Posted on

Regrets, I’ve had a few

image

With apologies to Frank Sinatra, I thought I might do a slightly thinky blog today. (‘Thinky’ is not a word. I am well aware of this. I think the ‘proper’ word is ‘thoughtful’. But that doesn’t really capture the essence of what I’m trying to say. Plus I like making up words. Been doing it since I was a kid!)

There have been many things said about regrets. Many very profound quotes by very important people.

Listening to the lyrics of ‘My Way’, I can relate to a LOT of it. Including that immortal line, ‘Regrets, I’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention’.

What is regret? I could Google ‘regret definition’ and rehash it here, but where would the fun be in that? No, to me, regret is wishing you hadn’t done something you did, or wishing you HAD done something you didn’t.

I had a thought. (Yes, it does happen from time to time.) And like many thoughts that pop into my head, this one was about running.

I have now been running for nearly 3 1/2 years. I started at 35, quite late by many people’s standards. The thought that occurred to me was, what if I had started athletics as a kid? (‘What if’ is possibly a synonym for regret)

I now find myself in a position where I am improving, but I never seem to get any better from a results point of view. By that I mean my times may be getting overall faster, but my placings aren’t – there is always someone (and in most cases many someones) who is faster.

I am a so-called ‘veteran athlete’ – a term which I find quite funny – I don’t really consider myself an ‘athlete’ and I am certainly no veteran – in fact I was listed as a ‘Veteran Woman’ in my very first race, one week after I started running. I could hardly have been further from a veteran! But it was purely based on age – apparently from the age of 35 we are considered veterans.

Loving running and all the places it’s taken me, and most of the people it has brought into my life, made me kind of wish I’d ‘discovered’ it sooner.

But then again, I see the people who have been running all their lives. Many of them are plagued by injuries now. Whereas I am still relatively ‘fresh’ – I have been lucky enough (touch wood) not to have been affected by any significant injuries. It’s possible that my laziness in my earlier life has paid off!

Do you know what else I have regretted in the past? Not taking full advantage of the wonderful time of year that is Fringe in Adelaide (aka Mad March, although it is half in February). I’ve talked about it before in a recent blog post – https://randomthoughtsandracereports.wordpress.com/2016/03/04/liberated/

Well I’m pleased to say this year I won’t be having that particular regret! I saw 28 shows this Fringe. At the time of writing I’m still considering squeezing in one more. I am seriously wondering what I will do with myself once it’s over!

You can regret time you’ve wasted on things/people that just weren’t worth it – but it wasn’t totally wasted if you managed to learn something from the experience.

I’ll tell you one thing I’ve never regretted – going for a run! There have been times when I’ve been out on a Saturday night and not got to bed until late, and maybe only had 4-5 hours sleep before having to get up for my Sunday run. I have considered sleeping in, and either not running at all (yeah, right!) or running on my own later in the day. Most, if not all of the time, though, I make myself get up and go. And you know what? I have never regretted it. Sure, they haven’t always been the greatest runs, but I’ve always been glad to have sacrificed that extra few hours sleep. And the post-run coffee has always been appreciated! (In the words of Bon Jovi, I’ll sleep when I’m dead!)

Posted on

Race Report – Yumigo! Summer Trail Series Race 4 – Newland Head

image

The Yumigo! Summer Trail Series is a fantastic series of trail races in beautiful surrounds, mainly in the Adelaide metropolitan area. Each of the 4 events, taking place in December, January, February and March, has a short and a long option – the distances getting longer each time! There are cumulative points that go towards trophies at the end of the series – overall winners as well as age group winners.

If you have been reading my blog for a while you might have seen my previous post about the only other race in the series that I ran – December’s opening race at Anstey Hill. If not, you can find it at this link:

https://randomthoughtsandracereports.wordpress.com/2015/12/13/race-report-yumigo-summer-trail-series-race-1-ansteys-hill/

The final event of the series was at Newland Head, near the popular seaside destination of Victor Harbor. This was a bit more of a hike for the city dwellers, although a sleep-in for the locals and the southerners! It was quite close to the starting point for the Heysen 105 which I did for the first (and probably not the last) time last year.

I had entered at the last minute. I had always intended to run, but I couldn’t decide whether to do the short (11km) or long (19.5km) course. I had run the long course at Anstey Hill, however I was not in contention for any of the overall series prizes, so it didn’t really matter which course I went with. Eventually I decided to do the long, because I didn’t want to spend less time running than it took to drive there!

It’s been a pretty hectic week, with all the Fringe events I’ve been going to. A planned early night on Friday night fell by the wayside when I decided to go to a late show and got home at 2am. 5 hours later I was up for parkrun. I managed a sub-22 minute 5km for the second consecutive week – I wasn’t sure how that would affect my legs for Sunday’s race.

I had a reasonably early night on Saturday night – not before catching another Fringe show – I think that’s 19 shows so far for this Fringe! I had all my gear ready to go before I went out, except I hadn’t decided what top to wear. I had gone with my old faithfuls – my newish trail shoes, calf compression sleeves, black running socks, and my Skins and black lululemon skirt which I have worn for most of my trail events. I had my small race vest – I was expecting to be out there for a few hours, and I’m not sure what the forecast was for Victor but in Adelaide it was going to be in the high 30s, so I needed some hydration on board. I put 1 litre in the bladder and 500mL of sports drink in the bottles – I didn’t want to fill the bladder any more as that would weigh me down and be uncomfortable, and I don’t tend to drink a great deal during races.

On race day I woke up at 5am and did all the last minute preparation, including choosing a top. I ended up going with the Mekong Athletic singlet which I’d purchased from a pop-up store at the previous Summer Trail Series event, at which I’d volunteered. I had run in it once, on an 18km road run a few weeks ago, and found it very comfortable. The mesh in the back in particular was very cooling, and despite the fact I would be wearing a backpack, I thought it would help keep me cool. Plus, (and this is not a minor consideration by any means) I loved the colour!

I had studied the directions of how to get there, and having been in a similar area for a social trail run a few weeks ago, I was pretty confident I could find my way. As it turned out I got there in plenty of time to collect my bib and timing chip, and join the seemingly endless queue for the portaloos! As always there were a lot of familiar faces there, many of whom I see regularly but others who I tend to see only at the trail races.

Despite the fact that it rained while I was driving and for much of the lead-up to the start, I sunscreened up, put on my hat and had my sunnies with me. By the time the race started at 8am, it had stopped raining, and while the sun hadn’t exactly come out, conditions were ideal for running.

So, at 8:00 both the short and long course runners started together. Straight up a hill! The first km was pretty much all uphill, and immediately the thought sprang into my head,”WHY did I not do the short course???” To make matters worse, there was also soft sand! I knew about the sand – I’d seen it recently at the social trail run and also last year at the Heysen 105. I don’t like running in sand. I like walking in it, and lying in it, but NOT running! It became a challenge to try to find the easiest path, avoiding the soft sand at all costs. Mostly I would be running on the very edge of the bush. The thought of snakes did pop into my head, but at that point I would have preferred a possibly snake sighting to definite sand running! Plus, my legs were a bit tired (and stiff from the drive down) and there was a LOOOOOONG way to go!

I ran with Kate for the first few km, I hadn’t run with her in a while so it was nice to catch up. We had done a lot of our marathon training together in the last 2 years and regularly ran together on a Thursday. She was hoping for an age group win in the series (spoiler alert – she got it!) and I said I wasn’t going to race it, I was just out for a bit of fun. Plus I had no chance of winning anything – the only other race I’d done in the series, I’d finished 5th female overall. And 4th in my age group! Talk about being born at the wrong time!

