Mt Glorious Mountain Trails

I ran the Mt Glorious Mountain Trails on Sunday - 32km in the rain up the steepest most challenging course they could serve up - rocky fire trails creeks and grassy hills with loads of fresh cow shit.. slipperier than 10 banana peels that stuff - check out the course profile graph = steep. It was in brisbane forest park west of brissy. still feeling a bit tender in a few muscles today. I was a bit slower that I would have liked due to bugger all training and wearing my rubber surf booties - on ultra steep rocky downhills I had to mellow out a bit and alter my run style leading to some crazy full double leg cramps close to the end (hoo wee!! I wouldnt wish that on anyone) - maybe not the best choice of footwear for speed on this course. it was a bit like a 4hr foot treatment with a hammer and nails haha anyway made it and felt good at the finish. they served up some yummy treats too.

time 3:57:17 - place 23rd / 66

runtrails.org

50km Ultra Kurrawa To Duranbah

I ran a Broadbeach to Dbah out and back 50k'er today. I did the 25k of this event last year and was looking forward to the 50k version. I like the event - its really low key and a good course right down the full extent of the Gold Coast coastline - lucky the surf was nothing special or it would be frustrating as we run around all the Goldy points, in saying that there were some nice clean little peaks on my way back around Burleigh. Weather on the day was really hot summery 30º-35º light offshore breeze. Super humid to start then blazing QLD sun for the 2nd half made it tough. Definitely one of the hardest things I've done. There is no cheers from spectators, minimal support and few other runners to spur you on, so the focus is internal and acute. I was having a pretty hard time during about 35-45km suffering near mental breakdown - I kind of had the wrong mantra in my head of "I wish I could stop now" rather than a positive like "Yes we can!" - I guess that's where experience plays its part for endurance, it was my mind that broke me again more so than the body (even though I hadn't properly prepared for this distance and my legs felt like marshmallow) I know this because the last 5km was some of my fastest and most solid simply because my mantra changed with knowing my suffering was almost at an end. So it was my mind state that let my body believe it had nothing left and in that I lost nearly 3/4 of an hour with walking, sitting in the shade and whinging to myself. My 25km time (half way split) was 2:01 (and I consciously slowed it down to conserve). Finishing time was 4:44:41 - 15th place out of 60 something. Obviously the heat got to some of the others too : ) It always spins me out how hard it can get then 5 minutes after finishing I'm thinking "gee that wasn't so bad, I'm such a pussy, what was I complaining about". When talking about the torture of the 3rd hour to Ayako she asks would I do it again and I responded without hesitation "yeah absolutely!" mmm I still don't have a rational reason why
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Cabarita Fires

We've had a lot of fire around here in the past couple of weeks. The second bushfire has been burning for a week and the whole suburb has been blanked in smoke for days. There's nowhere to hide even with the windows and doors shut, my lungs feel like I've been chain smoking for a week. aahh. I am not aware of any property loss but it has apparently charcoaled 7sq/km.
see more pics here >

Brisbane to Gold Coast 100km

Did a 100km Brisy to Goldy Bike ride - a bit of rain and moderate SE headwinds, even still it was awesome fun - on my $55 super-kickass-mountainbike (its funny - race entry cost more than my bike : ) I had to go hard to hang in with the pelotons and their carbon road cruisers. Finished in a reasonable 3:25 (avg speed 29.4kph). It was my first time in a proper cycle event, I think compared with running, its probably more exciting but lacks the zen factor. http://www.bq.org.au/b2gc100/

Sydney Marathon

We had a nice time again at Mum and Dads while in Sydney. The Marathon was good weather (actually quite hot) and the course is terrific, starting over The Bridge (I ran backwards for a while in the middle of the six lanes to take that in) 'round Macquaries Chair, Centennial Park, Anzac bridge ect ect finish at Opera House. Dad and his mate Graham ran with me around the last bit at The Quay which was cool. I then spotted Ayako and Tia a few hundred meters from the finish line - so I put Tia on my shoulders to the line. She liked the crowd cheering us on, I did too. Nice moment. We even both received finishers medals. Good fun, might have to do this one again next year.

Time: 3:22:01 Place: 189th Age group place: 36th.

