Back on track, hopefully

I hadn’t run since Sunday when I attempted a long run and miscalculated the route.  From my house to Point Vernon is a hard (for me) 10k.  I made it there had a rest and then ran 5k back and walked the rest, 20k in total but not the way I planned to finish off week 3.  On Monday I had every intention of smashing week 4 of the plan and then the unexpected happened.

Around 6pm on Monday 19th April, I was just getting ready for dinner when I heard an almighty bang that scared the daylights out of me.  I went out the back and saw nothing and then headed out to the front of the house.  In the darkness I saw some headlights that looked to be on the driveway facing oncoming traffic.  I went back in to get a torch and saw the lights were out and a bloke staggering around on the drive.  I rushed down to find that this chap had swerved to avoid a roo, come off the road and managed to flip his jeep to end up on it’s roof across my driveway.  The good news is that the roo was unhurt, the driver was very shaken with no more damage than grazed knees where he’d scrambled from the car and the jeep was a write off.  Once tow truck was called and he went home life returned to normal.  Except that I had a lousy sleep fretting about what could’ve been.  I’ve been a first responder, that is very different to having an incident on your doorstep.  So with no sleep I didn’t get out for Tuesday’s run and remained out of sorts for the rest of the week.  Moral here is drive carefully down dark roads and sadly don’t swerve to avoid the wildlife.

The other complication in my life was a call from a recruiter regarding an opportunity a couple of hundred k’s away.  6 weeks ago we moved the family 150k south to enable school and swim training and despite COVID-19 and the associated issues, it is all going very well.  It always seems that just as we get sorted, life throws a spanner in the works.  A job opportunity was not on my radar, so this was also causing me some angst.  Both of these events were weighing on my mind and my motivation for running had gone out the window, I just couldn’t drive myself to get up and go.  Long story short I had an hour of telephone interview that week and then on Tuesday this week an 8 hour round trip drive and a 5 hour interview and now I have an offer for the new position.  This is very exciting as it’s a bigger company, bigger role etc, harder to do and a bit more challenging, in a target rich environment, so I’m looking forward to it.  Though with this comes more challenges as I’ve to find a home for 5 days a week while I’m at work and clear a house to make it ready for renting.  Not a massive challenge but still a challenge.  Fortunately my wonderful wife is extremely good at this sort of thing so we have a plan.  With this reassurance that we can make this happen I was able to get out for a run.

Not the fastest and it was a bit painful in places.  The important thing is I did it and met the 100k goal for the month.  Now with everything else I have happening over the next 6 weeks it’s going to be a challenge to keep up with the marathon plan, so I think that’s going into a holding pattern and I aim for 100k per month as a baseline once again.  Once I’m settled I’ll be back on to it.

That’s my news.  Never a dull moment and I’m looking forward to finding new running routes after I move.  In the meantime Happy Running.

 

Hey Jealousy!

“O beware, my Lord, of jealousy. It is the green eyed monster that doth mocks the meat it feeds from.” Othello Act III Scene III.

A bit of Shakespeare is not my normal start to a blog, there is a point to it. One of those points being that all aspects of human life and behaviour are present in the work of the bard, I did Othello at school (over 30 years ago) and this particular one and a couple of other quotes stick in my mind. Shakespeare is excellent I will take no further questions.

Today is the end of week 2 of the Hal Higdon Novice 2 plan, two 4.8k and an 8.1k run during the week followed by the big run at the weekend. These went well and I was building up for today’s long run of 14.5k.  Apart from a small tactical error in running a portion on the beach this run went well.  I was focussed on making the distance so didn’t strike back from the esplanade and head west to home.  This meant that when I hit the target k’s I had a gentle 5k to walk home.  Which if I’m honest probably accounts for the very little muscle soreness I have right now.  The run looks like this and is on pace with my previous marathon efforts.

Which brings me back to the Bard.  My Garmin automatically connects to Strava.  I got onto Strava through my 83 year old cyclist friend Vern, so he can keep an eye on me and bag me out for not running far enough.  Anyway since I’ve been on Strava I’ve linked in with other running friends and made connections in all sorts of places.  And herein lies the problem.