The first 3km or so were uphill, then we hit a few nice downhill kms. All of a sudden I was enjoying myself, pulling out a couple of sub-5 minute kms and letting my legs have a break, just coasting down the hills with minimal effort.

The course, which I thankfully hadn’t studied prior to the race, was very well marked so there was no danger of getting lost. I say “thankfully hadn’t studied” because there were (I think) 3 out-and-back sections which did mess with my head a bit. I think they would have messed with my head more if I’d known about them in advance!

In one way it was nice to see all the fast people coming back while we were still going out. On the other hand I could see just how many people were in front of me! One of those fast people was Leon, who is doing the Big Red Run in June, 6 days in the Simpson Desert. (I MIGHT do that one day. It’s not on my immediate radar but having been to an info night last year, it does look mighty tempting!) He, unlike most of us, was seeking out the soft sand – it was ideal training for his big event! He had a clear path too, since most of us were avoiding it!

After about 7km I think, we came to a fork in the road. Otherwise known as a drink station. This was the point where the short course and the long course runners separated. This brought with it more thoughts of “WHY did I not do the short course?”. I had hoped that the females I could see in front of me leading up to the drink station were doing the short course but nope – they were going left with me!

Did I say I wasn’t racing today and I was just doing it for fun? I lied. I didn’t realise it at the time, but I should have known. If it’s a race, I get the white line fever. Even in parkrun which is not technically a race. If there is a run that has timing and placings, I seem to be incapable of just doing it for fun! Hence the reason why I rarely do a parkrun the day before a bit event! I was racing. I may not have been competitive but I was most definitely racing!

10km came and went and I thought to myself, “we got this.” More than halfway there! (And no, I didn’t break into the chorus of ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’ as is traditional! In fact there was no singing in this race!)

A few fairly flat kms later, I hit the next big hurdle which was a hill pretty much equal to the one at the start. Except, by now my legs were pretty damn tired! At no point though did I think of walking. Well, I thought of it but I was determined to keep running. Not necessarily because it would be faster than walking (as many runners would know, sometimes walking up a hill can be faster than running) but because once I started walking it would be hard to get going again. For this reason I didn’t stop at any of the drink stations even though they had Coke! I had enough fuel on board to keep me going, and I could keep myself motivated with thoughts of Coke at the finish line!

Someone said to me at the last turnaround, with approximately 3.5km to go, that there was “less than a parkrun to go!”. It wasn’t exactly comforting to me, because I like to race parkrun, so thinking of 3.5km of parkrun I was thinking of running to my absolute limit, rather than having ‘only’ 3.5km left to run!

The 17th km was probably the worst. Uphill. More sand. I was behind Matt and Robbie, 2 regular trail runners. I may have sworn a few times. I may have said “This SUCKS. I HATE THIS!” more than once!

The last 2.5km though were pretty much all downhill, on firm ground, and quite enjoyable! I didn’t let myself look at my watch at all except when it vibrated to indicate that I had completed another km. I find that especially towards the end of a race I find myself looking at my watch increasingly frequently. And more often than not only covering about 100m between looks at my watch! So I just concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, and not falling over. There were a few tricky sections of trail, some quite rocky and very conducive to rolled ankles. I nearly went over several times!

Finally my watch alerted me that I’d completed 19km and therefore there was around 500m to go. Piece of cake! I did the last 500m (actually according to my watch it was 600m) at 4:09 min/km pace, by far the fastest of my race so far. Not surprising really – I do like a strong finish and I probably tend to hold myself back in the preceding km or so to allow myself to finish with a burst of speed! There was a guy in front of me – I didn’t really want to pass him but he was running at that awkward pace, just a little slower than I was trying to run. So I called out “GO GO GO” to him so he knew I was there and could pick up the pace to avoid being “chicked”! (Mind you, had it been another girl in front of me, I would probably have just gone for it – did I mention I tend to get a bit competitive?)

My official time was 1:46:29. Having not had a time in mind for this race, I was very happy with that. I was 38th overall out of 106 starters and 8th out of 44 females, and once again 4th out of 21 in my age group, behind the same 3 girls who beat me at Anstey Hill (albeit in a different order), Bronwyn, Sarah and Kazu! Did I mention before that 30-39 Females is a very competitive age group? 21 out of the 44 females in the race were in my age group, and 3 of the top 4!

After the presentations, in which many of my friends won age group and overall prizes, regular running buddy Karen and her husband Daryl and I went for a lovely cruisy bike ride along the coast. The weather was perfect and it was a great way to give the legs some recovery and make the most of the trip Down South. (I had intended to go for a swim too but after the bike ride it was getting late and the fatigue was starting to set in – not the best for a longish drive home – so I decided to forgo the swim). We were really lucky with the weather too because thunderstorms hit during the drive home!

So what’s next? Well trail-wise the next big event is the Cleland Trail Championships next month – which will probably be my last big trail hit-out before the Ultra-Trail Australia 100km race in May! I’m really looking forward to Cleland because after choosing not to run it for the last 2 years because of clashes with other events, I’m finally doing my first one this year!

Thanks again to Ben and all the fantastic volunteers for a wonderful trail series! Hopefully I’ll be able to run all 4 events next summer!

Posted on

Liberated!

image

I consider myself a very social, sociable person. I love being around people. I get bored when I’m at home by myself. I don’t like sitting down watching TV, I like to be out DOING stuff.

I am a single lady of several years (3 and a bit, to be precise-ish). I was part of a couple for a very, very long time. Although I did still have my own identity, and we did often do things separately, we did do a good many things together – holidays, dinner, concerts, to name just a few.

I have friends of course, many of whom are also single ladies. It is a little different though. When you are in a couple, it’s kind of implied that you will do things together. Whereas with friends, you have to make plans.

I find I don’t always like to make plans. Sometimes I like to just get up and do something on the spur of the moment. Without a live-in adventure buddy, that will often mean doing stuff by myself. And recently I’ve discovered just how awesome that is!

My first big experience of this was when I went on my first solo overseas adventure. London, Liverpool (including the small matter of my first marathon) and then 2 weeks in Ireland. Having never travelled solo before I was a little apprehensive, but I can honestly say that was the BEST holiday I’ve ever had! (No disrespect to anyone I’ve previously travelled with!)

What’s not to like? I got to choose where I wanted to go and how long to spend in each place. I got to pick what type of accommodation I stayed in (I opted for hostels – as I didn’t intend to spend much time there so I preferred to save my money for more important things!). From one day to the next it was up to me, and me only, what I would do for the day. I could spend a whole day just lounging around the hostel if I wanted to. (OK, so I didn’t do that. But I could have if I’d wanted to, and not had to worry about messing up anyone else’s plans)

I ran my first marathon on my own. That was a kind of surreal experience. It didn’t feel like I was on my own though. I was among several thousand friends – and there was no pressure, not that there has ever been any pressure in any other events, but it was nice to get the first marathon done away from anyone I knew. (It was also fantastic to know that so many of my friends back home were following my progress online, being Sunday night in Australia!)

What to do to celebrate after a first marathon? My friends, with whom I was staying, were working, so I was home alone. On a walk around the neighbourhood to buy some milk, I discovered that there was a cinema around the corner, so I decided to go see a movie – on my own! I had only been to the movies solo once before, to see the movie Rock Star, because none of my friends were interested in seeing it. Why not go to the movies alone though? You can see whatever movie you like, and you don’t have to share your popcorn! Once the movie starts, you’re not exactly going to be talking anyway, so what’s the difference? (For the record, I saw ‘Bad Neighbors’ and thoroughly enjoyed it!)

