This has to be one of the nicest community runs in Sydney. Organised by Canterbury Council as part of their Australia Day fair, it attracted a great mix of entrants from the very young, running or walking with their parents, to the inspirational veteran Derek White of Woodstock Runners. The course is through parkland, nicely flat and following the Cooks River for most of the way. This morning the river was looking particularly scenic in soft light under a cloudy sky. The clouds also helped to keep the temperature down - a real blessing after the recent 40+°C days.
Once again the event was free to enter ! I don't know quite how Canterbury Council manages this - especially as they provide a generous show bag and icy cold drinks after the run. But all power to them - it's such a good way to encourage people to take part, enjoy some running, and discover what the Cooks River parklands have to offer.
I lined up at the start feeling very ordinary. I'd done 15km and 22km training runs in the previous two days as part of my preparation for the Canberra 50km event in April. So I planned to take it easy and just enjoy the morning. At about the 1km mark I started to feel better and found a rhythm that felt good. I was conscious of running a bit quicker than usual now, but decided to stick with it for a while and see what happened.
At the half way mark I glanced at my watch and was surprised to see that I'd gotten there in about 14 minutes. I began to think that I had a chance of finishing in under 30 minutes, but I'd never run more than 1km that fast before and I didn't want to get carried away (metaphorically or literally). So I just concentrated on keeping my rhythm, enjoying the feeling of skipping over the ground in a way that I hadn't quite experienced before. I'd chosen to wear my Five Fingers Classics for the run and they felt just right. They also provoked a good humoured "why don't you get a pair of proper shoes ?" from the sidelines.
With about 1.5km to go I started to feel a bit puffed but once again just tried to focus on the rhythm of my foot falls and this seemed to help a lot. Then the finish line was in sight and I crossed still feeling good. I felt even better when I learned that my time was 28:15 - my fastest few km ever !
One of the nice things about being habitually slow is that when, for whatever mysterious reason, everything comes together to make for a really good run like this one you really appreciate it.
After the run I joined my family for more fun at the Australia Day fair - with yet more free entertainment including my daughter's favourite: the camel ride !
Many thanks to Canterbury Council for a really enjoyable and friendly day.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Kiva
Kiva is a wonderful initiative that allows folk in rich, fortunate countries like Australia to invest in micro-credit schemes in developing countries. I first heard about it on a BBC Worldservice radio program and the first time I visited the web site I was hooked :)
Have a look at this wonderful video, made by a Kiva volunteer from the UK, and then visit www.kiva.org
(What's this got to do with running you ask ? Well, for me, running is about a community of people sharing a common passion and helping and encouraging each other to achieve their best. It's a short hop from that to Kiva)
A Fistful Of Dollars: The Story of a Kiva.org Loan from Kieran Ball on Vimeo.
Have a look at this wonderful video, made by a Kiva volunteer from the UK, and then visit www.kiva.org
(What's this got to do with running you ask ? Well, for me, running is about a community of people sharing a common passion and helping and encouraging each other to achieve their best. It's a short hop from that to Kiva)
A Fistful Of Dollars: The Story of a Kiva.org Loan from Kieran Ball on Vimeo.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Last race for 2008 and surviving the off-season
The 2007 Central Coast Half Marathon was the first time that I'd run 21km and I remember feeling apprehensive at the start, wondering whether I would be able to make it to the finish. I did, and enjoyed the event thoroughly.
Now, a year later, I once again stood at the start in my customary back-of-the-pack position. I not only felt more confident now, having five half-marathons under my belt, but even harboured a secret hope of finishing in under two hours for the first time. The course, starting from The Entrance and running along a bike path around Tuggerah Lake (google map), is almost monotonously flat so it's a good event for those seeking a fast time - or in my case a relatively fast time.
It's an out and back race and I reached the turn-around in about an hour feeling quite pleased with myself. Ah yes, pride comes before a fall... Just after starting the return leg I started to feel the first signs of an unhappy tum which rapidly grew into an urgent and unignorable demand to get to the nearest loo pronto. Luckily for me this course is especially well serviced with toilet blocks and I darted into the nearest one for a prolong pit-stop.
I completed the rest of the race but at a very subdued pace, even by my standards. Perhaps there was something wrong with my pre-race banana ? Or perhaps my body, alarmed at being asked to go (sort of) fast for the first time ever, was sending me a reality check.
And so endeth the 2008 fun run season...
The solution ? Aim for something big enough to need a long training program - the sort that says: it's week X, day Y, do this. Goodbye off-season blues, hello Canberra Marathon / 50km ultra double, April 2009.
As I write I am just starting week 3 of one of Hal Higdon's 18 week marathon training programs - slightly modified by extending a couple of the longest runs with the aim of completing the 50km ultra. My logic is that since I failed in my first marathon attempt in Sydney this year, I'll make it easier for myself in Canberra by aiming past the marathon finish line. Cunning eh ?
Now, a year later, I once again stood at the start in my customary back-of-the-pack position. I not only felt more confident now, having five half-marathons under my belt, but even harboured a secret hope of finishing in under two hours for the first time. The course, starting from The Entrance and running along a bike path around Tuggerah Lake (google map), is almost monotonously flat so it's a good event for those seeking a fast time - or in my case a relatively fast time.
It's an out and back race and I reached the turn-around in about an hour feeling quite pleased with myself. Ah yes, pride comes before a fall... Just after starting the return leg I started to feel the first signs of an unhappy tum which rapidly grew into an urgent and unignorable demand to get to the nearest loo pronto. Luckily for me this course is especially well serviced with toilet blocks and I darted into the nearest one for a prolong pit-stop.
I completed the rest of the race but at a very subdued pace, even by my standards. Perhaps there was something wrong with my pre-race banana ? Or perhaps my body, alarmed at being asked to go (sort of) fast for the first time ever, was sending me a reality check.
And so endeth the 2008 fun run season...
The off-season
My next event will be in March 2009 at the earliest. As someone who runs for mental and emotional health as much as physical health, and who begins to flounder very quickly without regular goals to train for, this seems like a worryingly long off-season.The solution ? Aim for something big enough to need a long training program - the sort that says: it's week X, day Y, do this. Goodbye off-season blues, hello Canberra Marathon / 50km ultra double, April 2009.
As I write I am just starting week 3 of one of Hal Higdon's 18 week marathon training programs - slightly modified by extending a couple of the longest runs with the aim of completing the 50km ultra. My logic is that since I failed in my first marathon attempt in Sydney this year, I'll make it easier for myself in Canberra by aiming past the marathon finish line. Cunning eh ?
Sunday, November 30, 2008
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...
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.
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.This is such an obviously sensible and empowering suggestion that it's amazing that no one had thought of it before now.
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
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.
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