A year ago some of my friends were minutes behind me on pace and k’s behind on distance.  And that has all changed.  I swiped through the feed seeing sub 5 and 6 min k pace runs, easy 10k’s and half marathon distances. I was feeling pretty pumped with my run today and then I saw what others had done this weekend and my balloon popped.  I’m seeing what others are doing, and they’re doing really well and I realised I was jealous!!

I stopped for a moment and thought about it.  Jealousy is a stupid emotion, as the Bard says, it mocks.  So I needed to stop this one quickly.  I should be pleased that my Strava group is going faster than me.  I lost a year of distance and speed running due to study, so it’s no wonder they’re ahead.  And why should I be jealous?  It’s not a competition, there’s no medals, I’m not trying to put them into second place, there is no reason for this stupid emotion.

I needed to give myself an uppercut (as they say in Queensland) and remember why I run.  I run to be healthy, I run to keep weight off, I run because I can (there may be a day when I can’t) and most importantly I run because I enjoy it.  Being jealous because I’m not as fast as someone would take the shine off what I’m doing.  Blimey I was doing short distances for well over a year and now I’m running over 10k’s from essentially a low base. I should be celebrating my personal achievements and if someone else notices on Strava that’s good.  So that’s what I’m doing.  Remembering that this is for me and me alone and every k run no matter the pace is a good run and whatever my Strava group does is also great and I support that and if I don’t?  Well, really, what’s the point?

It’s Easter Monday tomorrow, should be a rest day, might get out for a short recovery run and just enjoy it.  Wherever you are and whatever you can do in these interesting times to stay healthy, be safe and remember your social distancings.

Finally the tenouse tune from the Gin Blossoms and while you’re locked in, give Shakespeare a go.  You might enjoy it

 

Nowhere to run to?

How are folk holding up?  Don’t want to dwell on it too much but here in Australia in the space of a month lots has changed.  The efforts to limit the spread of Corvid-19 have made a big impact to everyone’s lifestyle.  I really hope everyone is washing hands, practising social distancing and doing the right thing for themselves and the community.  I’ve seen a lot of posts of people getting really creative in their lockdown states with music and dance and people getting creative with their exercise regimes.  I’ve seen at least 2 backyard marathons and saw a really interesting interview with a husband and wife who are both professional ballet dancers.  How they are trying to remain ballet fit was really incredible.  To my mind professional dancers are absolutely nails, they are super fit, adding to the complex choreography that they have to learn put them up there in the ranks of worldclass atheletes.

In my part of the world the restrictions are a bit less harsh.  At work we’ve moved everyone around, those that can work from home are now doing so.  The operations team are segregated, so one shift leaves before the other starts and those of us who need to be on site (like me) are colour coded and only allowed in certain areas.  It’s all very sensible and I’m actually rather impressed in the way that it’s been managed and how everyone has adapted.

Outside of work things are different, but similar.   There are certain restrictions but being able to get out and run hasn’t been banned just yet.  I’m fortunate where I am there is very little risk of other runners at the time of day I go out and the routes I use, so the personal impact is fortunately very little.   Apart from parkrun!! The weekend that parkruns were cancelled was the weekend of my 50th run!! I am now in a holding pattern of 49 runs and 49 volunteer weekends.  How long until I get that red shirt?

Parkrun aside, I have been able to run, but I was wondering why?

When I hit the hundred days last month I took a break for a few days before restarting to run.  What I found was I was just going out and there was no spark to it.  I did sufficient runs in March to ensure I broke the 100k for the month barrier and I ran home from work one afternoon and back the next morning as my car was in the garage. That was fun, but not much of a goal.  While I was doing these runs I decided that there was nothing else for it, I needed a plan and a goal.

With everything that’s happened I can’t financially go back to uni for the next phase of my Masters. This leaves me with a bit more time on my hands. I’ve written before about my goal of doing an ultra in 2023 when I’m 50.  As I’m not studying I can start to focus on that.  Therefore last week I got back on the marathon trial and wrote up Hal Hidgons Novice 2 plan.

