A new year, a fat ass and some ugly 800's......

Monday 1st Jan 2007

Today: 33km
Week: 33km
Month: 33km
Year: 33km

Today we headed to the Fat ass run, which was 33km through the bush at Berrowra. It was such a fantastic way to start the new year. There is no way to do this run justice…. I could not put into words how beautiful it was! I really need to get one of those time digital cameras for runs like this!

I ran with the aim of taking it really easy and getting some time in the legs to experience what it is like to be running for 5 plus hours. I decided this would hopefully give me confidence for 6 ft. Ray ran with me…. He was going to do the 16km but changed his mind when we got there. Now who am I to call him a crazy runner!!! I reassured him we would not be racing and we would walk when he needed a break. There was absolutely no need for him to worry he ran brilliantly and really only started to struggle in the last 3km and I dare say so did a lot of people! The bush was spectacular and I loved all the hills and climbing…. I must have been a mountain goat in a previous life.

Ray and I cruised along cheering all the other runners, chatting, laughing and yes…. Singing! Haha we had been told that it was very serene and peaceful at the start…. Not if you ran near us :-) We had started with Bernie and Naomie so we stopped and waited for them to catch up along the way, until the last climb after the ferry. We agreed to just plod on and see them at the end. I was amazed that when I got to 4 hours and into the longest I have been out running I still felt great. Even better was that when we finished I felt I could easily have kept going….. so I was grinning from ear to ear when I finished!!! We finished in 4:48 and I am pretty sure this could have been 20mins quicker without all the mucking around….. but that was most of the fun!!!

This has given me the confidence boost I needed for the next 9 weeks of training for 6ft. Bernie had an amazing run taking over 20mins off last years efforts. March will be very exciting…. So now I am putting my trust in Sean. He helped me to achieve what I did not think was doable for Canberra last year…. So I hope he can work his magic again :-) Ohh with a little bit of hard work from me too ;-)

Tuesday 2nd Jan 2007

Today: 8km
Week: 41km
Month: 41km
Year: 41km


Well no rest for the wicked!!! Bernie and I had made a pact to turn up to training this morning, so I dragged myself up and headed to Centenial park. I felt pretty good, except some soreness in the quads from the climbing. We had 5 x 800m reps today and I was prepared for them to be ugly. Last 800 session my times ranged from 3:20- 3:35. Thankfully I felt a bit better after the warm up run and drills/strides. The first two 800’s were hard work but each rep seemed to feel easier. My goal was to just get a little quicker each rep and to finish the session. My times were not too bad considering the 5hr effort the day before….. hahaha I was feeling very pooped by the end of it though! Thankfully it was my last day of leave so I went home to bed :-) My times were: 3:53, 3:45, 3:35, 3:31, 3:27.

Wednesday 3rd Jan 2007

Today: 18km
Week: 59km
Month: 59km
Year: 59km

Today was our mid week long slow run. Met the girls and Dave at the park and thankfully the old Garmin was flat…. .Which was nice as I had no idea how long, far or fast we were going. Before I knew it we were finished and I have no idea where we found the energy this morning~Mind over matter! Dave dragged us around and gradually picked up the pace at the end. We even put on a bit of a spurt as we ran past all the mad cricket fans lining up at 6:30am out side the SCG!!! The boys in blue were also out in force… and looking very fine :-) I was glad Ray stayed in bed this morning ;-)