The day was glorious, clear blue sky, intense colours, although quite cool. My handicap remained unchanged at 13:00 minutes, and Bob was to leave at 13:15. Without the time to do a decent warm up (which as Friar attests is certainly valuable), I kept my fleece on at the start in the chill breeze. I could hear Bob behind from when he started, and expected him to fly past at any moment. He did, at about the 1km mark which I reached in 4:32. With a downhill start, my k-pace is usually slightly fast for the first kilometre, so I thought that I was going OK, but not sparking today. It seemed a bit lonely out there, with allrounder, Adrienne and Vin off earlier and catching sight of Aki on her way back carrying the watch. Only the fast guys to come and whizz past . . . .

Near the turnaround, I saw Bob pass allrounder, and hoped that I might be able to catch her soon as well. I hit the lap time at the willow tree turn, and was surprised to see it read 11:09. I always am a bit slower (1 minute when I started, around 10-15 seconds now) on the second split with it's uphill climb, but I didn't think I was running so close to 4:30 pace. I kept working, and still couldn't catch allrounder. She is so fit, and such a natural sports person that it is a delight watching her move ~ except when I was so desperately trying to catch her and her staying just beyond reach! A few blokes got me on the hill, and I saw Jodie ahead, jogging far to comfortably and within herself. She put on a finishing burst and flew past me with a kick at the end, with a clock time of 35:08.

I clocked 35:09, meaning a nett time of 22:09, a new course PB. If only those other two minutes would disappear! Bob, having jogged through for 21 something and took the car home to shower and change and return to Civic for a haircut at 2:00pm. Aki and I left some gear at the cafe at Regatta Point and had a chatty casual jog clockwise past the Hospice and over the "Two Bridges" (Kings and Commonwealth Avenues). She concentrated on form and ran on her toes . . . the style was good and it is incredible how much she has improved. There was a stiff headwind over Commonwealth Avenue, then we collected gear, I became instantly frozen solid, and complained the whole time we walked the seemingly long, long way to the car now parked in the CBD. I still surprised at the Customs run, I went hard, but not hardest. Things are looking good!