A tough 10 miles

After not running since the Noosa Half I set off to run the 10 Mile at West End on Sunday. After a week of rest I thought I would be able to manage 16K without too much trouble. Wrong! I couldn't believe how hard I had to work. After 6K I was averaging 4:32 per k and didn't think i could maintain that pace. I was thinking about the Noosa Half and averaging 4:21K for that race and wondering how the hell I managed it. I was running with another guy, Malcolm, and he started to put a bit of distance between us. I thought I would have to let him go. Then I decided that I was being a bit soft and put in an effort an caught him again. We kept each other honest then and by the end of the race we managed to get the average pace down to 4:28 to finish in 1:12. It was a good hit out after a lazy week.

Noosa Half

Another terrific Noosa Half. This is always such a good event. Because of the 2 laps you get to see everyone on the course and give your friends a bis cheer. It was great to have TD (Don) from Canberra out there today. After training in the Canberra winter, Noosa's humidity was a bit of a shock to his system. Toasty bought his 1:40 pace group in with a few seconds to spare. Well done Toasty. You seemed to be the only pacer to keep a group with you all the way.

I ran a good race today. I checked my pace after a few K's and was a bit surprised to find that I was running 4:19 K's. I was sure I wouldn't be able to keep that up. It did creep out to 4:23 at the end of the first lap but thanks to a guy named Gary (I'd never met him before) who said he was using me as his pacer, I worked a bit harder and managed to finish the race with an average pace of 4:21 and crossed the line in 1:33:14. I was very pleased with that. Gary came in not far behind me.

The CoolRunning cheer squad did a fantastic job again. Thank you Cirque and crew. I missed Tesso and Clairie.

What's in a name?

Like TD, it's time for Eddie to go. Though I liked being Eddie, Rob is my name and I like Rob too. I'll still answer to Eddie because Eddie has been good to me. Nothing else changes, I am still me and I like being me.

C2S

Whow! What an experience that was! 65,000 people! I am glad we were all heading in the same direction.

What a great weekend I had. I flew down with friends on Friday, booked into the Medina on Crown and headed out for some lunch. Our weekend was organised by Di and Phil Hungerford from the RunInn. There were about 25 of us altogether. Friday night was dinner at Betty's Soup Kitchen, Saturday morning was a run round the Opera House etc., then breakfast. We then hopped aboard the hired mini-bus and did a tour of the C2S course. That was really beneficial. Saturday we did a Rocks Pub Tour with dinner at the Lord Nelson.

Sunday morning I headed to the start line with a couple of other guys. I got the to start line of the Blue group (third Wave) just as they were stretching the rope across the road. So I plonked down on the road at the rope with about four others and there I sat while the hordes arrived.
They allowed a bit of a gap between waves so when I took off the way was fairly clear until the tunnel. Even then I was surprised that I was able to keep running steadily, with lots of ducking and weaving, all the way. Having driven over the course, I knew when I had reached Heartbreak Hill and was able to work my way up quite well. My Garmin also helped, in that I was able to keep in mind how far I still had to go and pace myself accordingly. As I came into Bondi I was feeling really good and put in a bit of an effort, with the help of the CR Cheer Squad, to use up my reserves. I was very happy to to cross the line in just over 66 minutes.

It was terrific to catch up with Tesso, the temporary (I hope) Sydneysider. Then another pleasant surprise when Ewen came along a little later. I wasn't able to leave my group and go a wandering to find the rest of the CR crew. I may have been left behind.

A Rare Pleasure

Since being too slack to brave the cold and dark on my own in the mornings, I have been doing some runs in my lunch break. I run from the City Gardens and follow various routes around the City reaches of the Brisbane River. On Friday I was heading along Edward Street to start my run when who should I bump into but Langy (RITH). He was in his civvies but asked if I would mind waiting for him to change. So it was a rare pleasure for me to be able to have a run with Langy. We did almost 9K through South Bank, Kangaroo Point, Story Bridge etc. Langy is just recovering from illness, so I was able to keep up with him. We hope to be able to connect for some runs more often.

I ran from Park Road this morning and had to run most of it on my own. I did bump into my running buddy Tegwen who was walking with another victim of injury, our mate Geoff. Tegwen is on the mend and is able to run short distances. I did 17.6k this morning, average 5 min pace. Next weekend I will be in Sydney for the C2S. It's my first one and I didn't apply for a preferred start so will be leaving in the third wave. Of course I don't actually expect to be able to run much for the first 5K, so I am told.

Noosa Half is the next weekend. Once again I haven't put the effort into training so can't expect wondrous things. I love the event though so it will be good just be a part of it.

Here are some photos of the progress on the Cubby. They include my grandson, Jordan and dog, Casper.