stay injury free. Sean's got us doing plenty of long reps at training over the next few weeks, so I'll have a bit of fun with Acceleration Andy mixing up the pace of the repetitions. I'm such a tease in metrosexual's clothing.