Back from Melbourne

To all who have posted comments - thanks for taking the time.

I must say this has been e very disappointing year for marathons. One or 2 under 3.30 and the rest best forgotten. I just hope that next year with a bit more structure to my training AFTER Canberra that I can get back 20/25 minutes or so and be nudging 3.20 once again and not being concerned of going over 4 hours. I believe I can do it although the body might say something different.

I flew out on Wednesday morning on the 6.00am flight. I guess I was lucky with all the red dust but at the time I did not know what it was. It was so strange after take off to be climbing through orange clouds and then burst into clear blue skies.

It was only when I heard the news in the taxi into Melbourne that I realised what happened in Sydney and that planes were being delay and diverted away from Sydney. Anyway by 9.00 am I was lecturing a bunch of lawyers on Family Law.

I did not take into account that Melbourne would be colder that Sydney has been of late and so it was a bit brisk, overcast and drizzle as I did my 3 laps of the Tan at sunrise. It is such an historic circuit that I would not miss the opportunity to run it. The great runners like Elliott and Landy ran it with Cerutty standing at the top of Anderson Hill urging them up.

I arrived back last night on the last flight out. Just too tired to run this morning although it was a perfect morning to do so.

Maybe the 5k challenge on Satuday morning and a nice bush run in Sunday.

Sydney Marathon :3.50.20

I had no real race plan for this one. It really all depended on how I recovered from the 100 miles the week before.

So All I did was a lap of the Bay on the Friday before at a steady pace. There were no aches or pains however I had finished with quite a strain behind the left knew. That seemed to settle down during the week although part of the way through the run on Friday it showed it was not recovered.

I was very concerned that this would blow up during the marathon and would cause me to be reduced to a hobble. If it was not for that I would have been physically and mentally in good shape. As it was I was in a negative mental state.

As a result I went out very conservatively and went through halfway in about 1.53 and felt I kept needing to slow down compared to how I felt. I then keep thinking it was time to push on harder to the finish but then kept thinking it was a long way to walk if things went wrong. I stopped watching splits after halfway and just ran well within myself and decided I would do that until the West City Link turnaround at about 33/34k.

At that stage I felt good and the issue behind the left knee was not even whimpering in complaint. I then decided to look at my watch and push to the finish. I had not maintained my pace since halfway but that was fine as it was certain I would get back easily under 4.00 hours. As I have only run a handful over 4.00 hours I want to avoid being over that for a along as I can.

At about 36k I could LBP and decided that it would be pleasant to run with her to the finish. Without anything being said we locked into a side by side stride and held it to the end. It was an absolute pleasure to run with one of my favourite CR's.

I will have no more racing for a few weeks before having a laugh at the Masters Games and running in a few events. However the main thoughts are now starting to turn to GNW.

Off to Melbourne for a few days of teaching. I expect I will have a morning run around the Tan.

News at last !!!

GH medal presentation - Seris and I are proud to be standing with some of the other finishers.

Well it has been just over 2 months since I stopped posting. I am not sure what I stopped as I had a lot of interesting things to report. But it wasn't done so we will just move on.

What has happened that is significant ?

Glasshouse 100miles

This event was held on the 12/13 September. I flew up early on the Friday with Seris, Blue Dog and Bernie G. Enjoyed a pleasant day having a look at course from various vantage points, lunch at Woodford local pub and then a quiet afternoon.

It is my 3rd time. The first was a DNF when I became 'navigationally challenged' at about 130k and never found the course again but some 4/5 hours later was able to get back to the finish. Last year it was all about getting around the course which is simple really without getting lost. I managed to finish in about 29.30 just under the cut off.

I was not sure if I was fitter this year but I expected I could go quicker by just being familiar with the course. I agreed to run with Series the whole was it it was her first GH. With no race plan other than to go quicker I did some splits for a 24 hour finish although that was not expected but also I thought Jane and I could keep close to it for 100k or so without really doing any harm to our main aim and that was to finish under the cut off.

We maintained a very steady pace all day and the course or weather did not present any issues. We were on 24 hours pace to the checkpoint at 80k but lost a small amount of time to CP6 at about 90l and then decided that we would then abandon the 24 hour finish which never realistic but it did keep us focused for then first 12/13 hours.

We then just alternated between lots of fast walking and slow jogging for the rest of the race. enjoyed the experience of being out in the pine plantations on a beautiful clear pleasant night. As usual we both had a short bad patch for an hour or so just before sunrise. However having got through that was no incidents we were pleased to see the sky becoming lighter and the return of our energy levels.

We finished in good shape in 27.23 and knew that we could have gone quicker. Next year maybe down in the 25's would be nice. Flew back home early on Monday.

Sunday 20 September: Sydney Marathon 3.50.15