Defence Lake Attack.

Once again after a week of being a slack Blogger I have six days to catch up on.

Tuesday the 22nd of August

A run out from work this day. I left Flinders St station and followed the Yarra River to the Anderson St bridge. Turning right I ran a anti-clockwise lap of the Tan and headed back to work.

8.4 kilometres in 0:38:54 (I have really noticed how much faster I have become).

Details can be found at Motionbased here.

Thursday the 24th of August

After heavy rain most of the morning in Melbourne I decided to get those 'still new looking' trail shoes a bit dirty.

After dropping the kids at school I drove to Lysterfield Lake Park and ran a 11.9km circuit in 1:03:36.

I didn't get the shoes that dirty but after stomping in every puddle I could find I got them very wet.

I don't know how it happened but when I left the park to head home my right ankle felt very sore, almost like a sprain.

More Motionbased details found here.


This mystery injury kept me resting for the remainder of the week and I tried to recover it for Sunday morning.

Sunday the 27th of August
Defence Lake Attack

My first competive race I entered 12 months ago is back and this time I was out to set a 10km PB.

The rest of my family, Sal, Lucy and Ben were entered for the 5km walk and it was looking like a fine day.

When we arrived at Albert Park Lake I noticed that the event seemed to be bigger than last year. It was in a different location and seemed to be a lot more tents and military vehicles on display.

I lined up early at the starting gate and half expected a balls up like the previous year when the starters gun wouldn't work.

I think the whole field, ducks and even the swans jumped out of their skin when the start was announced by a gut churning BOOM from a 105mm Howitzer gun!

The starters gun!

I set off fast. I knew I was fast but I was feeling fairly confident that I could keep a good pace. Once I was out of the crowd I started picking targets and reeling them in.

The first lap of the lake went through at 0:20:49. I was elated but also a little disappointed as The Garminator told me the lap was only 4.8km long.

The second lap was a little slower as I was caught up in the 5km walkers. I had to dodge and weave a bit and I lost sight of the next runner that I was pacing off.

Sal copped a slap on the butt as I lapped her and a quick hello to the kids and I continued on.

I crossed the finish line in a record smashing 0:42:15! Beating my previous 10km race time (Olympic Dream) of 0:53:37. I just wish the Garminator told me I had run 10km instead of 9.6.

I gathered my showbag and waited for the family to come in. They would have been under an hour except for congestion in the finishing chute. Very well done guys!

Ben is very happy with his Bling (complementary race medal) and has announced that he will keep it for ever and even his kids will inherit it.

Details for the Defence Lake Attack can be found here and Motionbased results here.

Apart from the discrepancies with the distance I am thrilled with the result. At Tesso's suggestion I was hoping for 45 minutes but would never have imagined sub 43.

My right ankle has pulled up sore again and I have been having a little trouble with my second toe on the left foot since the 34km last weekend. All of a sudden they seemed to have decided that after 400 km's my Asics Kayano's are too small?!? Very weird.