Going back a bit, I went to various running groups on my own. I didn’t know anyone the first time I went to parkrun. And later, when I went to join the SARRC (South Australian Road Runners Club) group runs, I didn’t know anyone there either. Of course, it wasn’t long before I had a bunch of new friends at each of those groups, and couldn’t really imagine those mornings without running (and the all-important post-run coffee!). It’s a shame that not knowing anyone does stop some people from coming out to the group runs – I’m sure if they did come, they’d quickly realise we’re a friendly bunch and very supportive and encouraging.

Moving away from running now, I’ve been going to see live bands on my own for a long time – again often because I didn’t know anyone who was interested. As one who likes to get up close and personal, I like to stand, and as close to the stage as possible. I’ve been to concerts with friends before where I have become separated from my friends anyway, so I’ve spent most of the concert on my own (or rather, with several hundred of my closest, sweatiest, friends) so really, going on my own is not so different! Even at music festivals I’m more than happy to do my own thing – even when I’ve gone with other people we usually end up splitting up at some point so we can all see who we want to see, not have to compromise. See, it’s not so hard!

This time of year in Adelaide is known as Mad March, because it is when everything happens. One of the biggest events is the Fringe festival, which goes for 4 weeks. In January I get all enthused when the Fringe Guide comes out, go through it with a fine tooth comb and highlight the shows I want to see. Then I work out which division Lotto prize I’d have to win to pay for it! Most years I just go to a few shows with friends and end up wishing I’d made the most of it and seen more shows.

Well this year is different! Sure, I have been to quite a few shows with various different friends, but I’ve also been to quite a few shows on my own! At first it felt a bit weird especially when the venue was half empty so it was pretty obvious I was flying solo. But, I soon realised, NO-ONE CARES! We’re all like-minded people who just want to enjoy some quality entertainment. It’s hard to find someone who’s up for an 11pm show on a Wednesday night, and rather than missing out and regretting it, I just thought bugger it, I’ll just go!

I think by the end of this Fringe I will have seen 24 shows – at least half of those on my own. Never in a million years would I have done that in the past! I kind of wish I could take the whole month off work and really do it justice!

One of the most awesome things about doing things solo is you are much more likely to meet people. Travelling with other people you can tend to stick with your own group and not mix so much with others. Whereas when going solo, you can either stand in the corner looking awkward and intently looking at your phone, or you can chat to randoms! On my aforementioned holiday I met so many new people, many of them fellow solo travellers from all over the world – and of course now, when I can afford to go overseas again, (will take a while for my credit card to recover from this Fringe!) I have a whole lot of new people to visit!

So, to sum it all up, this last few years has been a hugely liberating experience for me! I hope I can encourage people to just get out there and do something YOU want to do, even if you don’t have someone to do it with!

Posted on

Burning rubber!

image

I live in Adelaide. For most of my life we have had an annual car race here which takes over the centre of the city with road closures starting seemingly MONTHS out from the event, and generally causing annoyance to locals.

First it was the Formula 1 Grand Prix from 1985 to 1995, which was kind of exciting. I went to a few, most notably the final event in 1995, admittedly pretty much ONLY for the post-race Bon Jovi concert. I recall having a uni exam the next day but no way was I missing the very last F1 race in Adelaide after Victoria stole it from us (yep, still bitter!)

Then a few years later we got the V8s. The V8s brought a different sort of crowd. I went to the first 2 Clipsal 500s (it was called something different then) – Clipsal is the sponsor’s name but I think most people would recognise the name more for the car race than for the products they actually sell! Much like The North Face 100, now called Ultra-Trail Australia, it would be hard to imagine it being called anything other than ‘Clipsal’. I had no interest whatsoever in the V8s. I just went for the socialising. I didn’t even make it to any of the concerts (until Cold Chisel last year – I wasn’t going to miss that. Still didn’t see the race at all though!) and soon decided it was a big waste of money.

But not to worry, the whole of Adelaide gets to experience the joy of Clipsal without forking out for a ticket. Conveniently situated during the period known as ‘Mad March’, perhaps unkindly described as the only time ANYTHING happens in Adelaide (and by ANYTHING I mean EVERYTHING), it’s truly a crazy time of year.

The week before Clipsal, when most of the road closures are in place, traditionally my Tuesday running group runs a section of the track during our regular morning run. Since I’ve been a runner, I’ve said every year that there should be a fun run around the Clipsal track – how good would that be? (Evidently it used to happen during the F1 years)

And finally it has happened! A 3km hot lap around the Clipsal track! Of course I signed up for it! And for the optional extra of getting photos taken on the legit actual Clipsal podium – the very podium where the top 3 drivers would be spraying (I say ‘wasting’) expensive champagne at the conclusion of the race the following weekend. It was a no-brainer!

Given that I would be getting photos taken atop the podium, I thought this called for a dress-up. As people who know me or are regular readers of my blog would be well aware, I don’t mind a dress-up. So I was straight onto eBay looking for a replica race suit. I couldn’t find any of those (well, not for a reasonable price anyway!) but found a ‘grid girl’ dress that fit the bill. I went with a neutral yellow one (didn’t want to support either Holden or Ford, so red and blue were out!) and broke the cardinal rule, don’t ever try something for the first time on race day! I wasn’t even sure if I’d be running in it, but after I saw the names on the start list, I thought I had nothing to lose – it would be just a fun run, not a race! No way was I any chance of winning – might as well have fun with it!

Did I mention ‘Mad March’? It’s not even March yet but the madness has well and truly set in. The Adelaide Fringe festival is only halfway through and 2 weeks in, prior to Sunday’s event I’d already seen 11 shows. Consequently I was a little tired and had an early night on Saturday night – being ‘only’ a 3k race I was not too concerned with preparation but I’m sure the early night helped!

On race day I put my costume on, threw some ‘proper’ running gear in my bag and headed down to the Clipsal circuit, already set up and pretty much ready to go for next weekend. It was kind of surreal getting there, with pretty much only security staff, the sun just barely up, and a sense of peace and quiet that most DEFINITELY will not be there next weekend!

I saw a few familiar faces there – most of my running friends were either hitting the trails or running what by all accounts was a very successful fundraising marathon organised by Chris, a running friend mentioned in my very first blog post. But for me, there was never any doubt. Sure it was ‘only’ 3km and I see myself as more of a long distance specialist, but I couldn’t pass up such a unique opportunity! Plus, it was the inaugural event and I won’t ever be able to do the inaugural Hot Lap Fun Run again!

The photos were taken just before the start and we were to go from there straight to the start. So I had to decide whether to run in my costume or in my running gear. I opted for the costume – why not?

We lined up to take our pics up in the 1st place position on the podium, complete with wreath around the neck (which some people hilariously compared to a Borat-style mankini – it really did look a bit like that!) and bottle of bubbly (which remained firmly closed!) After the podium photos I changed into my regular running hat (the chequered hat that came with the dress didn’t fit so well and would just annoy me) and off we went to the start line!

**SPOILER ALERT** Little did I know it wouldn’t be my only time up on the podium for the day!

I did a little warmup – about 800m. In a 3km event you kind of need to hit the ground running. I placed myself near the front, behind the ‘serious’ runners. We were led out by a classic Torana which was a nice touch. Not that I needed a car to follow –  I had all the runners in front of me for that! It was probably nice for the front runners though. It wasn’t long before the car was well out of my sight!

