Centennial Park sexxi cross-country

The title of this post may require some explanation...

Some time ago, CoolRunning Australia member ShanksPony complained about the term half-marathon thus...

I think we need a new word for a half-marathon. The word 'half' is misleadingly diminutive, and this distance deserves better.

21 is also XXI, and i would like to propose that the half-marathon becomes the 'Standard Entry' for race meetings. Therefore the half-marathon could be renamed the SEXXI. This in turn would lead to an obvious re-classification of the other distances:

10km: Ain't half sexxi
marathon: 2sexxi
ultra: far2sexxi

This is such an obviously sensible and empowering suggestion that it's amazing that no one had thought of it before now.

The final Sri Chinmoy event for the 2008 Sydney series was a sexxi cross-country in beautiful Centennial Park. For those looking for faster fulfillment there were also 4km and 7km races.

I'd like to say at this point that I'd been training well leading up to this event and felt in tip-top shape and supremely confident - but I won't because it's not true. I arrived at the race feeling sluggish and nursing a sore achilles which I had somehow managed to provoke despite doing almost no running. Is it possible that you can strain your achilles while sitting down ?

The morning was unseasonally cold for spring time in Sydney, with occasional light showers and gusts of wind, but this made for quite nice running conditions, and anyway, nothing can dent the pleasure of running in Centennial Park. It's very easy to forget that you're just a stone's throw from the city as you jog past lakes and playing fields, through pine glades and over rolling grassy hills. I had chosen to wear my FiveFingers, thinking that they would be better than sandals if the course was muddy, and they felt very comfy on the grass and dirt trails.

For the first part of the race I ran and chatted with my friend Crabby (seen here rehydrating while I strike a fashionable pose) until she got into her stride and disappeared over the horizon as she is wont to do, as well as other CoolRunners MichaelG, Bert and RunningAngel. But after a while I found myself running alone and tried to get into a steady chug that I hoped would hold up for the 21.1km.

As it turned out I made it to the finish comfortably, having taken a bit over two hours for the run - a much better time than I deserved given my lack of preparation.

Many thanks to Prachar and the wonderfully friendly and encouraging Sri Chinmoy folk for another great event. If you're in or near Sydney, visit the Sri Chinmoy web site for details of the 2009 race series.

Slow by name...

...and slow by nature, especially when it comes to keeping a blog up to date.

I don't know how the rest of the universe does it: all those organized souls who keep the world posted on the minutiae of their daily lives. Where do they find the time ? Don't they ever sleep or go to the toilet or just sit for long periods staring blankly into space like... well... like me ?

Sri Chinmoy Triathlon Festival 25-26th October - Canberra

Each year in October, the Sri Chinmoy folk put on a fantastically packed weekend of triathlon events in Canberra. There are events for all ages and abilities and quite a few folk, fired with enthusiasm or perhaps just paralysed by choice, compete in more than one.

Last year, feeling the need for a life-affirming challenge, I did the Classic event. This is the Olympic distance: 1500m swim; 40km cycle; and 10km run. I completed it and finished feeling good, but it was certainly challenging - especially the cycle that included a steep climb.

The original plan for this year was to do the Classic again, aiming to finish it in a shorter time.

Yeah, well... there's planning and then there's real life. And this year real life for me meant a serious dose of couchitis after my Sydney Marathon attempt.

As the day of the triathlon drew closer I began to feel less and less confident about my ability to survive the swim, or ride a bike up that big Coppins Crossing hill, or stand up after the cycle, let alone run. So finally, after a lot of um-ing'n'rrr-ing, I landed back on planet reality and downgraded my entry to the Sprint event: 500m swim; 20km cycle; 5km run.

So pleased that I did ! The Sprint event was run on a perfect Saturday afternoon, not too hot, not too breezy. There was a good field and a really friendly and enthusiastic atmosphere. Canberra is a great place for triathlons, and Yarralumla Bay, where the Sri Chinmoy Festival is held, is the perfect venue.

Event summary: I found the swim quite hard - it seemed to take forever and at one point, when the breeze across Lake Burley Griffin picked up enough to generate some head-high chop I had the very strong impression that I was going backwards. The cycle was terrific. Canberra is a great place to ride but it's even better when you have race marshall's holding back the traffic for you as you speed through yet another roundabout. Finally the run, which I did wearing my favourite huarache sandals, was an idyllic jog in the soft light and balminess of the late afternoon.

Secret plan for next year is to attempt the famous Sri Chinmoy Peace triathlon (2.2km/80km/20km)

Iron Cove (The Bay), Sydney, 2nd November

Yet another Sri Chinmoy event, this one being the penultimate race in their 2008 Sydney Series. Great conditions for a run: just a tiny breeze and welcome cloud cover since there's little shade to be had on this course.