This plan ramps up the k’s early on, so it’s a bit tougher.  Up until now my longest run in 6 months was a 10k.  The end of week 1 is asking for 12.9 and 14.5 in week 2.  This is a big step up from my 100 days of 2k per day and the weekly 6k run with Kasey.  What can I do, but just do it! Pleased to say I did survive the first week and feel pretty good about it.  My 13.36 on Sunday, certainly wasn’t the fastest I’ve ever done, but I’m pleased with it as my longest run in 6 months and my first big run in Hervey Bay, which is considerably hillier that Bundaberg.

Marathons are all about the distance and ultra’s even more so.  Speed will come with time and so will the ability to get up the hills.  I’m just going to enjoy it while I still can and while we’re still allowed outside.  The day when there is nowhere to run to will be sad one indeed. Which brings me to the tenuous tune

Wherever you are stay safe,wash your hands and if you can happy running.

100 Days 100 Runs!!

I’ve done it, 100 days and 100 runs!!  And I’m very happy with my virtual badge and the description that comes with it.

I am really pleased to reach the end and make it to 100 as I’m at the limit of what I can do this week and really need a rest.  I can honestly say I have never  been so consistent in doing something every day for that long.  It was a stages easy and hard and this last two weeks have been quite tough

Things were going well and on track until I rolled my ankle evading cows, that slowed me down a bit and forced me to reduce to the minimum of 2k per day and a lot slower.  I even did tail walking at parkrun last week.  That put me to 49 as a volunteer and 48 as a runner, so close to the double 50 for parkrun, though really if I wasn’t a volunteer I’d be nudging that black 100 t-shirt.

This week was super tough.  We moved house.  To enable to the swimmers to train effectively and be with their friends we moved their school to Hervey Bay with a view of taking some pain in commuting from Bundy while we got sorted.  While commuting as an adult is tolerable, it’s not good for children. We soon realized that we needed a house and quickly.  On Feb 7th I looked at a suitable house, on March 3rd we picked up the keys. The rest of the week has been spent moving the necessary items from Bundy to HB.  Not to be recommended in 32°C and 95% humidity.  To cap it all off I have had a recurrence of Shingles.

Shingles is the gift that keeps on giving.  Once you’ve had chicken pox, which I did 40 years ago, you run the risk of it coming back as shingles.  The chicken pox virus never goes away and hangs about in the nervous system waiting for the time that you’re run down or stressed to reappear as a seriously itchy rash, and fiery pain.  My shingles reappeared around 9pm on Tuesday night and have been causing me some discomfort ever since.  The rash is subsiding, but itches like mad.  Fortunately I’ve been really busy and have not had time to scratch them.  Moral here is GET VACCINATED!!!

So getting the required 2k’s per day in has been a challenge.  I was determined to make it happen and slogged my way around the 2k’s every day to be sure and I’m really glad I did.  It’s been really beneficial to my physical and mental wellbeing, in having a routine and a daily goal.  I would recommend it.

Over these 100 days I have lost 2kg and run 438k’s and managed to get everything else done.  Which included passing both my Law exam and my Stats exam and ending the year with Credits in both.  This means I have achieved my first stage of my career change and have obtained my Graduate Certificate of Professional Accounting.  This term was so hard, especially the Stats (might have mentioned it) so I am really pleased to have managed to get credits in both.

So what next?  I’m taking a term off from studying to focus on getting the Bundy house prepared as an Air BnB.  If you would like to stay in a Queenslander that sleeps 8, has two bathrooms, kitchen and no neighbors, hit me up.  I’m also taking a few days off running to rest up, ice up my rolled ankle and wait for the shingles to subside.

The next stage for running is getting back into the long distances. Short daily runs have been great, though I have missed being able to be out running for times and distances that take longer than an hour.  I’m dusting off the Hal Higdon plan and getting back to the marathon training.  I’m still planning on completing the Blackall 100 in a few years, in the meantime I’m aiming for another marathon for fun in the next couple of months.  Domestic requirements taking priority though, so that plan is fluid.  So that’s the longer term goals, the short term ones are two more parkruns to get my 50 shirt.

So that’s where I am.  100 days 100 runs, moved house and passed my exams.  Three goals all achieved!  Now I’m having a cup of tea and putting my feet up for a while.

