New Year, new goals...

The New Year started off with a bang. After a quiet celebration of the year with my running buddies I was up early on New Year's Day to head to parkrun.
Many events put on a special event, parkrun is usually run only on a Saturday morning but Christmas Day and New Year's Day is a special extra event.
Last year I went to just one of these at Maribynong and it was a great way to start off what was to be a really great year. This year I was planning to do the same but as a MCR group were heading off to do the 'double' I joined in.
We started off at Coburg parkrun at 8am. 230 keen runners ran the lovely scenic course and it was lovely to be cheered on by the faster runners who hadn't walked the hilly part.

our jump shot co-ordination needs work

Next we headed off to Darebin parkrun in Reservoir for a 930am start. About 200 lined up for that one and most had come from the Coburg run to get the double done.

Another good run from the group along a river course. Mine was slower as I was feeling the effects of the champagne the night before and no water during the morning. But still I enjoyed the morning with these wonderful people.

Feels good to start the year off right.

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.

50 Parkruns...

I managed to squeeze in this milestone this morning on Christmas Eve. Luckily parkrun starts at 8am so we were done by 9 to fit in last minute preparations for Christmas.

I first attended parkrun back in February 2014 when Toolern Creek parkrun was launched and it has taken me nearly 2 years to rack them up. 46 of them were at this home base, 2 at Maribyrnong, 1 at You Yangs launch and 1 at Toowoomba while we were visiting family in Qld. There has been both hot and cold mornings, and some rain but every Saturday parkrun goes ahead.
I also have volunteered 12 times and enjoy being part of the parkrun community.

This morning 6 of us reached this milestone including a family of 4 and when the photos are posted I will attach them here. Lots of the group of 60 odd got into the spirit and celebrated Christmas and running at the same time on this hot morning. Thunder rumbled a Happy Christmas before we started and we were pleased some lightning was moving away to the East.

thanks Damo for the snap

Running Buddy was able to attend also and I was grateful that she was able to squeeze that in her busy day with family duties, to run with me. Poor old Mel had to work (but then let us know there were no patients in the ward to look after anyway - better that people stay out of hospital at Christmas).
I wore a sequinned skirt that was very festive but very scratchy so will be kept for very special runs in the future. A few commented that whilst festive hats and headbands are fun they aren't that comfortable!

I'm glad I was able to have this run this morning. With us being so busy and the weather heating up finally, running is on the back burner.








Now off to prepare for Christmas dinner with Hayley and Ben.

The Year of running...

The running year is almost done.

It has been quite an extraordinary year which has seen me achieve goals I never imagined possible. Hundreds of kilometres in training and in events have been recorded on my Garmin and loaded onto Strava. Hardly any of these kms have been run on my own. I've had my running girls by my side for all the tough parts and for the rewarding parts. I've made new running friends at MCR and at parkrun. I like to think I have inspired others on this crazy running journey.

1500 kms of running adventures

After deciding in January that this would be the year we would finally take the step to run the full marathon we set out to make that goal a reality.
We ran not just that first full marathon but went on to run another full and 5 half marathons. We ran some of the same races that we had done before and tried some new ones too.
I loved our road trip weekend away to run the Great Ocean Road half and of course our interstate adventure to the Gold Coast will always be a highlight. My times haven't changed much but I have learned things about myself along the way and thankfully the body has held up without injury.
I have also really enjoyed learning more about running and being part of a running group. I would never have got to this point if I was out there on my own.

I have accumulated quite a medal collection now and I look back on those mementos and remember the effort and struggle to get each of them. I will be adding two more before 2016 ends, one for the virtual run and one for the trail run next weekend. I always said I would do more trail running after I had run the marathon and maybe that is the direction for next year.

One thing for sure I'll still be running

Another parkrun convert...

I mentioned to Erin that running at parkrun would be good for her, to meet some new people and to try out running. To my surprise she agreed, without any hassling or cajoling. We found some gear for her to run in, printed her barcode and borrowed an old pair of shoes. She got early (no makeup!)and came to parkrun with me.