I went out way too fast. As I tend to do! I was only a few metres behind Lisa (my age group ‘rival’ from the Masters Games – I say ‘rival’ because we are in the same age group, but she will smash me every time, so I use the term ‘rival’ very loosely!) for a short while, which was how I knew I was going too fast. Also, my pace alerts on my Garmin were set for 4:00 – 4:15 minutes per km and I was sitting under 4 minutes for a good part of the first km. It was not sustainable!

I was conservatively aiming for sub 13 minutes. That was 4:20 per km and I expected I could go quicker than that. I knew 12 minutes was ambitious, but 13 was safe.

My first km was 4:05. I was sitting in 3rd place, behind Lisa and another girl who I didn’t know. I was waiting for the inevitable moment when someone would fly past me and take my 3rd position, as my over-ambitious start caught up with me. There were certainly no thoughts of moving into a higher position!

I got to the halfway point still in 3rd place. And it wasn’t a dead flat track as I’d expected – sure, the elevation gain according to Strava was only 18 metres, so it wasn’t exactly Mt Lofty, but I felt every one of those metres! (I should have known. Adelaide CBD is not hilly like Sydney, but one thing it is not, is dead flat. I HAVE run the Adelaide half marathon, after all!)

Passing me around this time was a guy called Dan, who I hadn’t met before but who was part of the Indigenous Marathon Project, a fantastic programme which trains indigenous athletes to run the New York Marathon. I had heard him speak at a function prior to last year’s City-Bay Fun Run, so after the race I had a chat with him about how NY went. He said it was great and he wanted to do it again! NY is definitely one on my bucket list… looks like I’m going to be running marathons for at least the next 20 years to fit them all in!

Anyway it was good to have him that little way in front of me for the rest of the race – always in sight, so I just tried to keep pace with him. My second km was 4:16, more like the pace I would have expected to run, but a little slower than I’d hoped. There was only 1km to go – easy!

I did look over my shoulder a few times during that last km. I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t been overtaken by another female yet!

I managed a 3:54 last km. I have a dream of running a sub-20 minute 5k – all I have to do is 4 more of those and I’m there! (Easier said than done, of course! I guess first of all I need to crack a sub-6 minute 1500, then a sub-12 minute 3000!)

One last look over my shoulder as I entered the final straight and it appeared I was safe! A final burst of speed and I was home in 12:32 (according to Strava – my official time might vary by a few seconds) and 3rd female! And to top it all off, the trophy presentations were taking place back up on the actual legit podium!

I did feel a bit like a fraud up there – the other 2 girls and the 3 guys were dressed like runners and were actual legit athletes, and there was me in my cross-between-a-grid-girl-and-driving-suit-outfit! Still – the results don’t lie! This time I was in position 3 and I didn’t get to ‘fake spray’ the bottle of champagne but I didn’t care – I had an actual legit trophy to show for it!

I enjoyed the run! Unlike last weekend’s 10k, which was a wonderful event but I didn’t exactly enjoy my run, I actually did like this one. Maybe it was the novelty of running on an iconic Adelaide race track, maybe it was the fact it was a route I hadn’t run before. Maybe it was just a sign that I should focus on the shorter distances! Whatever it was, I would definitely do this event again, and I would recommend it to anyone – it’s a short race with a generous time allowed to complete it, so it is very doable for the average weekend warrior!

Let’s hope the Hot Lap Fun Run becomes an annual event! You probably won’t get me out on the Clipsal course any other way!

Posted on

10km – should be 1/10 as hard as 100km, right?

image

Yesterday was my 4th Dolphin Run, traditionally the first SARRC (South Australian Road Runners Club) event each year, in beachside Semaphore. In 2013 it was my first 10km race, just under 3 months after I started running. It remains the only 10km race I’ve ever run!

10km is not my favourite distance, possibly because I rarely race it! It’s funny because 3 of my regular weekly runs are usually around that distance, so I should be pretty used to it by now! But I guess those runs are usually at a more ‘leisurely’ pace, and of course also involve stopping, either for a drink or for traffic lights. I run 5km almost every week at parkrun, so I am very comfortable with that distance. I like the half marathon distance. More recently I have decided I like 1500m! And of course I am a recent convert to ultramarathon distances. But 10km? Meh!

Prior to yesterday’s event, my fastest 10k was 42:27. That was during last year’s City-Bay 12k. Probably all downhill. That is a good indicator of what I can do on a good day but I wasn’t counting that as a 10k PB. As far as I was concerned, my 10k PB was my fastest 10k race, which was the corresponding race last year – 47:19. This year, I was aiming for sub-45 minutes. I thought that was achievable. After all, my last proper parkrun hit-out, a week after the 100km, was 22 minutes flat. Plus the Dolphin Run course is very flat and Torrens parkrun is undulating.

My first Dolphin Run was 48:10. I was very happy with that – my aim had been to break 50 minutes. The following year I naturally wanted to go faster, however running the last 3km into a strong headwind put paid to that!

Last year I managed that elusive PB, but I knew I could take a fair chunk off that time this year.

I hadn’t run much during the week. Wednesday night’s annual 20km Pub Run had aggravated my left hip that had given me some trouble during the 100km. I blame the hills, not the refreshing cider I had at the halfway point of the aptly-named Pub Run!

I had skipped my Thursday run (also because I wanted a sleep-in after a late night, having hit a Fringe comedy show after the run) and opted for an easy walk on Friday morning. Knowing that I can’t do an ‘easy’ parkrun unless I am pacing one of my parents, and neither of them were coming, I gave Saturday’s parkrun a miss too.

I didn’t get to Semaphore quite as early as I would have liked, so had to park about 600m away from the start. That was not such a bad thing, as it meant I could do an easy warmup ‘jog’ from the car to the start! Immediately my hip started complaining, and I thought “Hmmm, this PB might not be happening today!” However, by the time I finished my warmup it had settled down a bit and I was good to go!

People I’d spoken to during the week, when they found out I was running the 10k, said “Oh, that should be a walk in the park for you!” – meaning that anything should be easy after a 100k! Well, I wasn’t so sure about that, and it turned out I was right. This 10k felt SO much harder than the 100!

I had my pace alerts on my Garmin set for 4:15-4:30, so if I fell outside that range my watch would let me know.

My first km was 4:15. That was a little too fast.

At the halfway point I was on 22:08. In previous races, I would try to come home faster than I went out (ie ‘negative split’), but by 5km I knew I just had to hold on. I had enough ‘time in the bank’ that I could afford to slow down a bit and still come in under 45 minutes, but it was going to be a near thing. I must admit I thought to myself pretty constantly during the few kms after the turnaround, “Should have done the 5k! Should have done the 5k!” (As it turned out, that 5k time would have seen me as second placed female – but it was the Dolphin Run. I ALWAYS run the 10k at the Dolphin Run!)

Thankfully there was no breeze to speak of! That meant that the tougher ‘back half’ was not made tougher by a headwind. It still felt uphill though! Thankfully, my hip held out OK but the rest of me struggled!

Once I got to the Palais Hotel I started to pick up the pace a little. That was only a few hundred metres from the finish line. I didn’t look at my watch except when it vibrated at me. Thankfully at this point it was telling me I was going FASTER than the pace range I’d set, not slower as it had been doing for much of the second half!