There is only one appropriate song for this blog and I remember hearing it when I had chicken pox.

Happy Running!!

I just don’t know what to do with myself?

First year of university is finished!!!  I’m rather stunned that it’s all over (for the time being) and I’ve got through it.  This time last year, on a whim, I signed on for the Bachelor of Accounting degree with CQU.  Midway through that first term I had a bit of a think and realising I already had a degree switched up to the Masters of Professional Accounting.  Unfortunately despite getting two HD’s, a feat never before achieved, in Accounting and Law it didn’t give me any credit when I rolled into term 2, so I essentially started again.   Not that it mattered as I enjoyed getting back into the Accounting subject in more depth and doing Economics for the first time.  Being a Masters course these were slightly tougher and I “only” got distinctions.  Not that I’m complaining, I’m exceeding my original student capabilities at this point.

Then we have term 3, which has just ended.  My worst learning experience so far, for a number of reasons.  Might have mentioned it before, we have another family living with us while they build their house, so I lost my quiet study space.  That made life a bit more complex.  I’ll be very honest and admit that I found Stats very hard to get to grips with.  Consequently I spent more time on that subject than on Law.  As I’ve already done Law I wasn’t overly concerned.  The Stats exam was Monday, where I was writing down to the wire and wrote the last answer at “pens down”.  It was only when I left the room I realised that the answer was a decimal, it should’ve been a whole number.  Doh!  Law was Wednesday and I was confident on consumer law, torts and remedies. Fortunately it was an open book as I had to learn real quick the requirements for securities and bankruptcy.  These weren’t covered in the undergrad course.  I wrote until I could write no more and with 10 minutes to go, I surrendered.  I think I’ve done enough for a pass in both units, which will be a fair reflection of the focus this term has been given.  I’ll find out on March 6th what the results are.  P’s make degrees and in this case it will make a Grad Cert in Professional Accounting that I can actually use.

Amongst all this I’ve kept up my minimum of 2k’s per day, along with dropping in some longer runs, I did 13k last Sunday and I’m 85 days of the streak, and as of today I’m at 97k for the month of February.  Which I am really pleased with.  The daily runs have been great to start the day or something to look forward to, losing 2kg has also been a bonus.  I ran in the morning before Monday’s exam and in the afternoon (after going back to work, boo) following Wednesdays exam.  Both runs were great for very different reasons.  What wasn’t quite so great was the thousands (probably) of mosquitos that wanted a piece of me on Wednesday.  I’m sure I lost a pint of blood on that run.

With term finished and due to domestic changes (we move to Hervey Bay in two weeks) and the fact that we’ve all found out that I’m a bit of a fool when I study (focussed, stressed, tetchy etc.)  the decision has been made for at least a term off.  I have a good job already, I can use the grad cert to get a side gig and the remainder of the Masters can wait a bit.  So I have a bit of time on my hands.  This means as long as I don’t impact the family, lots more running and I have plans.

Today was my 47th parkrun and my 48th volunteer, I helped set up and did the course check.  I’d intended to run slow(ish) but fell in with another chap, also Paul, and chatted with him as we ran up until the last k.

At that point a couple of other runners, fell in with us and speeded up somewhat.  It did cross my mind to just let them go, but I couldn’t do it and passed them on the grass to finish 20 seconds ahead at 27:48.  Not the fastest ever, but not bad for the second 5k of the day.  Some might say “but it’s not a race”, I would say they’re not in possession of the full facts.  And anyway if I slowed down we wouldn’t get these ridiculous finish photos.

With no study I’ve got some more time in the morning to run a bit further, I’ve 15 more runs to make it to 100 days and three more weekends to make it to 50 parkruns.  When that’s achieved I’m moving onto the next part of the plan and the goals for the remainder of the year.  Looking forward to that.

Today’s tenuous tune is an obvious one and while the Dusty Springfield version is great, I’m going with the White Stripes (though I do actually know what to do with myself)

Happy Running!!