I wanted an easy run before the half marathon the next day so we walked and ran and chatted. We ran until she was out of breath and then walked til she recovered. During her stints of running she dashed off for short bursts claiming I run too slow. Slow I might be but I can keep going.

Being the self conscious thing she is she didn't want to take off her jumper or be photographed but she allowed both things to happen.

trying to hide behind me to avoid the photographer

She felt sick after the unaccustomed activity and told me her goal was to be able to run further without feeling sick. That will come if she listens to her mother and builds up gradually.

At least she said she will give it another go and was a bit chuffed when her results were emailed to her (first in her age group!)

Running to the end of the year...

After the second marathon this year I have slowly been getting back to running longer distances again and have set our sights on the next goals to achieve.

We excitedly signed up for the City 2 Sea 15k and this year the day of the race was hot and challenging. I was going pretty well for the 1st 10k but the heat got to me and I struggled over the line. We haven't had much hot weather this Spring and we just aren't used to the conditions yet.

Pretty happy to get the bling around my neck! and to find these girls and get some refreshments.

My tennis partner and I were also happy to win recently at the Djerriwarrh Health Services Ladies Tennis Tournament. Last year we came runners up in our division but this year we were able to take out the trophy.

Don't let the overcast day fool you, I got pretty sunburnt on my quest for the trophy. Kath and I would have played Club Champs together but we are running another half marathon that day and Kath is tripping off on a holiday.

I finally got Hayley to her first parkrun and now I am working on Erin to join me. parkrun is perfect for beginner runners as both my girls are. My hope is that they develop a love of running and being active. Our run together was a nice mix of running with walk breaks while I caught Hayley up with the latest news, the most important bit being her Uncle's heart attack the day before. We were walking the last part and I said to her at a designated point 500m from the finish we would run to cross the line. When we reached that point she bolted off to beat me. She recorded her PB of 36 mins and said she would have given up sooner if she had gone on her own. Hopefully she will be encouraged to continue on her own or rope Ben into going with her.

cheeky bugger sprinted off to finish ahead

We went off to a local cafe to have breakfast and more of a catch up. It was a lovely morning with my girl.  Erin has been quite isolated this year so I'm hoping the friendly crew at Toolern Creek will welcome and encourage her also.

OK, so next up is the 5th half marathon for the year, a womans only event along the Beach Rd in St Kilda, From memory it is 5k out and back in each direction repeated twice. Last time we ran in drizzly rain, the forecast this year is 28 degrees.Somewhere in between would be good.

We also have a social Beer run on trails and a formal 11k trail run to test out the trail shoes. I should reach my 50 parkruns milestone on Christmas Eve, that will be the run I wear the tutu for so I can cross that off the running bucket list. I'm a bit nervous about wearing it on a long run like the half in case it bothers me and I leave it in a gutter somewhere.
Before we know it the year will be over and we will be grizzling about the heat and how hard it is to run in. An enforced hiatus will see me out until March then back into it with some new goals to achieve.

Post Olympics post...

I love watching the Olympics, even for sports I don't normally follow. Watching a highly trained athlete push themselves to the limit to finish is awe inspiring.
I was mesmerised by the marathons and distance races, marvelling at the quick pace they set. I got teary watching replays of great finishes and cheered on Chloe Esposito in her Decathlon gold each time I saw it.
These athletes are the best in the world and to see someone come in 7th when they had given their all is still winning in my book.
It has been inspirational for me as well to keep training to reach my goal, just when I needed a boost. The time I put in is not insignificant for me but does not compare with the 4 year commitment the Olympians have made, so I will push on til October to get it done.

Our #teamJAM is a little fractured at the moment with Mel out with injury that hopefully will not keep her out too much longer. Running Buddy and I have been going out regularly to do tempo runs, fartlek, hill sprints and long runs. We did Parkrun twice on Saturday, a quick one and a long one doing 23k all up. Social engagements have meant we haven't been able to get back to the city on Sundays or enter events to keep us going.