50km Glasshouse Ultra

Ran in a 50km ultra marathon event called The Flinders Tour. It's a scenic course on trails through the pine forests and bush in the middle (and up one) of the Glasshouse Mountains on the Sunshine Coast.

I didn't have a ideal start, stupidly rolling my ankle in a hole within the first couple km while admiring the glorious sunrise and not paying attention to the ground. Being so early in the race I knew right away it was a simple but big error. Feeling it wasn't serious enough to quit yet, I ran through the pain - albeit at an awkward and slow pace - it kinda went numb after a while. So 6 hours 26 mins later, yay I get my nice handmade finishers tea cup trophy : ) Place 28 out of 38.


Pretty tough event, the mind battle definitely came into this one. But all-in-all I enjoyed myself and the food and people at the aid stations were awesome...mmm baked potato's and brownies never tasted so good.

Mini Kokoda (approx. 29km)

I ran a grueling bush trail event today called the Mini Kokoda, it is run through the National Parks near Springbrook. The course is VERY hilly and the hills are VERY steep with little reprieve by way of flat sections, at least 10 creek crossings, and dozens of trees laid out over the track from the recent storms and no aid stations - must carry all your own water etc. A hill that sticks out in my memory was the evil gravel fire trail half way through the course that was something like a 300m vertical incline over about a km and a half. ouch

It was a solid test of attrition, I'd say one of the hardest physical challenges I've ever done. Pain aside, I enjoyed myself and would do it again any day.

Results:
Time: 4:08:30
Overall - 30th place out of 469
view results >>
11th place out of 158 individual competitors (most of the participants are in Teams/Groups that make up the 469 overall)
view results >>

Sunday Run 25km

Ran the 25km leg of the goldcoast100.com this morning in a group of about 30 runners. Time 2:02:13. Coming out of a bout of the flu I was a bit off today, so just ran in the comfort zone and enjoyed the run. It was a beautiful sunny Gold Coast winter morning.

Interesting to see the 100km guys at it. Many are running near my 25k pace. Amazing!

Dodgy Head

Shaved my head a few days ago. Then I thought I might try to shave it shiny bald. I quickly discovered my facial razor is not the right tool for the job with this much hair and so left it with a few cool bald chunks. haha

Pink Bubbles

Tia and Mummy playing with pink bubbles. click pic to enlarge

Beach Foam

The amazing weather we endured over the past few days with over 100km/h winds, exaggerated king tides and unprecedented rainfall left the beaches in a state of debris and erosion. The winds also whipped up quite a bubble bath of sea foam.

Tokyo Marathon

I ran my 1st Marathon and pulled up at the finish feeling ok with a respectable time of 3:22:11. I enjoyed the atmosphere and the canyon like streets of Tokyo. A great day all round. Now I'm off and running - I suppose it is the first of many.
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Kurrawa to Duranbah 25km

Ran the 25km Kurrawa to Durranbah without too much pain and a reasonable time of 2:12:13. I could have probably shaved off the 7 mins to make a 2:05 (5min k's) but would have had to dig really deep for that, it was quite a hot sunny day. My plan was to take it easy and not race the clock and use this as just a test run to get to know my ability level and learn how to keep a pace - I've never run that far before.

I placed right in the middle - 20th out of 41 (25k solo runners).
see results >>
Maybe I'll have a go at the 50k another year but this time I was happy to not be running all the way back again. The return would have been a hot 30°+ in full summer sun. The course is somewhat unique, in that you can see to the finish from the start. Its a bit full on looking down to Coolangatta way off in the distance thinking "shit! I have to run to there!! is this a good idea?" but its surprising how quickly the k's disappear.

Anyway it was good fun and I'm now confident I can cover 42.195km with another 14 weeks until the Tokyo Marathon.

Faces

Just hope the wind doesn't change.

Side Garden

The side strip at our place has gone through a metamorphosis in the past few months. Previously a barren unused weed garden, now a luscious green grassed space with a stone way and thriving vege garden complete with gate and balcony accessibility... much nicer.

Monster Storm

This shot is taken from Cabarita headland. It looked amazing in real life. An almost living, moving surging mass.