I crossed the line officially in 44:52 – I was super happy with that! I chatted to Paul for a bit – we hadn’t actually met before but we have followed each other on Strava and Instagram for a while and we were already Facebook friends. He had been aiming for sub 44 and I had kept him in my sights after he passed me in the first half. I knew he was less than a minute ahead of me so that gave me confidence I could reach my goal. As it turned out, he didn’t quite reach his goal but he wasn’t far off! I also chatted with Rachael, another Instagram friend who I hadn’t really ever spoken to before, although I had scanned her barcode at parkrun a few times!

It seems weird that I would say a 100km is easier than a 10, but it’s true! Sure, I don’t expect to lose any toenails as a result of this race, and I am able to walk normally today, but I think it’s the significantly faster pace that makes the difference. At the pace I ran the 100k, it felt (relatively) comfortable. There was nothing comfortable about yesterday’s race! I reckon if I’d slowed down more in the 100k I might have felt like I could go on even longer! Also, in the 100k there were frequent stops and walk breaks. I never ran 10k non-stop during the 100. I didn’t stop in yesterday’s run – didn’t even grab a cup of water from the drink station.

So I guess that’s it for 10k races until this time next year!

Posted on

Back on track!

image

2 weeks ago I competed in a somewhat mentally and physically challenging 100km track race, which involved running 250 laps of a 400m track. I was pretty sure I’d be happy not to see that track again for a Very. Long. Time.

But things don’t always go the way we expect. Last Wednesday night I was back at the stadium again, this time for the SA Masters Athletics competition.

SA Masters runs weekly competitions for athletes 30 and over (and yes, I do qualify. Only just!). In summer they run track and field comps on a Wednesday night at the stadium. I know a lot of people who go each week, and I have been intending to go for a few years, but hadn’t got around to it.

I had promised myself I’d go after the 100km was over – I was worried that I might go out a bit too hard in the shorter distance events and do myself a mischief. I gave myself a week’s ‘break’ and earmarked February 10 for my Masters debut.

Looking at the events on offer, they were all new to me. On the track we had 100m, 400m, 1500m and 3000m, as well as 1000m and 2000m walks. (The programme varies from week to week. There were field events too but I decided not to push my luck! Although I do like to throw my weight around from time to time…)

As a 5000m specialist, I thought I’d give the 1500 and the 3000 a go. The 1500 was scheduled for 6:15 and the 3000 for 6:45. That meant I wouldn’t get much of a break in between – something I hadn’t really experienced before!

One reason I had been keen to get out to the track was because I was interested in competing in the Australian Masters Athletics championships later this year, being held in Adelaide. I thought I’d try a few events to see if I liked it! I definitely don’t expect to be competitive at that level – I’m sure a lot of serious Masters athletes will be competing, and I think my age group is one of the toughest, with 35-39 year old females regularly featuring in the placings at open age events!

Anyway, back to Wednesday night. I arrived at the stadium, and got my temporary bib. I entered the 1500 and the 3000, and was asked my times, as it was a handicap event. Having never run either distance before, I didn’t really have much idea! I had run 6:19 in a 1600m road run, so the lady quite generously gave me 6:20 as my 1500 time, then doubled that for 3000m.

I watched the 100m. I thought NO WAY would I even contemplate running a 100m. 100km maybe (well, I DID do that!) but 100m, that would be a recipe for disaster! It seems VERY weird that I wouldn’t think twice about entering a 100km race but a 100m was just terrifying. A stack, getting tangled in the starting blocks, or worse, a torn muscle! No thanks!

I started the 1500m at 58 seconds (the idea being that the slower runners started earlier, so everyone should finish pretty close together). It was a mere 3.75 laps of the track. Easy!

I went out at quite a fast pace for me. It felt reasonably comfortable but I was pushing it. Come the last lap, I was aiming for sub 6 minutes. 4 minute kms, that would stand me in good stead for eventually breaking the 20 minute barrier for 5km.

The clock showing at the finish line showed the time for the runners who started off scratch, but wasn’t super helpful to the rest of us, unless we happened to be good at doing mental arithmetic while running. Luckily for me, as I approached the finish line, the clock was showing 6 minutes something. With a 58 second handicap, I knew I just had to get under 6:58 on the clock. I picked up the pace down the final straight but didn’t quite make it – my official time was 6:01. Still, plenty of room for improvement! I think 5:30 is a realistic goal to aim for. And I really enjoyed that distance – it seemed to be over before it began, but it wasn’t too short. (I didn’t run the 400 because that seemed too short. I will, however, give 800m a crack when it is on offer!)

There wasn’t much time to recover before lining up again for the 3000m. My goal for 3000m is 12 minutes (again, in line with my sub-20 5k ambition) but realistically that probably will never happen immediately after a hard 1500!

I knew early on that 12 minutes was definitely not happening on this particular occasion. My first km was 4:23, as was my second. The fatigue from the 1500 was noticeable! I did manage to pick up the pace slightly in the last km, to 4:16, with an overall time of 12:55. My handicap was around 5 minutes something, meaning that some of the slower runners had completed 2 laps before I even started. I wasn’t too worried about my place in the ‘race’ itself though, I was more concerned with learning how to pace myself over shorter distances, and hopefully improving my times from week to week! It’s a good place to practice pacing, being a completely flat track.

I will definitely make Masters a regular thing. It’s a very friendly environment, and a great opportunity to test myself over distances I don’t normally run. If I can get a good 1500 it will help me with that last burst of speed in events like the 5k and 10k. Great speed training!

To any Adelaide athletes 30+, I highly recommend giving it a go! You don’t have to sign up for the SA Masters club right away, you can compete as a guest to see if you like it – you just have to pay stadium entry which is currently $8. And of course you WILL like it, so what are you waiting for?

Posted on

How was your Saturday night?

image

It’s safe to say that things have changed for me over the past few years.

Even 5 years ago I would regularly go out and have a big one on Saturday night. Often followed by a game of soccer the next morning. Sometimes it was OK, sometimes not so much!

That was before I found running.

Now, Saturday nights are, more often than not, quiet nights, with either a long run, a trail run or a race of some kind to prepare for the next day.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still go out, but I will just have a few drinks, and not stay out till all hours of the morning. The time I get up on a Sunday now is the time I used to go to bed quite often after a big Saturday night.

It doesn’t work all the time. Last Valentine’s Day I went out and had quite a few ciders (it was a hot hot night) and had a horrible run the next day. (I wrote a blog post about it – https://randomthoughtsandracereports.wordpress.com/2015/07/19/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-bad-run-yeah-right/ )

After the Masters half marathon I may or may not have had a few too many red wines and then had to back up to pace the McLaren Vale Half the next day. That worked out OK but probably is not something I should repeat!

Last Saturday night I did pull an all-nighter but there was no alcohol consumed – I did drink my body weight in Coke and sports drink though. Somehow I have reached a point in my life where running around a 400m track ALL NIGHT is my idea of a good way to spend Saturday night!

This weekend just gone I was at another race, but not running this time. The day after the 100km race I texted Ben, the organiser of both the 100km race and the Yumigo Summer Trail Series. I hadn’t yet entered the Saturday night trail race, deciding to wait to see how I pulled up after the 100km. On Monday I was struggling with the expected muscle soreness and also a number of blisters that made it difficult to wear shoes. So I made the logical decision and told Ben I was available to volunteer at Saturday night’s event. Not only was it a sensible idea to give myself a rest, but it was time to give back.

