Striders 10k Homebush

A perfect morning cool with no wind and a flat track. After being away all week I was feeling very lethargic and was happy to come home in 39.50.

Working at in Kangaroo Valley

Spent the week away working at Tallowa Dam Kangaroo Valley. Beautiful mountainous scenery. Ran the 21k's to work one day. Fog bound, freezing and silent. A giant tree suddenly fell beside me. It came down with a tremendous CRACK!! followed by a tearing, rushing cacophany, then silence.
A strange experience. Is it an omen?

Newport Nightmare Star 27/4/08

Good run from Newport Beach to Barrenjoey and back. Stopped at Avalon after 25km to go to church with Owen and Patti. Was running well. Beautiful morning.

Kanangra Walls to Katoomba 19-20 April 2008

At Coxs River

Ed and I hiked from Kanangra Walls to Katoomba on a Three Peaks scouting expedition. There was a lot of rain and Mt Cloudmaker lived up to its name. We made side trips to the Koonangaroo clearing hut and Mt Dingo. The total distance is only about 45km but it left nme far more tired than running the marathon last week. This was a big contrast to the walk in Feb 2007 which was in the drought. This time visibilty was only 100m and the track was boggy around Mobbs Swamp.

Ed walking in Cloud at Mt Dingo

We checked out the best camp cave ever at Mobbs swamp and also noted a good one at Taros Ladder.

Ed going up Taros Ladder

I would like to make a crack at the Three Peaks (Mt Cloudmaker, Mt Paralyser, and Mt Guouogang) with the full moon on September 13/14th.

Mt Guouogang

Canberra Marathon 2008

New PB of 3.06. Felt great all the way. Ran to plan with very steady splits. Light to moderate rain till the halfway mark, then a beautiful mild sunny day.

Malabar-Lapa-Maroubra circuit 28k - April 6th 2008

Final long run before Canberra. Daylight savings meant a nice lie in for an hour. Started at 7am. Two 14k circuits starting at Malabar then to Laperouse, through Chifley to Duffeys corner then down Broome st, up
Malabar road, back to Malabar and start again. Met a few people on the way and propably spent 10 minutes gasbagging. All up 2hr 30mins.

Lane Cove 10k

Ran to plan holding 4 min k's until 8k and then pushed a bit harder to come in at 39.30. Felt confortable all the way.

Brisbane to Gladstone - Easter 2008

Another trip on the sturdy yacht "Thylacine" skippered by Mike "Legend" Phillips. Weather was perfect with light to moderate Southeasterly winds so we held the spinnaker from Moreton Bay to the finish. We had a couple of dramas including getting a big wrap on the kite and missing a mark coming into Gladstone Harbour. Followed by a magnificent feed at Jurg and Claudia's with Mike & Brenda, Rob Auty, John and Lyn, Neil, Sharon and John. Brenda made three delicious desserts which I struggled to eat only small portions.

In the morning I managed to drag myself out for a 21k run around Gladstone. As usual Mike and Brenda were wonderful hosts, thanks very much.

Running since October

I have had some very memorable runs in the last few months and a few dissapointments. Running from Wollongong Beach up Mt Kiera for sunset and return was memorable. I have run most of the Striders 30km runs but I have missed the Six foot track due to a last minute toe infection. Still had a great time at the Six foot staying up at Cave's house and watching the finish, in particular seeing Stefica finish in 5.55 and Blue dog in 4.20.


Now its three weeks to the Canberra Marathon and I would say I am as fit as ever, but is age catching up with me? I will run one more 30k STAR on Sunday and see how I go. I would like to break my 3.10 barrier but I just don't know if I am good enough.

Mt Hay Canyon 15-3-08

Great trip through an old favourite with Ed Castro, James, Yvonne and John. Perfect weather.

Reef Trip 2008

Back to Lady Musgrave with all the old gang and all the kids. we had it all, a cyclone, sharks, great fishing, 2 helicopter evacuations, birds, turtles. Three weeks of great company and adventure.