I don't know whether it was just my impression, but this seemed to be a especially friendly event. Almost everyone I met on the out-and-back course nodded and smiled or exchanged hellos. Of course, looking forward to an apres-race pancake brekky makes anyone feel cheery.

Early in the race I enjoyed running and chatting with Bert, a fellow CoolRunning member, very experienced runner, and stalwart of Sydney events.

For some reason I chugged along quite a bit faster than my usual pace... so much so that I completed the 16km in under 90 minutes. I usually don't concern myself with my race times but I have to admit I was chuffed.

Of course, this gets put into its proper context when compared to the winning times of 68 minutes (women) and a staggering 55 minutes (men).

But I'm still chuffed :-)

Vibram FiveFingers vs huarache sandals

I had a nice suprise recently when Max and Sally of OC Fitness sent me a pair of Vibram FiveFingers Classics to try out. I've been wanting to compare FiveFingers with my running sandals for some time and thanks to Max and Sally's generosity I now had the chance.

First impressions: I like them. A lot !

The pair that I have are size 42 and they feel very snug. From measuring my feet and looking at the FiveFingers sizing chart I'm between sizes 42 and 43. The first few times that I put them on it was a time consuming exercise, especially the puzzle of how to convince my little toe to go into its own pocket. After a bit of practise though this got a lot easier.

So far I've worn them for a number of short runs (less than 10km) and one 16km run with substantial hills and lots of puddles. In terms of feeling the ground, the 5Fs are noticeably more cushioned than my thinnest Vibram Cherry sandals but less so than my off-road neoprene sandals. Because I do most of my running with the Cherry sandals the more insulated sensation of the 5Fs was off-putting to begin with, but after a few minutes of running in them I forgot all about that and began to enjoy them more and more.

The thing that appeals to me most is the stability of my foot in the 5Fs. With my sandals I still find my foot slips a little on the footbed, especially in the wet. I'm endlessly experimenting with different lacing patterns and non-slip additions to the footbed to remedy this. It's a very minor point, especially when set against the overall comfort and enjoyment of running with the sandals, but it's one that I'm still trying to improve. In comparison, the 5Fs, with their glove-like fit, free you from worrying about this even on downhill sections in the wet. On the hilly 16km run I found myself seeking out puddles just for the fun of it.

So, will I be switching from sandals to 5Fs for all my running ? No, but they'll definitely be part of my minimalist footwear armoury (footoury ?).

The Cherry sandals provide a closer-to-barefoot feeling of the ground and nothing beats having the tops and sides of your feet in the open air on a warm day. The 5Fs, although super to run in, feel enclosed in comparison, though not when compared to shoes and socks of course, and I notice my feet getting a little hotter and moister. On the other hand, I really appreciate the stability of the 5Fs on steep hills and in the wet and I suspect that they'll be my footwear of choice on cold winter runs too.

2008 Sydney Marathon

After all the training, the wondering and the worrying, the day had finally arrived.

I caught a train into the city, which was very quiet at 6am, and walked down to Circular Quay and then up onto the Harbour Bridge walkway in time to see the half-marathon cross the bridge. Two police motorbikes, which I guessed would be a little ahead of the lead runners, came into view and stopped in the middle of the road, opposite where I was standing. One rider shouted to the other "you know where we're supposed to go mate ?" to which the other replied "no f***ing idea mate". This got a loud chuckle from everyone on the walkway. Then they set off again, hopefully in the right direction, followed shortly afterwards by the lead runners. It's always exhilarating to see athletes of that standard, but on the Harbour Bridge on such a beautiful morning it was especially good. Next followed the huge half-marathon field which seemed to go on forever. I looked for friends who I knew were in the event and managed to spot MissPinky, though she was too far away to cheer.

I continued on to the northern end of the Bridge and joined the throng of runners heading down to the start area. I was very pleased to see Crabby just ahead of me and caught up with her for a chat. I also met another CoolRunner, Ewoksta, for the first time after chatting to him many times on the forum pages. I got out of my tracksuit pants, laced on my huarache sandals (having chosen the thin Cherry soles for the day) then threw my plastic gear bag up into the back of a large truck where it joined a growing mountain of other bags to be transported to the finish area.

All of the nervousness that I'd felt the evening before had subsided and I was really looking forward to the race. I wandered over to the starting area and was pleased to see that they'd signposted my end of the field (the back) with snail signs ! I strolled down the road a little, taking in the water view and feeling relaxed.

Perhaps it should have occurred to me at this stage that this unaccustomed quiet confidence was a warning sign, but it was only after a few more neurons had switched on that I realized my timing chip wasn't attached to my ankle, instead it was in one of a squillion identical plastic bags in the back of the gear truck...

PANIC !!!

