Noosa Half

Another Noosa Half successfully completed...well sort off. There is no official record to show that I completed the race, or even started for that matter. My timing chip, no 496, didn't work. I was pretty upset about it, to put it mildly. Anyway enough people who know me saw me out there running my little heart out. Tesso cheered me on. Thanks Tesso.

I finished in about 1:34:45 and was very happy with that. Tigger was the 2:10 pacer, and finished a few seconds under that. Well done Tigger. Craig finished in 1:45. Great work Craig. Craig and Tigger will be running the Melbourne Marathon on the same day as I am running in Chicago.

Training is going well. I hope to concentrate mainly on endurance. Pace is secondary. I might have an opportunity to increase my pace alittle in the Niagara Falls Marathon because the competitors for that only number 360 at this stage. There are less than 7 weeks to go for the Chicago Marathon. Niagara is 2 weeks after that, then New York is 1 week after Niagara. Am I getting excited!

Another 34K Day

Craig was back from his debut City 2 Surf in Sydney last Sunday and he was keen to get another long run under his belt as he is training for the Melbourne Marathon. Tigger is still OS. Craig an I decided to do the same run I did last week, out to Portside and back, a total of 34K. It was a beautiful day for running today. The temp was just right. I made it back to Park Road in 2:55. Craig had dropped back a bit but was happy to let me go.

Niagara Falls International Marathon

Chicago Marathon was going to be my last long run before the New York City Marathon. Chicago is now the second last long run before New York. The Niagara Falls International Marathon will be held the weekend before New York. I had already entered the 10K event there but have decided that I just cannot miss the opportunity to run the marathon, so I am upgrading my entry. You may think I am crazy, and you are probably right, but I am not running to win or even for a PB. I just want to do it and believe that I can without spoiling New York.

From the web site: "The Niagara Falls International Marathon starts by the Albright-Knox Gallery in Buffalo N.Y. The first 6.5km (4 miles) of the race travel the beautiful majestic parkways of Buffalo before crossing the Peace Bridge into the historic old town of Fort Erie, Ontario. The route then follows the beautiful Niagara River Parkway and finishes at the magnificent Niagara Falls". How could I miss that?

What I want is just to have the experience of running those three events. I am very excited!

I my last post I reported a great week of running. Sadly last week I was suffering from a very bad cold and only did 14K on Tuesday and then 34K on Sunday. I was really disappointed. My 34K on Sunday was at 5:18 pace. A couple of snails passed me. This week I am making an effort to get the mileage up. The temperature here in the mornings has been down to the -2 and -3, cold even by Canberra standards. Yesterday I thought my fingers might snap if I tried to bend them. Today is a public holiday for the Ekka (Royal National Show, or the Brisbane Exhibition which abbreviated to the Ekka). I haven't been to the Ekka in years and have no intention of going this year so today I started my run at 10:00AM and added 4Ks to my 14K circuit to give my 18 which I did at average pace of 5:20 (no snails passed me because it was too late in the day for them but an old lady sideswiped me with her zimmer frame as she zipped by on the inside)

Biggest Week in a While

Finally, I feel as if I am back into training mode. My total K's for the week was 86. That is the most I have done in a long while. Oddly, I chose our coldest week so far this year to do it. On Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I ran my 14K circuit. The times went 1:12, 1:15, 1:16 and 1:08. The temperature on Thursday dipped to -1c. I know it gets colder in places, but for me that was a tad too cool. On Fridays I like to put in a bit of an effort, hence the 4:50 per K pace.

Today Tigger, Craig and I went for a bit of character and set out from Park Road at 5:00AM. We ran out along the Western Freeway to Jindalee, then through Oxley to Oxley Road and along there to Indooroopilly, St Lucia, Toowong and back to Park Road. 30K of character.

I entered the Noosa Half yesterday and look forward to catching up with Scott.

Twigger will be away for a couple of weeks and Craig is running the City 2 Surf in Sydney next Sunday. So I will be doing 34 on my own.