The Gong Ride Return

This year I rode direct from Malabar at 6.45am in order to avoid the congestion at the start, and joined the event at Grand Parade Brighton. It rained lightly till Heathcote and then turned into a magnificent day with moderate WSW winds.
I arrived at Heathcote at 8.10am and avoided most of the slower riders coming out of the 56k start.
At the lunch stop in National Park I stopped to take off my rain coat and Alison and Sue R came along. I then had a very pleasant ride to Wollongong with them. The gel pad in my pants greatly reduced the saddle soreness over last year. The new finish location and course route was much improved. Also met up with Anne and John at the finish and we all had a great lunch at the Aqua Bar.
Lunch was so good I decided to ride back to Malabar to work it off. But what route? I decided the most direct route would be up the Northern Distributor and then straight up the gut busting Bulli Pass. I managed to make it almost to the top of the Pass but exhaustion, and the lack of a road shoulder, made me walk the last 500 metres. Once on top it was an easy, pleasant ride along the freeway with the wind at my back. I had some great long runs in the tuck position. Half way along a road side fruit seller insisted that I eat as many mangoes and grapes as I liked at no charge! I wolfed them down and even took a bunch of grapes for later. The fruit gave me new energy and in no time I was at Brighton, where I had to carefully negotiate the Sunday afternoon crowds and then the final challenge of the Airport tunnel and crossing the lanes to Foreshore Road. Finally made it home just before 6pm. Felt pretty good.

What happened to October?

This month went past in a flash. Very busy at work but not in the field quite so much so I have managed to get a few more consistent weeks of running in.

Running events were the Striders Homebush 10k which I struggled in 41.50 (worst ever result, hot and humid), Maroubra 8km 32.16 (just hot), and today Striders Lane Cove 39.38 (better, light rain).

I am riding in the Sydney Gong event tomorrow. Should be fun.

Mt Solitary Traverse

Sep 29 - 30

A great hike from the Golden Stairs at Narrowneck (Katoomba), via the Ruined Castle, over Mt Solitary, then down the other side to the Kedumba River, and then up to the abandoned Queen Victoria Hospital at Wentworth Falls.

Along for the ride were Michele, Honor , Serena (10), All the Castros (Ed, Carol, Emma, Rohan, Alanna (9), Nicky (7), Kath, Kate(9) and Geoffrey (6). The weather turned out to be perfect except for occasional strong westerlies.

Honor and Serena on top of Ruined Castle - Mt Solitary behind

The hike to Ruined Castle was easy and we were rewarded with great 360 degree views. The kids were in high spirits. Pushed on up the ridge to Mt Solitary summit. This was a little tricky all the kids handled it fine. Along the way we passed several groups of whingeing adults in other parties, but the kids never complained. It was the parents with the heavy packs that had difficulty with the scrambles!

The Scramble up Mt Solitary - Come back Miranda!

We camped at a lovely spot right on the summit in a stand of casuarina trees, so the ground was covered in soft nettles. The kids had a great time playing in the evening and we had a good feed which including roasting marshmallows of course.

We set off along the Mt Solitary summit ridge about 8am next morning and were impressed with the remarkable views to the North and South. Quite a bit of the summit ridge is only 20 metres wide so often you can see great views of both directions at once. Occasionally we stopped at the dramatic cliff edge lookouts which required close supervision of the kids, but were worth it for the dramatic views.

Honor at another dramatic cliff line looking South from the Summit Ridge

We hiked on to the Eastern end where a log book is located. This is called the Col and for the first time we could see the steep Kedumba river valley that we would have to cross. The Col is a striking knob of rock which in cantilevered out over the valley providing dizzying views. The track down is very steep loose dirt with poor footing. This was a challenge and it took about two and a half hours to cover the 2 kms or so to the Kedumba River.

The Kedumba River was an Oasis which lifted everyone's spirits

Some of the kids were a bit down when we got to the river, but after resting for an hour by this beautiful river and getting a good feed of noodles, spirits were high again. If we didn't have a time deadline this would have been a logical place to camp.

The waratahs were spectacular.

The ascent out of the valley turned out to be easier than the descent. We made it to the Sydney Water access road in one hour and then one more hour to the locked gate. Along the way we saw numerous waratahs and xanthorreas in bloom. In a remarkable performance Geoffrey, Rohan and Alanna raced from the road junction to the gate. A distance of about 3 km up a steep hill. I struggled to keep up with them. Then when they got to the top we took off our packs and ran down to help the others behind us.

Ed, Kath and I then left everybody at the cold, spooky hospital while we retrieved the cars from Narrowneck. Everyone was tired but happy. Finally got going home about 6.30pm

Sydney Marathon

Time 3.19. Happy with that given the limited training due to work and lack of sleep. The last half, as always, was tough and I really just plodded along at 5 min/k. A spectacular Spring day just perfect for running. The new ending to the course which runs around Dawes Point and the Circular Quay foreshore was a winner. Stefica ran a PB in the Half and Mike improved to 4.09. Michele and Serena kindly turned out to support me and handed out ice blocks. For the first time I had to stop at a Port a Loo mid race for a number 2! Somethings just can't wait. I am pleased that I didn't get any knee pain and only a slight twinge in my hip. Post event I am tired but not sore.