 

Blessed Rain

Thank goodness the rains have come. We haven’t had a decent rain for maybe 9 months. Not a big deal you’d think, unless your house wasn’t connected to towns water and buying water to fill the tank becomes an issue. This year I’ve purchased more water than I’ve purchased in three! More importantly than my issues, the rain hit NSW with a vengeance and a fire that’s been burning for 74 days was finally put out. Much relief for everyone in that area. Except for those now experiencing flash flooding! We collected 6000 litres in 12 hours overnight last week and the 2 20,000 litres tanks are now overflowing. Who’s says Australia isn’t a land of extremes.

How this has affected me is that I’ve run in heavy rain for the first time for ages. And it was ace. On the first day of the rain proper, I thought I’d caught a break and dashed out in the predawn to do a quick 2k. Wasn’t quick enough, and the heavens opened and the deluge began. I couldn’t see the verge, the road, my hands, nothing! It was made a lot worse when cars came towards me and dazzled-me with their lights. Not wanting to end like a cane toad, a squished mess, I stopped and got off the road. Bloody good run though, reinforced my belief that I do better in grim conditions.

It’s been a busy week so only short runs. I also got sunburnt quite badly on a 4.5k lunchtime run, so I’m stopping that for a while. Great run though, up a road I’ve never travelled adjacent to the river, really gorgeous views. I’m still managing to meet the basic requirements of 2k per day and now up to day 72, which quite frankly still amazes me.

Friday was a dodgy one though. I had to get up at 4 am to drive 4 hours to Brisbane to pick up my brother & sister in law and tiny baby who will be with us for the next three weeks. This tiny thing was well worth 8 hours of driving.

Once I got home it was a quick turnaround to drive back south for 90 minutes to Hervey Bay for the long course swimming event and Friday nights racing. Before they started I managed to get 3.6k in and look at a house. Added bonus, swimmer #1 took 8 seconds off her 400 IM time, with a great swim. Then it was 90 minutes drive back home. 11 hours of driving and no study.

Saturday up again at 4am to get Mrs F back off to Hervey Bay for the rest of the swim meet. She’s a bloody great planner, organiser and administrator so lives in the control box running the meet. Always impressed with how she does these things. Once I’d got her off I got myself sorted and went to parkrun

Normally Greg our super walker does the course check, he was in Hervey Bay this week so I was asked. It was great, damp and raining and I pulled out a 29:22. I was going slow as I wanted to do it again. Fortunately for me I didn’t have to do it faster as #1 child is down from Rockhampton so she turned up and we ran together. The parkrun family is great, it’s ace to see that family catching up with Alice. Now she’s a big girl and moved away we don’t get much time together, so super nice to be able to run with her. She’s been volunteering as part of a uni unit up at the Rocky parkrun so not been able to run recently, so it was good for her to be out. Her finish was great, she wasn’t too thrilled about the sweaty daddy hug at the end though

What was also excellent to see my friend Kay get her 50th parkrun in. Now I can totally claim credit for this as it was me that convinced Kay to come down and have a go. She’s been part of the volunteer and running crew ever since and convinced her hubby Wayne to take part. Though he wasn’t too impressed when the heavens opened on them on Saturday.

Today, Sunday, I headed out on an undecided run and in the end did 5.6 through the reserve. Really glad I did, the difference the rain has made is amazing. A little over a week ago this whole area was barren, grey, dusty and dead with no green anywhere. Now, huge difference! Areas that I haven’t seen water in for 18 months are flooded which is amazing. The Roos were loving it.

So ends the weekend. Day 73 tomorrow, running will be significantly reduced as exams are looming large in a weeks time. Today’s tenuous tune is from Blue Pearl

Which I think I’ve posted before, but it’s bloody good and appropriate for the time.

Until next time happy running!

January Summary & Volunteer Issues

Short summary of January and a moan in this blog.

But first, one of the funniest things happened on Thursday when I was running with Kasey and a brown snake crossed our path.  Kasey hadn’t seen it until I mentioned it, so she screamed and hid behind me. I laughed!  We were no threat, so it ignored us and slithered off into the bush.  For those not in the know a brown snake is highly aggressive, highly venomous and a bite will really take the shine off your day. This was the first bown I’ve seen when out running, so I thought it was really cool.  Kasey not so much.