This felt a lot more familiar. I bolted back to the truck and, with the amused permission of one of the race officials, climbed up the bars on the side and frantically started digging into the pile of bags. A voice on the PA asked runners to make their way to the start area. I burrowed even more frantically. There it was ! A bag with my number 5976. Yes! No... it was 5967... aaaarrrgghhh!!! Finally I found my bag and recovered the timing chip. With a huge sense of relief, and after spending a minute unwedging myself from the side bars of the truck, I thanked the grinning race official and headed back to the snail section with the chip firmly velcroed to my ankle.

The race

There were still a couple of minutes to go until the race so I did my best to calm down. I hadn't yet seen my brother Paul who was going to run the marathon with me, generously sacrificing his own record of sub-4 hour finishes by doing so. But I was very pleased to be joined by a CoolRunning friend Emjay and shortly after that by Paul who reminded me that I had been supposed to meet him at the Black Dog Institute stall near the start (another neuron that hadn't switched on). Then, all of a sudden, the race began and we shuffled forwards, then walked, then slowly jogged onto the Bridge.

I loved the first half of the marathon: running across the Harbour Bridge, along Mrs Macquaries Rd, Oxford St, around Centennial Park... I met lots of CoolRunning folk, including UpAndAtom for the first time, and the number of "Go slowmo" greetings that I got was overwhelming. With the warm weather I wasn't wearing my habitual fancy pants - instead I had a brand new pair of loud, Circus pattern shorts from RunningFunky to add a spot of colour to the event and symbolize stepping out of the shadow of the Black Dog. The huarache sandals felt perfect and with the heat I was pleased to have my feet free of shoes and socks.

The course headed back towards the city and it was at about this time that I started feeling a bit light-headed. I put this down to the warm conditions and perhaps needing a bit more sugar. I had a cache of honey sachets and apricot chews in the pockets of my tri top. I'd been careful to drink a cup of water at each aid station so dehydration didn't seem like a worry.

We continued on, across the old Glebe Island Bridge and onto an unfortunately boring and uninspiring section of the course - the Westlink Road, a barren wasteland of bitumen and concrete sidings. I had been walking the uphill sections, trying to get rid of the increasingly woozy feeling within but just before the 33km point, I started to see white fog and decided to sit down for a couple of minutes until I felt better. Paul stopped with me and many passing runners asked if I needed help. One very nice fellow thought I must need a little more sugar and gave me some jelly beans. I nibbled a red one and then spent a minute emptying my stomach contents, as neatly as I could, into a road-side drain. After that my head felt much clearer but I couldn't stand up and Paul summoned the first aid folks. My race was over.

A wonderfully friendly paramedic came and found that my blood sugar was fine but that my blood pressure was low from dehydration. She and Paul stayed with me until an ambulance arrived and I was put on IV fluids and taken to hospital. The two ambulance paramedics were terrific and had an endless stream of jokes while they were fixing me up. They had a great time making comments about my sandals and pointing them out to everyone at the hospital - "look what this guy has on his feet !!!". With some extra fluids in my system I felt much better physically, but I couldn't help being disappointed and embarrassed about my race ending like this.

After a couple of hours at the hospital for some more checks, Paul joined me again and drove me home. He had run the rest of the marathon, but had had his timing chip confiscated by a stern and unrelenting race official at the 34km point, despite only being a minute over the cut-off and having one of the first-aid people confirm his explanation that he had been helping me just down the road and could easily finish the race inside the cut-off time (which he did).

I slept like a log overnight and woke the next morning feeling more at peace with myself than I had the day before. My barefoot-running friend Sharene (Runbare on CoolRunning) had left a phone message the night before and called again in the morning to see how I was. I appreciated this a great deal and was very cheered by her advice that you're not a real runner until you've got a DNF. She also suggested I could count the kilometres I did in the ambulance and chalk it up as an ultra :-)

Shortly afterwards I spoke to Paul who reminded me that my legs had still been working well at the end and this showed that the training had built up my strength and fitness. On the computer I had a swag of messages from CoolRunning friends checking to see if I was OK and encouraging me not to let this experience put me off.

Most of all, my wonderful partner Annie told me to remember that it had been my longest run so far and that I'd raised a lot more money for the Black Dog Institute than I ever expected to.

And the moral of the story ?

Numerous studies confirm that physical activity can help many people to recover from depression and either prevent its recurrence or at least lessen its impact. Running has certainly done this for me, but I've discovered that it's racing that has been the biggest help. Even for a slow, non-competitive runner such as myself, races provide challenge, force me to get my act together enough to prepare properly, and give me the opportunity to do more than I ever thought I could. Until recently I never imagined that I would attempt to run a marathon. The fact that I bombed out, probably because I neglected to drink enough fluids before the race, just means that I will be that bit more experienced at my next attempt. If the marathon was easy it wouldn't be worth doing.