Royal National Park Run

Worked night shift and day shift this week! So only got two runs in on Monday and Tuesday. Diving is very tiring at the best of times without throwing in night shift. So on Saturday I spent a lot of time sleeping. I did a gentle one hour interval class with the kids, Serena (10), Kate(9) and Geoffrey(6).

On Sunday I took advantage of a spare seat in Neil's dive boat to get a lift to Bundeena. It was a glorious, cool sunny day so I thought I would have an easy run down to Marley Beach and back. It was too nice though and I couldn't stop. Picture postcard views, I ran onto some deserted trails and was surrounded by fields of wildflowers, scrub and solitude. Ended up going almost to Garie Beach then cutting back up to the main road and Wises Track to Audley, then up to Sutherland. Neil was going to pick me up at Audley but we got our wires crossed and missed each other. So much for twin ESP. Ended up running about 35k!


Later in the day the inside of both knees were very sore. Treated them with ice and Voltaren. Hope they get better for the marathon on Sunday.

SMC half

Since the W2B I have been chained to the desk at work but last weekend I got out for a 10k run around Heffron Park in 40 mins and then a 2 hour saunter around Cape Banks the next day. Very tired from work stress. Did a few runs through the week but really had to knuckle down to get the paperwork done. At the end of the week I was pretty dozy but I was determined to get another competitive long run in. The SMC 21k was on at Smithfield so I dragged myself out of bed at 5.30 am to get to the 7am start in the pouring rain. When I arrived there was no one there...mmm... Its on Sunday stupid! Oh well, I just ran it anyway. Cruised around in about 95 minutes. Then today I returned for the actual event. Ran comfortably for 87m 23s with no rain and pleasant temperature. By myself most of the time. Had plenty in the tank at the end and no injury.

Willy to Billy

Another hectic week at work so I was pleased to escape the city for a weekend in the Blue Mountains with the family. The excuse was to run in the Mt Wilson to Bilpin race. 35km. Nice cool day with no wind. Course ran over a mixture of gravel, bitumen and bush track some of which was steep, and other parts level, and other bits were a muddy bog. This course had everything, including some spectacular scenery.
I was feeling pretty good till 5k when I developed a bad stitch. It came and went, but on the long downhill to the river it was stabbing me like a knife and slowed me down. From the river to the finish it is six kilometres up a constant grade and one kilometre down to the finish. Fortunately the stitch didn't hurt as badly going uphill and I seemed to get a power surge overtaking six people on the way to the summit. Eventually finished in 2h 50m which I was happy with.
Enjoyed running with a few guys I hadn't met before on the track. Having someone running with you definitley keeps the pace up.

Run Work Run

Another hectic and stressful week at work fortunately fitted in some quality runs to keep me sane.

Week finished with Bankstown Half Marathon this morning. I did this event three years ago in a time of 1.39.01 in preparation for my first marathon. Today I did it in 1.27.55 which was pleasing. Best of all I felt full of energy afterwards. Last time I remember I was wasted.
It was cold and rainy but conditions were quite good for running. I had a fellow on my shoulder the whole way. With a kilometre to go he overtook me and put on a spurt and got 30 metres in front. Good for you I thought.

As we came up to the finishing shute he was directed off to do a third lap by a mistaken official. I called out to the officials but he ended up making his way to the finish several minutes later. Fortunately after talking to the officials he was recorded as finishing 10 seconds in front of me which he deserved.

This was a fun event organised but the super friendly Western District Joggers who saved us at the miracle at Allum Creek.

Chocolate Gelato Fix

Wow almost a month has gone past since my last post. The good thing is I have been running well, injury free and motivated. Still super busy at work but not quite as bad as in May and June.

This month I ran in the Sutherland to Surf which was 11 k in 44 mins exactly, then in the Striders Lane Cove 10k - 39 50s and finally in the Sity to Surf 14k last weekend 57 56s. So my goal of holding 4min k's is going ok.

Coming up I plan to run the Bankstown half this weekend, Mt Wilson to Bilpin 35k the following, and the Strider 10k at Homebush and possibly the Sydney Marathon on Sep 23 depending on how I am feeling.

On every run I have done lately I have had more energy as the event goes on and ended up negatively splitting. One training tip that seems to be working, is to eat very little on the day before an event, and then during the evening before, eat a litre of Low fat chocolate Gelato. Yum.