The Comeback Begins

Thursday 17th September 2009. Thanks for picking me up at the airport Dr Phil and Prince Donger!! I cannot believe how quickly the last year has gone, but also what i have done and achieved in that time! I don’t think i could have done it without the motivation of BMMC training buddies! Looking back at my training diary i somehow even managed to do the Tuesday morning Sun Valley loop that Thursday afternoon after a mammoth flight “home”.

And so a year on, with fond memories of the Long Course Worlds in Perth, Ironman in Port and the North Face 100 in the fond surroundings of BMMCs heartland the focus shifts to expectations and targets for the 2010/11 season, which effectively kicked off with a Half Marathon at the Blackmores Sydney Running Festival on Sunday 19 September 2010. It was a year ago (5th Sept 2009) that i set my HM PB, at the Half Iron Aquathon at Eton Rowing Club. This was on the back of a summers (British) training and racing so form was good. Now, with the last race being North Face way back in May, and with 47km being the most kms run in a week, expectations weren’t particularly high!

After pre race carbo loading with Scam and the Big Unit (SWMBO), it was off for a 6.20am start from Milson’s Point! Scam doing the Marathon came in with me despite his Marathon not starting until 7.30am. Having only registered a week out i was at the back of the pack which didn’t impress me, and so it was with much haste as i crossed the start line 9 minutes after the gun, that i set about trying to work my way through the congestion that 8,500 people generates! I spent most of the race running around people, but managed to get into a bit of a rhythm when i could. It was hard to judge my pace, and with no watch i just ran my own race and settled into what felt like a consistent pace. I felt quite good for the most part with the legs holding up much better than expected considering lack of training! The clock read 1.34:54 as i crossed the finish line, which i was happy enough with take a few mintues for delay at start! However, chip time came through as 1.24:59 which was a much better time than expected given lack of training! So, its given me a bit of motivation to take the suprisingly good early season form forward starting this weekend with the Woodford to Glenbrook (not a race), followed by a Tri Club race on Saturday arvo and The Running Wild Race 1 at Glenbrook NP on Sunday!

Spent the rest Sunday morning running between the Marathon course to catch bits of Scam and Dave Northey and the 9km course to catch bits of Earl, before meeting up for a much needed coffee with the Big Unit! Great turnout at the BMMC post race BBQ race report session, all the main athletes were there!

Hopefully this is the start of more blogging on training and racing for this season than last! And maybe one day i'll even get round to doing a race report for NF 100! We'll see!