Despite saying and feeling with some conviction that I was not going to run hard today, in the end I did run pretty hard. Took off and was just going comfortably along and found the 2nd km was around 4:00 pace. That ended up being the fastest I would run, and most of the race I was going at about my former marathon race pace. It was hard. It was my present 10k race pace. And I ended up with a 42:32. This would be pretty close to a PW for the distance for me. Some guy had been sitting on my tail up the hill and coming towards the finish, and with about 100 m to go he passed me. I kicked down and was about to try and sprint to the line, and it hurt, and I only lasted a few strides and then just said "Ah, fuck off, have it mate!" It wasn't worth it. Nothing to gain, nothing to prove.
But on the up side, my legs felt fine. Arnaud in his comment to my earlier post is right; I have needed the time off to let my body recover. Ewen is right too. I am stuck in quicksand and need to really give myself a shake if I am going to get out of it. Not running used to be unbearable, but of late it has become not just bearable but easy. Too easy. Danger, danger, Will Robinson.
I must go for a run tomorrow.