But I think we are on track for our own gold medal.

and I had an opportunity to purchase this bike on Saturday from a friend who is upgrading so I will be able to add some cycling to my training

One week on...

It would have been lovely to spend a few more days on the warm Gold Coast and revel in the post marathon glory but we headed back to cold, wet Melbourne and jealously looked at other peoples pics and posts of the sunshine. It has been a very relaxed week, no running until Saturday and lots of relaxing. And of course talking and planning of the next goal.
Chris has asked me if things are going to go back to normal, meaning is he going to get his wife back. I've told him I will keep running but haven't shared all the plans just yet, I don't want to freak him out. I'm only going to play tennis one night a week when the new season starts on Thursday. In hindsight 2 nights was too much with all the marathon training. We are booked into the half marathon for Run Melbourne in 2 weeks so he may not even notice the long runs creeping back into my week.

We popped our 'finishers' T shirts on and fronted up to a very frosty Parkrun for our first recovery run. It was meant to be a slow jog, according to the plan, but we shot off for the 5k feeling good.

After the run it was lovely to catch up with running friends and then we went over to look at the brand new athletics track. We cheekily jumped the fence to run a hot lap running as fast as we could for the 400 metres.

 

My ranking on the Strava segment currently sits at 11/14, my pace was good over the short distance and I quite liked the full pelt feeling on the brand new, springy surface. I'm hoping to be able to use the track more as part of mixing up our training runs.

The girls couldn't co-ordinate their Garmins to get on the board.

Running Buddy was kind enough to share her purchased photos

the guys behind us kept us entertained but is one of them wearing Vibram shoes??

Lots to say part 2...

While we were in Toowoomba I was still in the taper period so I planned 2 runs to stay on track. Toowoomba is a very hilly town and I set off on my 7km first run looking for the location of the Toowoomba parkrun. Just 2 k from brother-in-laws i found the lovely Queens Park.

I had a little tummy trouble so by the time I reached the park I bolted over to the toilet. I only realised that I had made a bee line for the Mens when I walked out and wondered why there were urinals in there...oops no harm done only a little embarrassement!

I struggled back up the hill and thought it was a crap run and put it down to every now and then you have a bad one and I don't do as well on my own. I looked on Garmin later and realised that Toowoomba is at 700m elevation so I managed some altitude training at the same time.

On Saturday morning I went back down to the park at 7am for the parkrun. It was only 3 degrees on that morning so I wore long sleeves and pants and tucked my bar code into my pocket. The 5k run was 2 laps of the park with a hill and a nice down hill section. I took it easy and clocked up a 33 minute time. They do things a little differently here and while they had 17 volunteers on the course there was no-one taking photographs so I snapped my own momento.

My first real Parkrun tourism

 I wanted to have a little run but always had in the back of my mind the big challenge I was to face the next day and that we had been preparing for since January.

Couldn't resist taking this cheeky snap, I took it as a sign that Queensland was cheering me on.

Lots of running news...

After hearing about running running running at work some colleagues have thought 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em' ... we have worn them down.

Both of them have started where we started in running years ago with the Couch to 5k program and have the added advantage of having Parkrun to help them along.

I love both of these things. Couch to 5k gives you easy steps to transition from walking to run/walk to all running at a pace that suits you. Running with other people is another effective way to increase your running and Parkrun is a free timed event to challenge yourself and watch progress.

So Tania and Carol gave up a Saturday morning sleep in to attend Parkrun and we were there to encourage them, run/walk with them, taper for the half and introduce them to the friendly folk at Parkrun.

the relaxed pace meant we could have some fun

The girls did really well and said they would be back to improve on their bench mark time. It was a good reminder for us to remember how far we have come, how hard it was to run just 1k without gasping for breath, the friends we have made and where running has taken us.

This lovely short, relaxed run was a precursor for the next challenge...the Geelong Half Marathon