I went for a slow 4km walk on Tuesday morning – that was the first time I’d put shoes on since the end of the 100km! I walked again on Wednesday night, this time a slightly faster 6km. By Thursday morning I was back running – a slower than normal 10km but still, running! I thought to myself, “I COULD have run this Saturday” but was happy with my decision to volunteer. I did a Mt Lofty hike on Friday and a leisurely run back down – this time wearing my trail shoes which are slightly bigger so therefore didn’t put as much pressure on my toes. That was relatively comfortable.

On Saturday morning I did my first Torrens parkrun for the year and managed a very respectable 22 minutes flat.

Saturday night I was volunteering at a drink station with Michelle, who had placed in the 50km run the previous week, and Tina, who I didn’t know. Michelle was originally meant to be running but hadn’t recovered as well as she’d hoped so had joined Tina and me on the aid station. It was Michelle’s idea to dress up – I told her what costumes I had and we decided to go with beer wenches. Given that we were going to be serving drinks, it seemed appropriate, and hopefully it would give the runners a bit of a laugh!

To get with the ‘beer wench’ theme I brought a couple of steins and some beer and cider. Michelle had some moscato and glasses for all three of us. We were all set!

The three of us were dropped at our aid station, seemingly in the middle of nowhere but accessible by 4WD. Everything was set up, all we had to do was pour cups of water and Coke, and get out the food (bananas, chips and lollies). Luckily it wasn’t too windy, as it had been when I’d volunteered at Yurrebilla – that day we couldn’t even have all the cups of drink ready to go, as they’d blow away!

It was a warm evening, so we were expecting to be busy. I’d brought my iPod and speaker, mostly to keep us entertained but also for the runners as they went past.

It was just over half an hour before the runners started coming through. They seemed amused at our appearance but not enjoying the heat so much. Apparently there were a few nasty little hills in the course too. The early runners didn’t stop – they were the fast guys! Some had their own hydration vests/belts to save them from having to stop.

After a while we decided to start handing out cups of water as people ran past. We got it down to a fine art – I didn’t see any cups dropped! Some people wanted cups of water poured over them and we happily obliged. I was actually surprised that more people didn’t go for the Coke on offer – although towards the end it seemed to be more in demand.

Over the course of the run we saw the short course runners twice and the long course four times. As the race went on people started to look more fatigued, although once the sun went down the temperature dropped, making conditions much more pleasant for the runners. (And the volunteers too – Michelle and I were both wearing wigs which were very hot and scratchy!)

There was some singing, of course. I do seem to recall singing ‘I Will Always Love You’ as one quite bewildered looking guy ran past! Like at the 100km race, I hope the singing provided some amusement and didn’t put people off! At least it might have made people run faster, to get away from us!

It was quite a surreal experience, being in the middle of nowhere, cranking out some tunes, having a sneaky moscato in between the rushes of runners, and enjoying some lovely scenery (the sunset was spectacular, and I won’t lie, there was some nice eye candy on view in the race too!). Probably not many people’s idea of a fun Saturday night, but I couldn’t imagine a place I’d rather be!

Although in the beginning I did have a little ‘run envy’ (runvy?), I think I had a much better time volunteering than I would have had I run. And I’m sure my legs and feet will thank me for it!

I will be out there running the next, and last, event of the Summer Trail Series, at Newland Head in March. I can’t promise there won’t be singing. You have been warned!

Posted on

Race report – 100km track championships

image

250 times around a 400m track. Brutal.

When I first heard about this event I was keen to enter. I’m not sure why, but it just appealed to me. 100km on a track, with a 12 hour cut off. I had only run 100km once before, in a trail ultra, in just over 14 hours. But on a dead flat track it should theoretically be easier. Faster, certainly.

There are so many pros to running an ultra, on a track, at night.

No possibility of getting lost.
No snakes.
No need to carry any food, drinks, mandatory gear.
No sunscreen, sunnies or hat required.
Never more than 400m from food, drinks and toilet.

My race week was quiet. I had two fairly challenging trail runs on Sunday and Tuesday. After Tuesday’s run, which involved a stupid amount of stairs, I decided I wasn’t going to run again until the big day. I did one easy walk on Thursday and that was it.

Food-wise I took 3 sandwiches (a combination of peanut butter and chocolate nut spread), a couple of nut bars, some almonds and some mashed sweet potato in a tube. And a big container of sports drink.

On the day I thought I’d better switch my meals around. As the race started at 8pm, and I was used to eating cereal (or a cereal-based smoothie) for breakfast before a run, I thought it would make sense to have breakfast for dinner! So I had smashed avo and chickpeas on toast for brekky, sweet potato vegan mac and cheese for lunch, and cereal for dinner. In between lunch and dinner I managed to sneak in a few hours sleep.

I went with my favourite long distance running skirt over Skins shorts, and on the top a singlet I’d worn for my first two marathons and my rainbow striped arm socks. I also threw into my bag some clean singlets, long sleeved tops, buff, fleece headband, rain jacket (just in case), extra shoes and socks. As it turned out, the top was not the best choice as it started to chafe after about 50k, and consequently I finished the race in a different top.

I arrived at the track about an hour before the start. There were 27 starters, with 12 in the 100km and the rest in the 50km. All runners started at the same time and had the same 12 hour cutoff. Conditions were perfect, with around 18 degrees at the start, and no wind. The previous night had seen torrential rain so we were incredibly lucky! (The temperature only dropped to 16 in the stadium overnight, making for the best possible running conditions)

We had access to the stadium toilets for the duration. Unfortunately, they were up a flight of stairs!

It was going to be a long night!

Running around in circles can be tedious. I’ve run a timed event on a 2.2km loop, but this was something else entirely. I thought the track would ve easier to run on than the gravel of the Uni Loop. At first it seemed easier but as time went on, I found it really harsh on my feet, especially my toes. I could feel blisters coming on but I didn’t want to take my shoes off – mainly because that would involve sitting down, and I thought getting up and getting going again would be a struggle!

I had expected the 250 lap thing would be the biggest barrier but as it turned out it was the track surface. Paul, the eventual winner of the 100k and with whom I ran a fair bit, changed shoes and socks after 50km and found that this helped a lot.

The progress times were written up on a whiteboard every hour by event organiser Ben. After 1 hour I was in 8th place overall, 2nd female, one lap behind the first girl, Rebecca. (Interestingly eventual winner Paul was one place behind me). Also in the event were Sheena, a last minute entrant, and 2 Karens – Karen C who had come from interstate, and Karen B who will be well known to anyone who is a regular reader of my blog! On the male side, the people I knew were Paul, Barry (who was doing the 100k as a training run for a 48 hour event in March), and David who was going for a very fast time – possibly sub 7:30! David lapped me pretty much every second lap but eventually withdrew – it wasn’t to be his night! Which then made for a very interesting race as he probably would have been a runaway winner.

It was great having the 50km runners out there too. Many of them were going super fast, including Alex (the eventual winner), Simon (who led for much of the race and ended up finishing second, not bad for a last minute entrant!) and on the women’s side Anna and Tina (who took out first and second place respectively) looked strong throughout.

There was also Michelle, who was the 3rd placed female but took first place for most entertaining runner! She was the one who started the singing (she had her iPod in) and not long after that I decided it was time to pull out my iPod too. I don’t normally like to run with music but in an event like this where there are no road crossings, no marshal instructions to follow, not to mention the monotony of running lap after lap, most of the 100k runners and a lot of the 50k runners had iPods.

To distract me from my feet and legs screaming at me, I started singing (pretty loudly, and hopefully in tune), much to the amusement of the spectators. I hope it wasn’t too off-putting for my fellow competitors!

