On waitlist and 32 second 200m in 22.43 5000m race

I missed out on confirmed entry to 6 foot (45km in the Blue Mountains) in the 5 minute window of opportunity by 1-4 minutes, but am on the waitlist, so hopefully will get a start.

Ran 5000m in 22.43 @ 4.32 per Km HR 180 at end.
2.5k splits; 11.12 / 11.32
Full results should be HERE soon.
Hit the front at 200m with a 32 second first 200m, which is my fastest 200m I think for a long time, but this is a fast track, and I had a lot!!!! of nervous adrenalin racing against the best of the best, plus we had a tailwind in the front straight, which of course meant a stiff headwind in the back straight every lap. Was not really feeling ready to race, but keen to get a hitout on the board as my last chance for a 5k race this year, and wanted a base marker race to try and improve off in 2011…
600m-2.10 1km 4.00 2k 8.38? 3k 13.32? 4k 18.22?
so 1k splits;4.00/ 4.38 /4.54 /4.50 /4.22
Struggled with the headwind and running wide into lane 2/3 a lot to let these 14-17 minute speedsters (although Nathan Doig decided not to race) get a free run on the inside. In my last 1km I was able to use the slower 18-19 minute runners (only 2 of those I think where are the C and D graders!???, guess I was the only one…) to feed off for some pace surges, to help me get under the 23 minute barrier and finish off the last 1k in a solid 4.22, a bit better than the pathetic efforts from 2k to 4k…So overall a good run, a solid hitout, mission accomplished.

Is 37 seconds off my seasons best of 22.06 (track PB is 21.49 and road PB is 21.04 (although I splitted 19.32 in 1998 on my way to the 41.01 10k PB, and I think I ran under 20 minutes in a 5k school crosscountry in the 1980’s but not sure on that one) but I just wasnt ready to attack that this time after a tough 2 weeks trying to adjust to new job, and struggling to pay bills with not much income coming in for a few weeks until the 23rd December when I get my first pay in the new job. If I can get the payout on my old car this week, will be ok, but until I can finally get the insurance company to cough up its a nervous tricky time again financially…

Was an awesome night hanging out with Dave, BBC, Adam, Graeme etc, and even saying hello to some of the big guns, the legends like Cody and Todd (good to see this superstar marathoner is still there amongst the best about 20 years later), plus saw Wayne and Kylie there too, who I remember well from many years ago. Afterwards did a few warm down laps of this scintillating precinct, this athletes super stadium mecca, with Dave and BBC , we even did a few laps barefoot, the grass surface is in such good condition there…I didnt run in spikes but I might get them out if I line up for a 1500m…So an awesome night, just have a lot! of work to do on my time to be competitive enough to avoid being last place by several minutes…Got lapped 3-4 times as expected. May rock up for the 1500m next week, but its probably better I spend a few weeks going after the track training before hopefully better times in January, but first there is a 6 inch 46km offroad to deal with on December 19th, and hopefully a successful negotiation of the 6 foot wait-list to confirmed entrant status. So a reasonably good run, but a long way from where I want to be, and a bit outside my seasons best on a wonderful night…