For my first race I choose a course that was described as fast and downhill. The race was run on a cool, crisp but pleasant February morning which were perfect conditions for a solid performance. I had about 4 weeks of committed training under my belt and 4 weeks of on-and-off running through the holidays before that.

Going into the race I was aiming for a time in the neighbourhood of 24:00 and was quite thrilled with my sub-22:00 performance. I even managed to dig deep to turn on the afterburners over the last quarter mile, overtaking a couple of other runners. My first mile felt sluggish in part because I started towards the back of the pack but also because I did not get myself properly warmed up.