29 July, 2007

Park 2 Park Ipswich Half

Another glorious morning in Ipswich and again I competed in the Park 2 Park Half Marathon. I just reread my post on this event for last year. I reported that I ran 1:38 which was the same as the year before (2005). Well, guess what, I did the same again, 1:37:50 to be exact. How is that for consistency. I was really pleased with the run this morning. It was a bit chilly at the start, and the run up through Queens Park isn't getting any easier, never-the-less it is still a great event and very enjoyable.

The 1st and 2nd place getters were a couple of young Tanzanian guys. They lapped me while I was still in my third lap, they in their fourth/last lap. They looked so good.

The Park 2 Park events, Half, 10K, 5k and a Kids race, are organised by the Ipswich Hospital Foundation. They do a terrific job. Intraining's Chris Gale was the race director.

I thought I may have to give today's race a miss as I sprained my ankle during last Sunday's run. It was quite swollen until Wednesday though the pain had gone by then. I ran on Thursday and it seemed OK and gave me no trouble this morning.

15 July, 2007

Thoroughly Enjoyable

I had a thoroughly enjoyable run this morning. It was reminiscent of my Sunday morning runs I used to have before I really started training for marathons etc. I did 19K's in 1:35, average 4:58 per K. It was good just to run without feeling I had to actually have achieved something special time or distance wise. I just enjoyed running. It was a bit chilly at the start but I didn't take long to warm up.

I don't think I have mentioned before that I am doing the City to Surf for the first time this year. I am giving the Bridge to Brisbane a miss. It is the weekend before and as it takes up so much of Sunday, I thought, being away all weekend in Sydney the next week, it would not be fair to the family. Besides, I have started a project with Jordan, my grandson. We are building a cubby house/fort in the back yard. We bought some materials today and started digging the post holes. I don't think he is going to let me have too many weekends off until the project is complete.

08 July, 2007

Rail Trail Fun Run

I did something different today. I hadn't even heard of it before, but this year was the 5th year it has been run. The Rail Trail Fun Run is an 8.3K run between Lowood and Fernvale, country towns in the Brisbane Valley west of Brisbane and only 35 mins from my home. The Rail Trail is an excellent running path which has been constructed along the path of the old rail line which was pulled up years ago. Each year they alternate the start and finish, this year starting in Lowood. Chris Reeves won for the 5th time. He did it in 25 mins, I did it in 36. Chris did the half at GC last Sunday in 66 mins.

My daughter, Cynthia, and her children, Jordan and Georgia, came with me today. They took the 3K option and enjoyed it very much. There were over 600 participants a big increase over last year's record of 423. Chris Gale from Intraining was the race director.

04 July, 2007

Oh well!

A PW for me. A Personal worst by one minute. That is what I achieved at the Gold Coast on Sunday. I didn't put in the preparation and set out from the start just hoping to get under 3:30. I sat with the 3:30 bus for a while but thought I may just be able to do a bit better as I wasn't feeling too bad. It wasn't till I got to 37K that the wheels fell off. I wasn't a pretty sight for the last 5K. It was very tough going. My energy was completly spent. It seemed to take all my effort to keep moving forward.

Never-the-less, I managed to finish in 3:32:08. My previous worst being 3:31:16. I still came 17th out of 142 finishers in my category. I am happy with that.

I have to say that I have never enjoyed the Gold Coast Marathon. I have done 4 and they have all been somewhat of a challenge as compared to my most enjoyable marathons, Sydney 2004 and Canberra 2007.

Congratulations to Robert Song. I was so happpy that he had such a good run and such a fantastic result. The good part about the GC was seeing Coolrunner's like, Tesso, Eagle, Peterhorse, Iliketoast, Johnny Dark and Plu (a surpirise in the full), also Vurt out there on the road. The cheer squad was terrific. I was so sorry to hear that LL's plans were thwarted by the airlines. That was really terrible.