results and pictures

The results are out from Sunday’s Sri Chinmoy run at Princes Park. I came 19th our of 150 or so. Not bad.

There are also quite a few photos of me in there, mostly because, contrary to my usual practice of making frantic “no” gestures with my right hand and shielding my eyes with the left, I played up for the camera a bit on the day. Here’s one….

Me towards the end of the 30km run

Cake
I stumbled across a blog called “Cake wrecks” this morning. It gave me about 2 minutes of amusement – that’s all – but that’s probably more than you can say about most things in life. Here’s the first of the cake wrecks:

Running
None since the weekend. I’ve been too busy at work and too grumpy and tired at night. I will try to run today though.

sri chinmoy princes park run

Well Beth the Physio either didn’t object to me running today or I completely ignored her advice – I conveniently disremember. And it was rather a good thing too.

A good run was had by one and all and, more importantly (within the confines of this blog), by me. I met up with Tiger Boy and some of the usual suspects at the start and had a chat, including the following gem of wisdom from yours truly: (imagine chattering teeth – it was cold) “I’m not going to run this one fast, what with my dodgy knee”.

Even as I said it, part of me was thinking “but maybe??????”.

That adventurous part of me won out, and instead of trolling along with the 5 minute pace bus I settled into a nice comfortable 3 hour marathon pace. The first km was exactly 4 minutes 17: I checked. The funny thing was, it was actually comfortable, and remained so for the first three laps of Princes Park. After then it got even more comfortable and, horror of horrors, I actually began to enjoy the running. The laps seemed to fly past, with each 5 km lap the time ticked along by 21 minutes or thereabouts.

At about 24km in I caught up with a guy called Andrew and we ran most of the rest of the race together, keeping a nice pace going. At the last hilly Zoo section Andrew lost touch with me by a few metres and I had a rush of energy and a kick home.

My time was 2 hours 7 minutes, which I’m happy with. It was more or less exactly the pace I ran the first 30km of Gold Coast, but I didn’t feel like death.

Now, a dilemma. Do I take this as an omen that I could and should run the full Melbourne Marathon in October? Or do I take this as reassurance that, Gold Coast aside, I can actually run a bit, and then allow my body the rest it probably craves? I’ve started to have chest pains lately that I’m cheerfully half-ignoring.

freezing cold

After yesterday’s brief flirtation with muli-linguialism, today a return to this blog’s normal policy: plain old English, and a particularly threadbare, clumsy, charmless variety of English at that.

Looking at all those pictures of sweating marathoners choofing along the boulevarde in the south of France had me feeling all summery and happy, but last night froze the life out of me.

I got home early and went for my normal 12.5km run. That was cold, with only my t-shirt and a pair of old running shorts that resemble the shroud of Turin for warmth. When I got back it was brought to my attention that the dog needed walking and that, as I was decked out in running attire, I was the best and only candidate for the job.

Dog walking was much colder, what with my sweaty shirt flapping icily against my stomach and chest and my hands exposed. At one point Buffy (the dog, not the vampire slayer) took off in pursuit of a local cat with an astonishing display of raw speed and power. I was holding her lead at the time, but only just. I think my hand started to snap at the wrist. It was frozen solid.

By the time I got home and jumped in the shower, my hands were burning.

I do like winter, but there are limits.

Running
12.5km last night and another 13km this lunch-time – up through Fitzroy and Clifton Hill to the Fairfield boathouse and then back to work.

Sri Chinmoy
Depending on the whim of Beth the Physio (AKA Claws of Steel), I may or may not make an appearance at the Sri Chinmoy Princes Park 30km this Sunday morning. If I do, it won’t be terrifically fast.

I considered running this event in 2007. In fact I even drove out there and parked on Royal Parade, all set to go. But then I thought about running around the same old boring Princes Park circuit 6 whole times and it just seemed too much. It was a bit of a dilemma: on the one hand there was 2 hours worth of boredom. On the other hand, there were pancakes at the end of it. In the end I ran a lap of the Capital City Trail, which is more or less 30km, then took the kids out for breakfast/brunch.

We’ll see how I go this weekend.

it ain’t pretty, but…

I could never be bothered shaving on the morning of a race. There doesn’t seem any point making myself presentable. I mean, look at this, from Monday’s run…

No amount of shaving’s going to make that look good! The photographers at SC races normally make a point of looking elsewhere when I approach. I applaud their sturdy common sense, in that regard. However, they must have had some new guys on last weekend. I’m all over the place:

and yet again…

Incidentally – it looks like I came 7th in the 10km. See the SC results page. That’s gratifying, especially when I felt so down about the result, post race.

Running
I ran last night around my local streets – 13km. No big deal. Just a run.

Comments
The “Akismet” spam filter thingamajig that wordpress uses seems to have taken a dislike to AJH and Em recently. I can’t think why. Possibly it knows something I don’t.

I think I’ve un-spammed you guys now, but I can’t be sure.

10km pb at burnley

I decided last night to run the Sri Chinmoy run at Burnley after eating a million hot cross buns the previous day and consequently feeling fairly flabby and evil.

I made it there by about 7:30, just in time to register, stand in line for 10 minutes for a pre-race bog and then jog up and down a bit to warm up the calcified muscles.

There were the usual bunch of Cool Running types, PJ and Tiger Boy, but curiously no Em who seems to have given up running for a life of alcohol-fuelled debauchery. As you do.

Aside from being manhandled by Tiger Boy, I felt the usual SC-type relaxed atmosphere and wasn’t worried about the race much.