In January I ran every day and did 135k, shortest run was 2k and the longest 11k (it says 10.8K I had a Garmin issue, it was 11 honest).  So that was cool.

February has started with today’s parkun which I took fairly steady at 5:13 pace and came in at 26:56.  Bit slower than the previous parkruns which were both 26:16 and got me a Ground Hog day badge.  Which leads me to the moan.

I started parkrun on the 18th March 2017.  When my anniversary rolls round I will have had technically 156 opportunities to be a part of this fantastic event.  Today I reached my 101st parkrun attendance.  A pretty decent achievement, but when I break it down it’s 46 times as a volunteer and 45 times as a runner.

Don’t get me wrong I do enjoy volunteering, but there are limits and I’m beginning to reach them.  In recent weeks it’s been a challenge to fill the roster and there’s been last minute call outs to get the numbers.  I’ve been watching the facebook posts but avoiding stepping up as I actually want to reach my goal!  I want my 50 shirt and my small moment of achievement.  I’m a little brassed off that I’m at risk of not reaching my goal due to, as it says in my economics text-book, “free riders”

I shouldn’t look at individuals performances, as we can’t force people to volunteer, that’s not in the spirit of it.  But to give you an example we have runners who have reached 50, yet haven’t volunteered and there’s a runner who’s done over 250 yet hasn’t stepped up since 2016.  We get anywhere between 135 and over 200 each week and a strong core of regulars, there’s plenty of people who could volunteer, but for whatever reason don’t.

I have 5 weeks, 5 more runs until I hit my milestone.  I have one week as RD and that is the only volunteering stint I’m doing between now and that elusive Red Shirt.  If we don’t have volunteers and we have to call a week off, so be it.  Maybe folk will realise and step up to help, or maybe they’ll just take to facebook and whinge (or blog, lol the irony).

So what I’m saying here folks is VOLUNTEER.  You might enjoy it and it lets the rest of us have some fun and achieve our goals as well.

All being well 14th March will be the day I run my 50th, almost 3 years after I started.  Something to look forward to.

In the meantime something I’m not looking forward to is my exams in two weeks.  I do not feel at all prepared.  Head down, bum up to try and cram it all in and all I need is a pass.  Fingers crossed and please wish me luck.

Today’s song, well what else could it be

Happy Running

 

Keeping the streak alive

Busy week this week.  We’re installing new equipment at work.  A multi million $ installation that needs to meet certain food safety and quality standards.  Having a reasonable degree (lots)  of experience in this area, my responsibility was to ensure that it met certain food safety and quality standards.  So I was looking at inspection equipment, weights and measures and the automated cleaning function.  This required me to stay late the previous Friday night, something I am no longer a fan of and come in extra early two days this week to ensure the cleaning cycle is effective.  Throw in some study, selling a house in Hervey Bay and moving items back to Bundy it’s been a challenging week to ensure the runs got on the board.

I managed the week well putting in some minimum distance 2k runs along with two 3.25k lunchtime runs in 32C and a run out with Kasey on Tuesday evening.  I finally got my Smashrun Lunch Hour badges, which I’m quite pleased about.

The challenge was Friday, moving day.  I did not run first thing as house issues took precedent and planned to run when the dust had settled and we were back home. It almost didn’t happen.  I was just about to sit to dinner when I realised I hadn’t run, so I jumped up to get out.  Fortunately my panic came as no surprise to the family and they calmly carried on with dinner.  I threw some shorts on and dashed out saying “I’ll be back in 12 minutes”.  After a day of driving and humping furniture on and off a van I felt surprisingly chipper as I headed out for a quick 2k.  It was quick as well. My second fastest 2k since 2016.  Out in 5:31 and back in 4:39 and done in 10:13.  Dinner was still warm.  The streak remains unbroken as a result.  It also got me the Chinese New Years Eve badge from Garmin, which I think is quite nice.

I’ve mentioned my friend Sharon, who’s doing the walk in Portugal in 3 months time, I hadn’t been out with her for a while, so I rode the 5k down to the beach to meet her and get her round the 5k course.  We had a good chat while doing it and Sharon went back home feeling a bit more confident on the challenges ahead.

