March 2007 totals

It is Run for the Kids eve and I am quietly excited.

I have been looking forward to this big event since December and it is only one more sleep away.

With the race starting at 8:30am and the first train getting to the City by 8:11am, public transport into Melbourne in the morning is just about impossible.

With great frustration it looks like an early start due to the road closures and a drive in on Sunday.

March Totals.

For the month of March I only managed to run 160.8 kilometres. With 14 runs that distance took me 13 hours and 27 minutes. The average pace was 5:01 which was a little faster than February's average of 5:17.

It is 40 kilometres short of my 200 per month goal and I only have laziness and bad time management to blame.

Run to Rockhampton.

My year to date is 464km's and that has me alongside the town of Tarcutta, a small farming community located on the Hume Highway.

Tarcutta is about half way between Melbourne and Sydney and is a major trucking rest point.

It is home to a memorial commemorating Australian truck drivers that have tragically lost their lives in road accidents.

Sadly the memorial has over 1000 names inscribed and continues to grow.

Annual Leave 2007

This week I have started my 9 monthly, 4 week annual leave cycle (woohoo).

To celebrate 4 weeks off work, I set off at 6am this morning for a gut busting, local 10km run. I completed the 10.1km circuit in a blistering PB time of 0:47:18!

The PB did come at a price. It wasn't till too late that I discovered that I had a toenail that needed cutting. No major damage, but I think that one will be black by morning.

I have been following with interest Coolrunning's Digger and his 3:45 Marathon plan and it was with his words in my head that pushed me on to focus at sub 5 minutes for all my 1km laps. This morning with an average pace of 4:39 the mission was accomplished.

I have discovered that I need a minus 4 hour marathon time to qualify for 6 Foot in 2008. Currently my best (and only) is 4:13. With a bit of work and focus sub 4 hours seems very achievable.

With the run this morning, plus 3 runs from last week including a 13.2km, a 11.3km and a 10km, my Run to Rockhampton total brings me to Kyeamba, a small farming community in the central east part of the Riverina.

Kyeamba has a a population within a 7 kilometre radius of approximately 1427 people and according to Wikipedia it has no stores or significant public buildings in the area.

Next week I will try to stop somewhere more interesting.

Six Foot Track 2008??

It is the weekend again and time to re-cap on the last weeks worth of running.

With late afternoon shift work and a busy daytime schedule, I have only managed to get out for three runs this past week.

Monday morning I was feeling so pumped after reading 2p's and Ewen's Six Foot Track race reports I cranked out a very satisfying 20 kilometre long run completed in 1:47:22.

Wednesday was a 10km regular run in 0:51:17 and yesterday was a rather pleasant, 10km run in the light rain completed in 0:53:17.

My thoughts have returned to Six Foot Track and I reckon I will have my first crack at this legendary event in 2008.

Run to Rockhampton.

My Run to Rockhampton total has me at Holbrook in NSW.

Holbrook was original called Ten Mile Creek, when the first buildings were erected in 1836. A German immigrant, John Christopher Pabst, became the publican of the Woolpack Hotel on 29 July 1840 and the area became known as "the Germans". By 1858 the towns name evolved to the official title of Germantown.

During World War I the name was deemed unpatriotic and in August 1915 the town was renamed Holbrook, in honour of Lt. Norman Douglas Holbrook, a decorated wartime submarine captain and winner of the Victoria Cross.

The top half of the HMAS Otway, an Oberon class submarine, is located in Holbrooks Germantown Park as an honor to Lt. Holbrook

A young Lucy and Ben pictured on the monument during a trip in the area July 2004.

Farewell Victoria

It must have been around last Tuesday, 20 kilometres ago, when I passed over the Murray river and entered the state of New South Wales on my road form Melbourne to Rockhampton.

I was expecting a bit more fanfare and fireworks at the time but I was unaware that I had made that milestone

It was only today when I was calculating my total km's on mapmyrun.com when I noticed that not only had I passed through the border town of Albury-Wodonga, I was actually about 20 kilometres down the road and at the northern most point of Lake Hume.

Run for the Kids

My t-shirt and race pack finally arrived for the Run for the Kids held on the 1st of April.

The t-shirt is a Nike Coolmax and as you can see a lovely shade of green.

It clashes horribly with my yellow/blue Coolrunning hat but running isn't always about the fashion??

I have worn it twice while training to run it in (ever mindful of the bloody nipple fiasco at the Melbourne Marathon 06) and now will tuck it away in the draw for race day.

For my first time ever I have earned a preferred start and am Blue 2390.

There doesn't seem to be much checking with who gets the preferred start. Just about anyone can claim to run 10km in less than 50 minutes but I can honestly say that I had worked hard for mine.

The sub 50 minute 10km run had been a goal of mine since I ran the R4TK's in 2006 and I'm proud to say I made it at The Olympic Dream November 2006.

Now just have to wait impatiently for the big event to come around.