Buffalo Creek Reserve-STaR

6:10am- I was looking forward to a good hitout today after resting up Saturday. A hilly (H4) STaR with a good few bush kilometers was more appealing to me than the SMC30km.
Not many in the 6:10 group, probably 8-9 runners with half of them going short. With Peter Truscott setting the pace I knew we were in for a quick one.
The rain came down just as we left the reserve and right enough the pace was on too. I was feeling good though and didn't mind, hoping kms 25-30 wouldn't bite too hard. Half the pack peeled away just before Epping Boys High at 8km.
The pace picked up even more so (4:20s) as we made our way through North Epping and into the bush at Pennant Hills Park. Good running through here where we passed the 6am group. Dropped down to Brown's Waterhole and back up the hill to Macquarie University. I was feeling the pace now and dropped back to let Peter go. Talavera road and out onto Lane Cove Rd and into LCNP. I picked it up again on the gentle descent to Fullers Bridge and out onto the GNW trail that follows Lane Cove River, familiar territory from my lunchtime runs. Finished feeling like I'd had a pretty hard run and was very pleased with 2:35 total for 30.5km.