The laps went by quickly at first. I was sitting on sub 10 hour pace until probably 65km (I haven’t uploaded my Garmin data yet due to tech issues) and it would have been amazing to be able to sustain that, but I knew it wasn’t realistic. I hoped/expected to finish between 10 and 11 hours.

The support tent was fantastic. Every time I passed, the volunteers gave great encouragement and were always willing to help me with anything I needed. Ziad, Chris, Katie, Vic and anyone else I may have forgotten, ably manned the support tent/food table and I can’t forget to mention Kieran who I think came to support Michelle but even after she left he stuck around right till the end and was my unexpected but much appreciated support crew – what a champ!

After 2 hours I had moved into 7th place and one lap ahead of Rebecca.

By 5 hours many of the 50k runners had finished including the top 3 men and top 2 women. I had just cracked 50k myself and moved into overall third place, one lap behind Barry and Stuart in equal first place. Somehow I had managed to open up a 13 lap lead over Rebecca, that’s around 5km. This gave me a little breathing space when it came to toilet breaks (I only had two – those stairs were a struggle – and managed to keep them to around 2 minutes which equates to 1 lap or less).

At 6 hours I had moved ahead of Barry into overall second behind Stuart. My lead over Rebecca was now 17 laps. Paul had moved into 4th place, one lap behind Barry and 2 behind me, and looking incredibly strong.

Around this time my left hip started playing up. Michelle, who had not long finished the 50k, offered me some Voltaren which I gratefully accepted and which seemed to help, although I still looked like a 90 year old during my walk breaks (interestingly I was a lot more comfortable while running than while walking – I just had to take more frequent breaks as the race went on!)

By 7 hours Paul had leapfrogged me into first place and that was where he stayed. My lead over Rebecca was now 22 laps, and a further 2 laps to Karen C in third position. I thought, surely neither of them can catch me now? Even if I end up walking most of it? Fortunately it didn’t come to that. I started with a 30min/5min run/walk strategy. After about 5.5 hours I went to 25/5 (it was easier to keep track, plus I was tiring). Later I tried 20/5 but quickly went to 15/5 and then 10/5. By the end I was doing 7/3 but still managing to maintain my position (obviously everyone, with the exception of Paul and possibly Barry, was struggling as much as, if not more than, me!). I was constantly checking my watch and counting down to the next walk break!

At the 8 hour mark Paul had opened up a 5 lap gap between himself and second placed Stuart, who was beginning to struggle and was walking more than he was running. Paul was looking unstoppable and regularly lapping me! I was still 3rd, 3 laps ahead of Barry and 25 ahead of Karen C who had moved ahead of Rebecca into second place.

Getting towards the pointy end, at 9 hours Barry had passed me into a strong second position, and I had passed Stuart so still sat in 3rd overall, with my lead over Karen maintained.

After 10 hours Paul was practically finished and Barry only a few laps behind. Hearing Paul and Barry’s finishes called by Ben over the PA gave me a lift, as I knew I wouldn’t be too far behind them!

My Garmin was well out, so I didn’t really know how long I had to go until Adam, the timing guy, started calling out numbers of laps. Once that number was into single figures I knew I was really nearly done! I was up to the 7/3 run/walk by then but once I got down to the last 3 laps I somehow managed to run the rest of the way. The best feeling was when Ben announced me over the PA as I started my last lap. I can quite safely say that was my fastest lap of the whole 250!

I finished strongly and was glad to see some friends who had come to see the finish, including Neil who made it just in time to see my last lap, and James who had come down for the last hour or so before going rowing. Mum had also come down and had seen my last 3 or 4 laps – I didn’t realise she was there until I’d finished and it was a nice surprise as I hadn’t expected her to come!

I finished in about 10 hours 43, just before 6:45am, in daylight! I then sat down, had some delicious vegan pizza, and Kieran helped me get my shoes off before first aid legend Susan came and taped up my epic blisters.

It was only just over an hour until the 8am cutoff, and I sat back and watched the rest of the runners struggle around the track. Stuart finished 4th overall (3rd male) and another guy John was the last to finish the 100km, with 4 minutes to spare! The only other 2 left by that stage were the two Karens who stuck it out to the end but didn’t quite make the 100km. Still – a fantastic effort to keep going for 12 hours, I’m not sure if I could have done that!

After the presentations Karen treated me to a guest pass at her gym where we had a very luxurious spa interspersed with quick dips in the cold plunge pool – perfect way to finish a very tough but very satisfying event!

Thanks as always to Ben and all the amazing volunteers, all the supporters who came down to watch, and last but not least all the legends who ran in the event!

Posted on

Veganuary – the story so far!

image

After 2 years of trying to eat plant-based MOST of the time (I estimate 85-90%) I decided to take the challenge to eat vegan for the entire month of January. As I write there is a week to go, and I can see one major challenge to come, but I thought this week I would write about some of the things I’ve learned so far.

1) Trying to eat vegan on the road is REALLY HARD unless you take your own food. Truck stops are not noted for their vegan options. Muesli bars and nuts are good portable road snacks. Fruit too, although you have to make sure you eat it all before you enter South Australia!

2) I sort of already knew this but wine and cider is not necessarily safe (in fact, more likely non-vegan than vegan). There is a very useful website called Barnivore which lists alcoholic beverages by veganosity. (I’m not certain ‘veganosity’ is an actual word but it’s a good one. ‘Veganity’ would also work). I now know a few ciders that I can safely drink – sadly not my absolute favourite but a couple that are readily available in Adelaide. I did manage to find a lovely vegan wine in Thredbo – naturally a South Australian one!

3) Balls are fantastic. I’m talking vegan energy balls. Quick to make, healthy (most of the ones I have made contain sugar only in the form of dates), portable and delicious. Dates are expensive though. It’s hard to find a cheap date!

4) Eating vegan at home is easy (I already knew that). Eating at other people’s places is a bit difficult – although my mum has catered to me admirably with a little help from the fantastic website One Green Planet (which is also the source of much of my inspiration) – follow them on Facebook and/or Instagram and prepare to have your mind blown! Eating with a group of people in a self-catering arrangement where you are the ‘only vegan in the village’ requires a bit of flexibility and creativity. And a couple of standbys such as canned chickpeas and peanut butter never go astray!

5) Eating at restaurants often needs a little advance preparation. For example, when dining out with the girls, I did a little research and picked an omni restaurant that has a vegan menu. Something for everyone. Simples! In Thredbo for our ‘official’ dinner I requested in advance a vegan meal and I was very happy with what they served up – it was clearly not just a token salad, or plate of roasted veggies, rather you could tell they had actually put some thought into it. On the other hand, rocking up to a restaurant and asking if they have any vegan options can be fraught – especially in a small town. (On one occasion in Thredbo I was told ‘no’. Not ‘I’ll check with the chef’, just ‘no’. Might be worth starting to carry a peanut butter sandwich in my handbag!)

6) You can pretty much make any omni dish you want into a vegan one. It might take more time and require some ingredients you can’t find in a supermarket, but it can be done if you want it badly enough! You can even get a vegan fried egg – not that I could imagine any vegan would want to eat anything that looks like (and presumably tastes like) a fried egg!

7) Forget about trying to get a vegan meal at a sporting event. Hot chips might be OK depending on what they’re cooked in, and if they’re cooked in the same vat as chicken nuggets etc. Plain crisps on the other hand, are generally safe (at least it’s easy to tell by reading the packet) but crisps do not a meal make.

