Defence Lake Attack 2007

This year was my third time as a participant in the Defence Lake Attack and I am pleased to say that the organisers finally got it right.

After last years manual recording of finishing times shamozle, it was refreshing to see that they had finally introduced the windag timing system.

You may remember last years 10km distance was very short. The 600 metres short according to the Garminator was very frustrating when I was pushing for a PB back then. This year the organisers had done their homework and added a dog leg section to make the 5km per lap accurate.

My friends Caz and David from Run to the G joined me again as we car pooled into the event. We had to pick up our numbers there so we left a bit earlier. I was a little apprehensive about the number pick up business expecting chaotic queues but it was surprisingly orderly.

We watched the 5km racers start first and every one jumped when the starters gun, a 105mm Howitzer, boomed out over Albert Park Lake.

Next I joined the 10km runners lining up, I wasn't pacing this time around so I wished my car pooling buddies the best of luck.

Even though we were warned, and expected it, everyone still jumped when the cannon fired announcing the start.

I took of fast. I knew I had lost a lot of form since last years event but I knew it was a fast, flat course and I wanted to make the best of it.

The first and second kilometre passed in 4:31 and 4:38 pace. A bit too quick for a Fatty Bombah to be running so I slowed it down a little.

Kilometres 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 went by at an average 4:52 but I was starting to feel the earlier quick pace catching up with me.

The last three kilometres I struggled to keep it around 5:06-5:02 per kilometre and I was grateful to see and pass through the finish line.
Considering that I am carrying 10 kilos more than this time last year I was very happy to complete the event in 0:49:01.

I may now resemble Fat Albert when I run but I can still hold my own over 10km distance.
My friends also finished the 10km race. David in 0:57:40 and Caz finished in 1:00:58 with Coolrunnings own Slow Sue.

Even though they had only briefly meet before the event, Slow Sue stuck with my friend Caz, who was struggling with a sore foot, and encouraged, prodded and paced my friend over the finish line.

Makes me proud to be a Coolrunner seeing such selfless acts as that.

After downloading all the Garminator data I could see that the last kilometre and a half my heart rate was over 200bpm! This can't be good for a 36 year old male and I may have to work on my fitness more before pushing myself like this again.

Making a rewarding effort.

Thanks to everyone for your great words of encouragement. It is hard to slack off when I think of everyone I would be letting down.

I have picked up with my running. I have had three runs of 10+ kilometres including a late night, 2 x laps of The Tan. This morning I also completed a local 12.5km run in 1:04:42. Not a bad effort for a slacker.

Running is something I still enjoy. But with work, sleep, family and CFA commitments it is hard to schedule it into a busy life. The best time I have found is early morning. When you can roll out of bed there is not many distractions or reasons to make excuses. Unfortunately with my shift work I need to get all the sleep I can grab.

I seem to have to make an effort to get out for a run. Though I do admit it is very rewarding when I get back home afterwards.

Mornings have brought me a new project that I have been sinking my teeth into.

I mentioned briefly in my last post of Walking School Bus. Walking School Bus is a project involving the local council, school and parent volunteers.

I have established a bus route that weaves in and out local streets. I take my own two kids, Lucy and Ben and we collect another ten on our 1km walking journey to school.

It has been a great way to encourage some exercises with the kids and take five cars away from the school peak hour chaos.

While going over my old blog entries it was interesting to see some of the old pictures. I could see how fit I looked at times and I decided to add this one for future reference.

It has been awhile since Oscar has been for a run and I decided to take him in an attempt to get back to where I started from. As you can see he loved the first five kilometres of the 10km run but struggled to bring it home.

The Queensland State of Orgin top is another story. About 15 years ago when the NRL were playing the first State of Orgin match at Melbourne's MCG, myself and a few friends bought tickets for the game. My friends were both ex-pat New South Welshmen and were wearing team guernseys. I shopped at Canterbury in the City and much to my friends disgust I brought the Queensland Orgin top as it was the only one I liked.

From memory Queensland lost that game against the Blues and except for the streaker at the start of the game I didn't have the foggiest of the rules, game play or anything else that went on.

Now I find the top is good for colder weather running and it has been getting a bit more of a workout lately.

After a couple of weeks lapse my Run to Rockhampton continues. I have calculated that I am close to Prestons, on the outskirts of Sydney, and at a crossroads.

Should I turn right and take the South Western Motorway for a triumphant run through the streets of Sydney. Or keep my eyes on the prize and follow the M7 Westlink to Eastern Creek?

Decisions, decisions...

Back to the Future

I have just spent the last few days re-reading my Blog entries to see where I went wrong.

I am now back to 106 kilograms and I feel FAT! My running has slacked off to 55 kilometres in June and a very piss poor 29 kilometres in July.

A lot of the past couple of months inactivity I blame on poor weather, laziness and a little bit of fear.

I was frightened that after a week of not running turned into two weeks, then three, I would not be able to get back to my run "10km's all the way benchmark".

Fortunately though I did keep a little active by infrequent fartlek session on the treadmill at work, and a recent participation in the Walking School Bus program at my kids school.

In the last couple of weeks I have managed to get three outdoor runs to re-build my confidence. A 10.8km lap of the Yarra River and 'The Tan' completed in 58:53. A 10km local run that took 54:39 and this mornings dawn run over an old 10km route that was completed in 55:30.

Even though I have slowed down from being out of form and carrying extra weight I can still manage to run 10km's without stopping.

After reading my blog I seemed have made alot of excuses after the 2006 Melbourne Marathon. Maybe I wasn't quite ready for this event but it did bring a tear to my eye reading that post again.

I have an entry in the 10km Defence Lake Attack, that was bought as a birthday present from a friend, and I will be lining up for that event toward the end of the month.

The Melbourne Marathon will not be happening for me this year but the Half could be a possibility, if I get organised and trained up in time that is.

I don't think I will reach my goal of 2000km's in 2007 but I will try to calculate how far I have been. The website I use, www.mapmyrun.com doesn't like the long distance I have traced out and I will have to look at another distance recording method.

Now a special thank you thank you thank you to those that hadn't lost faith and kept visiting my blog while I was being slack. Your comments that popped up in my email every now and then certainly prodded my guilty conscience and helped keep me honest. I know how easy it is to forget about someone when they haven't Blogged for awhile and I appreciate you giving me a prod in the ribs every now and then. Thank You!!

Please be patient as I look forward to catching up on your Blogs and adventures over the next few days.