31 August, 2005

Wednesday 31/8/2005

I went for run in my lunch break today. I did the Goodwill Bridge - Story Bridge circuit from the City Gardens. I am not sure of the distance but it took me 31:45. I am hoping to steadily improve on that over the coming weeks as I prepare for the PwC Coolnight Classic and the Endeavour 500k Relay.

29 August, 2005

Monday 29/8/2005

I had a very pleasant run with with friends yesterday. We left Park Road at 5:30 and did a 21k circuit. It took a bit longer than my half at Noosa the week before but it was time on legs. One of my friends is training to do the Victoria marathon in Canada in October, so next Sunday I am doing 35K with her. that will be a challenge for me.

27 August, 2005

Saturday 27/8/2005

I helped out at the Springfield Lakes fun run this morning. I helped Di Miller set out the course with road closure signs and witches hats. A couple of hours work. Then I helped on the water table until the last walkers went through. I went back to the start/finish area and ran over the 5k course with a couple of other helpers to fill in the time until the 2k race started. During the 2k race I helped on the finishing shute then helped a little with the packing up before I had to head home.

Mine was a very little effort compared with that of Bob and Di Miller in organising the whole event. They did a fantastic job against the odds. The local council gave them so much grief. Bob and Di have had enough so it was their last today. Thanks Bob and Di.

Tomorrow I am meeting the Park Road crew at 5:30AM. We are planning on about 21k.

One of the helpers I ran with at Springfield today was Peter Hunt, known as Wombat, (not our CR Wombat). Peter is the Captain of the Brisbane Road Runners 500k relay team. He is getting stuck into me already about training for the relayto be run in November, my 3rd this year. The relay requires team members to run their guts out for 3 to 6 k's at least 3 time a day over three days. You run your guts out because there is no way you want let your team mates down. When your team mate comes in utterly spent and tags you you just know that you have to give it all you've got.

It's a tremendous event to be part of and raises funds for the Endeavour Foundation.

26 August, 2005

Friday 26/8/2005

Yesterday I went for a run in my lunch break. I followed the course used for the Pricewaterhouse Coopers Coolnight Classic which will be coming up again in November. the run took me through the City gardens, accross the Goodwill Bridge, along Kangaroo Point, over the Story Bridge and back to the Gardens.

Approaching the Story Bridge from the south means that not only do you have the steady incline to the centre of the Bridge but you have the very long approach to the Bridge as well. This fact can take runners in a race like the PwC classic by surprise.

It was a good run and I worked up a fair old sweat.

Tomorrow I will be helping out with the Springfield Lakes fun run. 5k and 2K events to which to hope to get 2000 runners and walkers. This may be the last as the local council is making it almost impossible to meet there requirements for an event like this.

21 August, 2005

Sunday 21/8/2005

Noosa Half
I ran my third Noosa Half today. I set out to do 1:35 and was happy to achieve my goal. It was 5 minutes slower than last year but last year I had been training.

It takes me about 10k's to really get into the race. I wasn't feeling to good at first. My legs felt like lead weights. The second part of the race went well and I reeled in and passed a few of those who had passed me earlier. I had enough left in the tank to put on a bit of a sprint for the finish.

It was a great day. For those who had put in the training the conditions were perfect for PB's and they were abounding.

My results from the Noosa Half webb site: 1:35:34, placed 160 out of 774 overall and 11 out of 59 for the M50-54 category.

14 August, 2005

Sunday 14/8/2005

What a beautiful day today after the bleak cold day yesterday. It was perfect running weather this morning and I enjoyed it to the max. We ran a 10 miler at West End today and I managed 1:13:30 which I was very pleased with.

I had the pleasure of running with a lady named Julia, Jules for short, whom I had never met before. We encouraged each other along and ran a nice consistent pace, picking up a little at the end.

Hannah, who did the 10 miles as well, and I were expecting to see Clairie but she was a no show. CR Lizell ran a strong race and won the female category.

13 August, 2005

Saturday 13/08/2005

Yeah I know.... Slack Eddie. Don't worry I am still here. Just been finding it hard to organise my time lately.

I went out with Bob & Di Miller this morning. Bob & Di are wonderfully generous people who have given so much of themsleves to "Running". They are, again this year, organising the Springfield Lakes 5k and 2k fun runs which will be run on Saturday 27 August. They put in an incredible effort to get these runs organised and the Authorities just keep throwing up obstacles. I call it CYA syndrome (Cover Your Ass).

This morning we ran over both courses just so that someone else was familiar with them as a back-up for Bob.

Tomorrow I will be doing the 10 mile race with Brisbane Road Runners at West End.

07 August, 2005

Sunday 7/8/2005

What a beautiful day! It was great to be out there enjoying with so many thousands of others. I had a really enjoyable run. It was my slowest Bridge to Brisbane so far at 54 mins. My first was 52 minutes and last year I did 48:23. Unfortuneately there will be no record of my time this year as I left my Chip at home.....bugger. Never mind. Worse things happen.

I was running along and saw Clairie up ahead and just couldn't resist the opportunity to give her a big cheer.....I just happened to do it right in her ear. Sorry Clairie.

As I neared the finish I caught up with CR Penny from Woodenbong. We crossed the line together. So whatever gun time Penny got is what I got too since I was chipless.

02 August, 2005

Tuesday 2/8/2005

Yes Lucky Legs, I am a bit slow lately.

On Sunday 31/7/2005 I ran in the Ipswich Park 2 Park. It was originally planned as a Half marathon on an A to B course, one Park to another but the Ipswich City Council wouldn't grant some permits so the course was latered to a 5k circuit in and around 2 parks, Queens Park and Limestone Park in the heart of Ipswich.

The course environs were very pleasent..... but the hill, they were something else! There was no 'flat'. You either going up a hill or down a hill. It was tough. Howerver, strange to relate, I enjoyed it and will definitely do it again. The organisation was great. There so many water tables with such enthusiastic attendants I felt mean turning them down so I tried to give everyone a turn.

I havn't done much training since the Gold Coast, so I went into the race with the desire to enjoy it and do my best. I was not disappointed with my time of 1:40:42. A valuable lesson I learnt from the GC was to run my own race and not be overly influenced by how other runners are performing in the race. I did run my own race at Ipswich and I think it worked very well for me.

A lot of people did pass me in the early stages but I manged to reel a few of those in. All in all a great run and I look forward to the next.

Bridget to Brisbane on Sunday...can't wait.