Winter goals

So, you already know by now that my day at Ultratrail Australia wasn't a miraculous victory. That's OK.

I wasn't in a great place mentally when I posted my race preview. Things improved overnight, and by the time I got to the start line I felt confident enough for it to be an each way bet as to whether I'd cross the finish line victorious or pull out at the 4k mark, where the course passes back by the start line after an out and back through Katoomba.

Running winter errands

Each year I find myself with a short lived bout of winter sadness.

Last year I beat it through a combination of public transport and obligation.

This last weekend I ran an errand.

It's global running day and I didn't run

I know right.

I'M A RUNNER. THIS IS MY DAY

Though I feel like it's *really* a day for northern hemisphere runners, where it's the first day of summer. Here it's the first day of winter and it felt like it.

That's not why I didn't run today though. I promise!

Ashgrove parkrun - Accidental Historian

Today I ran Ashgrove parkrun. It was my first 5k run for months and it felt good to run all the way, and finish just a few seconds behind the 35 minute pacer from the Ashgrove Rangers.

The parkrun is based at the Ashgrove Sports Grounds and utilises the Enoggera Creek Bikepath. I haven't run along this bikeway very much - but I've run around Enoggera Reservoir a few times... so there was a nice synergy for a comeback run.

I noticed plaques along the bikeway during the run so when I walked back to my car I took a closer look.

Why am I still running?

So I haven't blogged much since TNF100, but I have been posting photos on Facebook and Instagram. I've been busy. I've been running like crazy, all over the place.

Last week on Instagram I got this response from a friend.

I feel like I need to explain that what's driving me to keep running isn't determination. Largely, it's fear.

Farewell, winter solstice

I haven't had to deal with winter training for a couple of years... well, not in the deep depths of winter, otherwise known as the winter solstice. Even as I sit here on Monday morning, writing this, it's only just getting light and it's nearly 7am.

It only lasts for a couple of days but every year around the solstice I feel like the world is darker, less shinier. And it's definitely colder. I don't know why, but it affects my mood. All I want to do is hibernate until it's over.

I didn't have a great weekend of training over the weekend, but yesterday I trumped winter solstice.

Runner's high / runner's low

What, never heard of a runner's low?

I've had one for about the last month. And I had even a few acute attacks on this morning run.

Nobody ever talks about the runner's low but I'm pretty sure it's a thing.

"I'm basically going to run a lot."

This was the answer I gave a work colleague last Friday when she asked what I was doing on the weekend. "I'm basically going to run a lot."

As I heard the words come out of my mouth, I wondered whether I should be admired for being so committed to my goals, or whether my plans to basically devote my whole weekend to running 67ks made me the most boring person in the world.

I'm still not sure. Maybe it's a bit of both.

Parramatta River Run

I'm down in Sydney for a course and had the chance to run along the Parramatta River this morning.

It's a very historic little spot - I took some photos for you.

Racing the Suburbs

This last week I've been running a lot.

In fact I ran six times last week, so that I could make a video of myself running six times, for my friend Kate (aka Speedy Reidy), of House of Goals fame.

Speedy Reidy is about to embark on a 250k, six-stage ultramarathon in Iceland - Racing the Planet - so running a measly 55ks, and documenting it, was the least I could do to support her.

"Are you running a marathon?!"

A few ks into my 18k long run this morning, that's the question I got. Not from a fellow runner. From a lady sitting at a coffee shop in some kind of active wear.

(I know I shouldn't make assumptions about her not being a runner. She may well have gotten up at the crack of dawn and punched out 10ks. But I suspect she hadn't.)

I wasn't. I was only running 18ks. But it got me thinking. What if I was running a marathon three days before Christmas?

Three Peaks Challenge Part 1: Wonder Woman solo on Coot-tha

My friends at Truth or Dare Mountain are completing the Three Peaks Challenge this weekend.

In a sign of solidarity for the sisterhood, I ran Mt Coot-tha this morning dressed as Wonder Woman. (Yes, by myself. In costume.)

I'm going back tomorrow for my second lap and you can join us if you like. But more on that later. Let's cover off the reasons I put myself out there this morning first.

Worldwide Festival of Races: the Zen 10

The Worldwide Festival of Races was here. Time to run with Speedy Reidy once again! Well, virtually, anyway.

