2017...

It certainly has been an event filled year.

I've run on the road and trails. I've been up the top of mountains and run on the beach, I've been rained on and in zero temperatures.  We've camped and travelled and stayed in tents and cabins. I've done about 30 parkruns and clocked up around 900 km on my shoes. That's a bit more than I thought seeing has I had a month off after my surgery and down time getting my blood pressure sorted.
I ran just one marathon and a few half marathons, tried a relay and embraced new friendships within running. We tried some new events and went back to our favourites for another go.

I added 14 bibs to my folder and 10 medals to the rack.

We have our eyes on some new events and longer distances for next year. The planning has begun in earnest over coffees or wine, calendars have the beginning of plans and training plans have been sourced.
There is no stopping us.

Winding up the running year...

Gold Rush Trail Run was my last running event for the year, we will have to try to maintain some training over the next few hot weeks before the events begin again in February.

Monday night I will play in the Melton Twilight Mixed Doubles Grand Final and that will wind up the tennis year also. Not as much tennis as running this year but I still really enjoy playing and our training session each week.

We ran Gold Rush last year and it was worth repeating this year. There was a good turnout of MCR people running in the 2 distances, 13 or 24k. The trail was lovely and quite a challenge and although I was separated from my friends I never felt alone or unsupported on the trail. The volunteers and marshalls would either encourage you by name or just by calling out 'C'mon MCR' and we were all in differing amounts of hurt.

Eddy stopped midway to have a selfie at our start line

hi 5 with Pat to get me to the end

wet feet, a chance to cool off

supersportsimages

 Never easy but always worthwhile.

when you're struggling a little encouragement will get you through

It was nice to finish and recap with the group and revel in our accomplishment. I even saw my GP at the finish, she'd had a hard day too. These running friends have come to mean a lot to me and kept me involved with the sport far longer than I imagined.

Quiet times...

For some months I have been experiencing some breathlessness and chest pains while running that I put down to a variety of excuses. Aging, not training hard enough, anxiety were on the top of my list. Once I mentioned it to my GP she set into investigating and ruling out any sinister causes. An initial echocardiogram looked like there was a serious problem so I was ordered not to run long or hard until we had more information. Waiting for the Specialist was hard as I felt my diminishing fitness was on a slippery slope.
Thankfully that the diagnosis in the end was uncontrolled hypertension causing 'stiffness' of the heart which has responded nicely to an increase in medication. I have been given the all clear to push hard again and I have begun the way back to long distance running.
I was very grateful for the expert care of my GP and Cardiologist both of who are also runners so understood my circumstance with a bit more insight.


So I'm back into it but apart from a couple of parkruns the calendar has been a bit bare. A recent planning session saw us tossing up possibilities for 2018 which includes new races we want to try and favourites we want to repeat.

To finish off the year we ran together in AfterGlow last weekend and had a blast. Dressing up, running in the dark along the coast, watching the sunset and mixing with fabulous people is a true "fun run".

fab vollies adding to the fun

start line glowing vibes

Bell's beach to Torquay along the Surf Coast Walk 

12km turned into 13km