My first 5k felt pretty restrained – I was running on feel as I forgot to note the time at the start. I started to feel a the pace a bit at 6 km and then felt my technique getting a bit ragged between 8 and 9km but I brought it home relatively strongly in 38m 12seconds. It was a PB for me, but slightly disappointing.

On the plus side – I was overtaking people the whole way and wasn’t overtaken. On the minus side, I felt my technique was woeful, and I’m sure I could have strolled home at this pace 7 months ago.

I do think I have a 37 or even 36 minute 10k in me if I prepare at all well.

bailing on Sri Chinmoy

The last words in my post on Friday were something like this:

“I have hopes of running the Sri Chinmoy 30k at Princess Park on Sunday”

Well, they may have been the last words for the day, but they weren’t exactly the final word on the subject.

As it turns out, I spent the next 24 hours mulling over the whole 30k PP issue, with four glaring issues in mind:

1. Those 30k include 6 laps of Princess Park
2. That’s PP over and over and over and over and over and over
3. I’ve already run thousands of laps around the bloody place
4. I have to pay $25 bucks for the privilege.

Do you see where this is heading? That’s right, I bailed on the official SC event, instead doing one big lap of the Capital City Trail, tacking on an extra bit at the end just to make sure it was over 30k.

The map route is now online at MapmyRun.com. It was much more scenic, aside from the bits under the freeway near Macaulay station, and much more enjoyable.

I had no company – other than a brief nod to Jon Faine somewhere in Fitzroy, and the number two guy in Victoria Police who’s name escapes me – but in my experience of Sri Chinmoy races I always end up running by myself anyway.

As it turns out, when I got back to PP, the race was stil in full-swing. I spied some familiar faces hard at work. I didn’t see Morsey, but she was there tearing up the 10k course in sensational fashion.

Police
I mentioned earlier that I ran passed a policeman yesterday. I did a bit of a google search trying to find his name – unsuccesfully – but I DID find the Police media alerts page. It’s quite entertaining in a morbid sort of way.

Articles like this: Wilful and Obscene Exposure in Hughesdale. I like the way they’ve got 4 paragraphs into the article before they think to mention the man was wearing a small-black miniskirt.

Marathon
In the week before last I said I’d do a couple of 30k long runs and then think about the possibility of a start in the Melbourne Marathon this year. I suppose a start is more likely. I can definitely go the distance. I’m not sure a sub 3-hour is doable though.

I’ll have to keep thinking.

fatherhood is bad for athletes

You know you’re running a little short of ideas when you start writing blogs about MX magazine, but I’ve never been one to be proud.

Last night they ran a double-page spread on Lleyton Hewitt, suggesting his little girl Mia is responsible for his recent form slump. To which the obvious response is “who cares?” After all, the longer his slump goes on, the more likely he’ll retire and slip into obscurity forever. Have another baby Lleyton. In fact, have you considered quads?

But I was interested in this idea that fatherhood reduces your ability to be an athlete.

Now, to the extent that I take part in athletic events, I’ve found the opposite. A baby crying just makes me want to get out there and train, train train. Here’s the evidence: pre baby marathon pb – 3hrs 43. Post baby marathon pb 3hrs 12.

Sri Chinmoys
The results from the weekend’s race aren’t really online yet. They’ve published a PDF with only the top 3 place-getters in each event. All I want to do is find out what position I came. At the time, the lady at the finish line flatly refused to tell me where I came. I’m not sure why.

Also there are 256 photos online, none of which includes me. Why is that? Am I so unattractive? Why take photos of all marathon finishers except me?

I’m starting to feel hurt.

And it’s not the first time. I ran a 10k in Princess Park in February last year, and they didn’t even record my time.

new pb

There it is, on the right and down a bit, in ordinary, unpreposessing little white numbers: a new marathon pb. Three little numbers that are the results of 18 weeks solid training and 12 months build-up work.

Is it worth it?

I’m not sure I can say yet. I haven’t really fully taken it all in. I expect over the next days and weeks I’ll reasess where I am with running, and what I want to achieve from now on.

The old body
At around 48 hours post-race the old bod is feeling pretty good. Each individual body-part south of the hips seems to have taken its turn to remind me how aggrieved they are at me for putting them through such an ordeal.

The hips complained immediately, the feet as soon as the shoes came off. My ankles have been a bit iffy this morning and the thighs have been content with a sort of low-level ache that I would characterise as a moan.

As of right now, lunch-time Tuesday, I honestly feel there’s no reason I shouldn’t go running tonight.

No reason except for experience that is. Last time I was in this position (2005) I went out and ran a 10k fairly hard a week after a marathon and injured my hip, knocking myself out of training for 4 weeks.

I’ll probably hold off until next week, much as it galls me.

Race reflections
While I’m happy with my performance and with the day as a whole, and while I’m a big fan of Sri Chinmoys; the chances are I won’t be doing the marathon at Williamstown again.

It’s very flat, so should be fast, but if it’s windy it’s very difficult.

The loops at the end, while I didn’t mind them too much, do tend to take away something from the sense of an event.

The finish line makes this impression even stronger. By the time you get back to the finish there’s next to no-one there. I approached this years event purely as a chance for a PB, but even then it’s nice to feel like it’s a bit special.

Technology
I have some video of me crossing the finishing line. I’m just in the process of figuring out how to put it in this blog. We’ll see shortly.

Goals
I want to keep running. That’s the first thing. I just need to feel like I have something to aim for.
Another marathon is probably not on the cards at the moment, as I don’t think I can justify the time involved to train. I do have other things happening in my life, strange as that may seem.

My initial approach was to look at my pbs and see whether any needs work. So, to throw it open to you readers, what do you think?

5k – unknown
10k – 39.04
half – 85.55
marathon – 3.12