Today was the 2nd birthday of Bargara parkrun, which coincides with Australia Day.  While I’m happy to celebrate our parkrun birthday, I’m honestly not a fan of Australia Day, won’t go into reasons, so I was trying to keep a low profile.  What I hadn’t anticipated was Phil our Event Director saying a few words of acknowledgement of runners and volunteers and I was unexpectedly called up with my fellow Run Directors for a photo and flowers.  From left to right we have, me, Kate (in her alter ego Bazza) Mione, Nicole, Maria (as Shazza) and Phil.  I was given a plant at Christmas, don’t recall ever being give flowers.  It was nice to be recognised with my fellow RD’s, they are all quite wonderful and without us parkrun wouldn’t be happening.  It was a great parkrun day, lots of happy folks out in Bargara fresh air and enjoying themselves.  If you’re not doing parkrun, why not?  Give it a go you’ll probably enjoy it.

The run was good, very congested at the start, so the pace wasn’t great at 5:44.  I held this until I got fed up and needed to get out of the group so sped up first to 5:19, then 5, I dropped back to 5:14 in the middle section and then smashed it home at 4:46 for the last k.  Much to the surprise of a dozen runners who were not expecting to be passed by someone sounding like a wheezing freight train.  I think I was enjoying the Zombies, Run mission, though as I can remember nothing about it, I’ll have to do it again tomorrow.  Official parkrun time of 26:16, which is identical to my last parkrun two weeks ago.  However as two weeks ago I turned up and ran and today I’d ridden 5k, then covered 5k with Sharon, I’ll take this as my fastest parkrun this year.  I also got another Garmin badge today, the year of the Rat.

As it looked like we were running out of finish tokens I pulled on the orange volunteer shirt and lent a hand at the finish line.  This brings my volunteer number up to 45 and my runs to 44.  Getting closer to that red shirt.  Today also keeps me on track for the 100 day streak.  Now on day 57 and 102k’s run in January and looking forward to tomorrow.

One final thing, my swimmers have been in Kingaroy this morning at a competition.  Everyone was up at 4 and they were on the road at 4:30, so it’s a big day.  Swimmer 1 did well and swam at PB over 8 races, firmly demonstrating that she’s the top swimmer in her age group in the club and that the training has been paying off.  Swimmer 2 had a cracker of a day, just doing 4 50m races to confirm times for the state sprint championships in a few months.  He PB’d on every race today and has achieved all his times.  Very proud of the pair of them.

That wraps up Saturday, now it’s back to studying and completing assignments.  After my run tomorrow I’m heading to the library to catch up with myself and get back ahead of the game.  Exams are in less than a month.

Finally todays tenuous tune.  What else but Life is a flower from Ace of Base

Happy Running

The BIG 50!!!

I made it!! Today I ran for the 50th day in a row and I am super pleased about it.

I hadn’t set out with the aim of getting a 50 day streak.  I set out in December with the aim of getting back into a better running routine by doing a minimum of 2k per day.   This seemed a decent distance that can be done hard or gentle and I’d still have time to get some study done before work.  And it’s worked out really well.  I’ve managed my time to get the run in, throwing in some longer distances and some lunchtime runs as well.  I split my time between head office and the production site and have a couple of run routes that I can do over lunch and still get all the work done.  Quite honestly I feel fantastic about this little achievement.

This streak started on the 30th of November with a 5k of the parkrun course at 5:51 pace.  Today I did the same route with a bonus 1.5k added at a pace of 5:38.  Over this last 50 days I’ve covered 235k’s and it’s been great.  Did I mention I feel really good about this?  Here’s what I did today.

The splits were good too.  I started at 6:15 pace and ended at 5:20 for the last full k and 4:45 for the final 500m.  Apart from the pace the Zombies, Run mission was incredible, so glad I didn’t listen to that on a night run. The production values are so good, some sound affects really make the spine tingle.   My Ipod was throwing up some great tunes as well.  As I came out of Mon Repos a Heaven 17 track came on and I couldn’t help busting some dance run moves, much to the amusement of some ladies coming the other way.  It gave them a good chuckle and that’s fine with me.  I was enjoying myself.