I joined the Speedy Reidy Runners a couple of months ago when the challenge was first issued by Speedy. I needed something to aim for and given that you could choose to run anything between 5k and a marathon, aiming for the Zen 10K was achievable, while still being a challenge.

My goal was to run no slower than 7.5 minute Kms, but also given that it was a virtual run with Speedy, to also capture the experience for her and show off Brisbane to the world.

Blame it on the rain. And thank it.

It's only been eight hours or so since my last blog post, and I'm already copping flack for copping out on my run because of the rain. You know who you are. (And now, so does the rest of the world. Tyno. KKB.)

Let it be recorded here and how that I am thankful for the rain and my decision not to run in it, for the decision to run would have brought nothing good.

Worst run ever

This Saturday's run was hard. It hurt when I started. It hurt when I finished. I don't remember much of it that didn't hurt along the way.

It wasn't the longest run I'd ever done. I ran a route I'd run many times before, so I hadn't misjudged the terrain. I had my trusty Garmin 310XT, so I didn't overestimate the distance. It was hot on Saturday, which of course didn't help.

I was ever hopeful after last weekend's run with Speedy Reidy, but the same bliss was not to be.

Blown away

The wind on Saturday was overwhelming. So much so that I bailed after just a few Ks, running back to my car with my tail between my legs. I don't think I've ever felt like I would be blown off my feet before, but this weekend, it happened.

I'd run from Kingsford Smith Drive along past Newstead Park and into Teneriffe. When I turned back I knew the morning was a write off. I decided to stop along the way and smell the roses, so to speak. It's in doing this that I was truly blown away.

Exploring a new town

We got to Morzine after a long day in the car. First order of business - a long run of course!

It wasn't an ideal time to tackle a long run. It was stinking hot and I'd been sitting in the van all day in transit from La Grave. We'd driven the long way to see for ourselves what the Tour riders had in store on Col de la Madeleine a few days later. Let's just say it was frightening enough in a car.

So, armed with a map of our new home town and my phrase book in case of emergency, I set off in search of 24ks of semi flat terrain. It turned out to be an ideal way to explore.

It takes three weeks right... Pt2

So, I guess I have to report back on how my training regime fared since my last post, which was full of bravado and promises.

Did that bravado last the festive season? Yep, great. First week back at work? Not so good.

I don't know why. Most of my requirements for motivation were there:

Race locked in? Check
Healthy respect (or even fear) for the race in question? Check
Weather nice and warm? Check

But during the week, I just couldn't get anything going. At the end of each day when I drove home from work, I gazed enviously at the runners I saw going about their business. Yet it didn't cross my mind to lace on the shoes when I got home. Yes, I'm a habitual morning trainer... but even so!

Today though, I snapped out of it.

I'd had a few things to attend to and spent the day thinking about these rather than my training program. When KKB got home from his crazy long ride, I'd just gotten through my to do list. Although I knew I wouldn't have enough time to catch up on the long run I'd expected to get in that day, I decided that it was time to blow out some cobwebs.

I left behind my watch and my Garmin and just ran.

It felt good.

It left me reinvigorated and ready to go.

The runners' secret

An excellent article in The Courier Mail today about triathlon. Sure, it's a blatant sell for the World Triathlon Championships happening on the Gold Coast next weekend, and even more blatantly uses sex to do so.

It would have been very easy for a less accomplished columnist to stay with this theme. Kathleen Noonan, though, digs deeper. Might be because she often writes about running and cycling, and it's always convincing because she's a devotee herself.

She writes about our bravery, and our lust for life (and running). She writes about how we heal our lives through our exercise; about how we all need something to get ourselves through the day (of course, running's better for this than scotch).

Kathleen Noonan writes about how we're not meant for 'sitting at a desk on our growing arses in front of a computer'. That's because Kathleen Noonan believes we were born to run.

Unlike the Athletic Powerhouse, Kathleen Noonan has the power to influence hundreds of thousands of people into giving up the computer for a pair of running shoes, even for a day or two a week. Imagine what that could do for the obesity crisis?

Alas, I expect that because her writing is so connected to the runners' psyche, she largely preaches to the converted. Not that I mind. Part of me enjoys that fact that other people don't get it...

And that, my friend, is the runners' secret.