The predicted temperature of 38*C eventuated, ensuring that midday running should be quite short and sharp. After a protracted doctor's appointment, and the long wait to get a prescription filled meant that I was on autopilot changing into running gear and racing around to Friday's 5k handicap.

It seemed that only mad dogs and old runners would turn up originally given the temperature, and this proved to largely be the case. I have found that hot weather tends to affect me less than many others, so I went off my slated handicap (13:00 minutes). I set my Polar s625x to 'beep' each four and a half minutes, and the limits to set a pace of 4:30, with a 30 second tolerance. This seemed to work well, however I may set the 'lower' (4:00 min/pace) limit lower to prevent audiable alarms sounding when I am running downhill or accelerating.

Despite the heat, I felt good, and although passed by Nigel early on, I was able to maintain a fairly constant pace over the course, albeit a little slower than target. I finished in 22:42, a time I was happy with given the conditions and an early recurrance of the old GI problem around the 1km mark.

Plans now to have a long(ish) run tomorrow morning, hopefully before the weather gets too hot.

We'll see . . . .