After that I got my breath back and it was on with parkrun duties.

Heavy rain last night saw the Bundaberg course unsafe to run on from fallen trees and mud on the causeway so we had a few extras in our 261 runners and a number of newbies too.  It’s great to welcome new folk to the parkrun community.  When I spoke to most of them afterwards they were all very happy and we’ll see them again.

One of our Bundaberg visitors, Jake,  went a bit too hard today.  Only a young lad, actually doing his 50th, he pushed hard aiming for a PB and came over the line in 29 minutes, which is a fair effort in the heat, though he wasn’t happy with it.  I was alerted to the fact that he was sat out in the sun and looked to be in some distress.  It took me a few minutes of gentle persuasion to get him up on his feet and in the shade to start cooling him down. I am extremely grateful to the generous folk that brought icy poles with them this morning.  As soon as I managed to get one down Jake the cool water and sugar got him back to normal.  I sat with him until his mum came back and we had a good chat about just doing your best and every run is a good run.  He’ll be sweet for next week and aiming for that PB.

And really that’s my morning so far.  Now it’s domestic duties and some studying and running tomorrow for the 100 day goal.  Before that today’s tenuous tune has to be my run dancing classic by Heaven 17

Happy Running!!

 

If the answer is 42, what is the question?

I wanted to write this yesterday when I’d actually hit day 42 of my running streak.  Sadly pesky work got in the way and I was super busy.  By the time I got home there were too many other things to do so a small celebratory blog was out of the question.

So I’m having a mini celebration, 42 now 43 unbroken days of running a minimum of 2k per day!!!  I have never done something so consistently in all of the 46 years I have been on this earth.  I’ve followed a marathon training plan for months very consistently, but not precisely as written and I’ve been studying hard for nearly a year, but they are both plans in pursuit of a clearly defined goal.   This is different, why am I running?  That is the question.

When I started with Kasey on MAD December the purpose was to get her back into the running grove and get me a bit more active.  Beyond December I didn’t have a plan, would I continue, would I not?  December rolls into RED January and there are a number of folk on Facebook doing that in the UK.  As our office has been moved around, there are not that many people working in there so I have not tried to do a company RED event again, but I figured I would just keep running until the end of January. 

I update Smashrun and each day it tells me how far I am on my running streak.  Now it seems my run every day has developed its own plan and that’s just to keep running and see how far I can get before the wheels fall off.  There is also a Smashrun 50 streak badge to aim for.

2k every day may not seem very much.  As they say every little helps and it must be doing some good as I smashed out my fastest 5k in 6 months this morning at parkrun.

I wasn’t really feeling it when I got up this morning and thought I’d just coast it through, maybe picking it up and the end to come in close to my mate Dan (who’s never gotten past me).  I started pretty casual until I got in congestion going into Mon Repos, concerned I was going to step on someone I stretched out the legs and pulled ahead of about two dozen people and tucked back in at about a 5:30 pace.  I thought if I can keep with this pace and knowing Dan was behind me, perhaps it will pull him along to a good finish.  As we came out back towards Bargara the usual happened and I started to move up past folk and left Dan behind at the half way mark.  To be fair on Dan, he was out on the fireground beyond midnight last night at a fire and had pulled a long day at work, so he was doing really well.

The splits were really good for me, especially towards the end as I started to reel in some folk who’d been ahead of me since the off.

I was especially pleased to catch up with Donna.  When we started parkrun Donna always went out hard and I always caught her and crossed the line ahead. She’s been training really hard and has a faster average pace than me now, so I haven’t been close to her for ages.  In fact the last time I got ahead was probably back in May.  So I was pleased today to pass her in the bush area and get to the line ahead.  She did call out that the training must be paying off and she would be right.  Here’s what today looked like

Running and blogging is now done for the day, must crack on with some domestic activities and get my Stats assignments done.  Longer run is planned for Sunday and more study.  Only 5 weeks to go and I can have a break for a bit, hopefully basking in the warm glow of achieving my Graduate Certificate of Professional Accounting.  A bit to learn and few more runs before that though.  With all that in mind here’s today’s tenuous tune

Happy Running!