8) As a rule you will tend to eat healthier – as you won’t go near most fast food, Bunnings BBQs and late night yiros/kebab joints. And it’s easier to control yourself at morning/afternoon teas at work if most of the delicious looking foods on the table are on the ‘no go’ list! Don’t be fooled into thinking that ‘vegan = healthy’ though. My current favourite raw vegan chocolate tart is loaded with calories and sugar. But no animals were harmed in the making of it, so I will happily eat it in moderation.

My next big challenge will be the 100km track championships this coming Saturday night. An overnight race – I will certainly be requiring some food but I’m not yet sure what, how much, and when. If I can get through that on a vegan diet, I’m pretty sure I can get through anything! I guess you’ll be hearing all about THAT next week!

(If you’re interested in seeing my daily Veganuary posts, my Instagram username is @moon_unit_ultra)

Posted on

Thredbo Fun and Fitness Week – Part 2

image

Wednesday 13 January

This morning we had the Women from Snowy River and the Men from Snowy River fun runs. It was an interesting concept, segregating the genders, but I can see why they do it – it allows everyone to participate, so the men can marshal the women’s event and vice versa. The women went first so we were all there for a 9am start. It was a 3.8km run, the directions given by the MC at the start were all Greek to me, so I would have to rely on the marshals’ directions and/or following the person in front. It was what is known as a yacht handicap, where the winner is the person who finishes closest to their estimated finish time. The slower walkers started first at 9am, with the fastest runners starting last. The idea was that the slowest walkers would take around 40 minutes, and the timekeeper would count down from 40 minutes, and when he called out the time you thought you would run, you would start. I went for 19 minutes – I was toying with 19.5 minutes but when the MC said “Remember – you always run faster than you think you will”, I stuck with the original plan.

Of course, we all had to run sans watches – that made it really tricky!

The person who started immediately before me started on the 19.5 minute mark, so 30 seconds ahead of me. My first mission, when I started on my own, was to keep her in sight and eventually catch her, which I did. The course was undulating and on variable surfaces which made it especially challenging – the Pipeline track was particularly congested!

I’m not sure exactly what time I did but I estimate I was around 18 minutes, so 1 minute too fast. The winner finished SPOT ON her predicted time! I was a winner though because I brought home another bottle of wine for the lodge from the barrel draw, this time a lovely McLaren Vale GSM.

After the run we watched the start of the men’s race before heading back to the lodge. After lunch a group of us decided to head up Mt Kosciuszko. The final event of Thredbo Fun and Fitness Week (TFFW) would be the Kosciuszko Classic but that can potentially be cancelled if the weather is bad, so we decided to take advantage of the excellent weather and head up there in case this was our last chance. David, Karen, Daryl, Geoff and I headed up in the chairlift and started the approximately 13km hike to the summit and back. On the way up we saw the other 2 Davids from the lodge who had been to the summit already and were on their return journey.

The first part of the hike was a bit boring, on metal grid, until we reached Rawson’s Pass. This was exactly the same path we had hiked the previous day, and was hard going. From Rawson’s it was a not-too-bad trek up to the summit. It was sunny, a bit windy at times but never cold. I walked with David as the other 3 had raced ahead.

At the summit we patiently waited for our turns to sit on top of the marker that indicates the highest point in Australia. Then Karen and I decided to try doing a jumping photo – after about 10 minutes of attempts we got a few decent shots but decided our jumping game could use a little work. It was super windy up there!

On the way back down we saw Lorraine (who had done the summit the previous day with Sally) and Shelley, on their way up. We made it back to the chairlift in plenty of time (the last ride is at 5pm) and waited in a queue to get back down to Thredbo.

Wednesday night was the official dinner of the TFFW which most of us from the lodge were going to (after I had been assured of a vegan meal) so I showered and made myself presentable before heading down to the lounge where a few people were standing on the balcony talking to someone on the phone. Turned out Lorraine had dropped her phone off the chairlift and was out looking for it, and Mandy had gone up to help her look. To further complicate matters, it had started raining quite heavily. Eventually they realised that they weren’t going to find it in those conditions, and came back down to get ready for dinner. Lorraine was quite optimistic that it had survived the fall intact. Karen and I had already planned to give Crackenback another crack (pun intended) in the morning so offered to have a look for it while we were up there.

The dinner was fantastic – 2 lovely courses of vegan deliciousness and to top it off they had vegan wine on the menu! All in all a fabulous day – topped off by the Adelaide Strikers’ thrilling win later that night (without a TV in the lodge we had to resort to following the game via phone app, but it was exciting nonetheless!)

Thursday 14 January

We started the day with a repeat of the first day’s Crackenback climb. It was a bit more leisurely given that we spent a fair while looking for Lorraine’s phone, and miraculously Karen spotted it – no visible damage AND still with plenty of juice! Not bad after a fall from a chairlift and a night in the cold and rain! Good advert for the iPhone 6S!

We made it to the chairlift just in time, as the rain started to fall.

After a coffee, Karen and I showered and changed and headed to the ‘big smoke’ – Jindabyne – with Dave and Peter. We had a bit of a wander around the shops and stocked up on food at Woolies, and stopped off at the Wild Brumby distillery where I bought a bottle of freshly bottled gin.

The afternoon event was meant to be an aquathlon which David, Karen and I had both planned on entering (Karen and I had already wussed out due to the weather – persistent rain) but it was postponed until Friday. So we just hung out at the lodge for the rest of the day, drinking wine, doing jigsaws and cranking out some tunes.

Friday 15 January

Friday was a big day for our lodge. It was the ‘veterans’ fun run, originated by Eric and sponsored by our running club, SARRC. (I say ‘veterans’ because this means women 35 and over and men 40 and over, so I qualify, but I don’t see myself as a veteran!) Our lodge provided most of the marshals and a few of us ran too.

But before that it was the ‘final assault’ on Crackenback. Six of us, Karen, Geoff, David, Sally, Mandy and me, set out in possibly minus temperatures (it was supposedly -5 at the top station) to climb that hill one last time for the trip. This time, fortunately, we were able to push straight through without needing to stop until we reached the top. Others said they thought it was getting easier but I actually found the first climb (the race on the first day) the easiest!

After a quick photo-op at the top we piled into the chairlift for the extremely chilly ride back down to the bottom.

We then got ready for Eric’s run. It was still very cold, so we were all rugged up – the marshals with layer upon layer upon layer, and the runners with running gear underneath all of the layers! The marshals all looked very fetching in their grass skirts and leis – we runners all also ‘got lei’d’.

At the very last possible minute the runners stripped off their warm clothing and assembled at the start line.

It was around 3km we were told (actually 3.4) and the first half or so was TOUGH. Much of it was uphill (good practice for the following day’s Kosciuszko Classic) but the bit that really got me was the stairs – who puts stairs in a fun run?

(It seems that in Thredbo you can’t go anywhere without encountering stairs – not even the lodge! There was one particular set of stairs, which we used several times every day, on the walk from the chairlift back up to the lodge, which I dubbed the ‘Stairway to Hell’. No matter how tough a walk we had done, that particular staircase was always the hardest part of the walk!)

One girl passed me easily on the stairs and after that I walked most of the uphills – my legs were like jelly! However, we soon came to trail and downhills, and I was back in my comfort zone. I ran as fast as possible on the narrow trails because they looked quite ‘snakey’ even though realistically it was too cold for snakes. Towards the end I saw the girl who had passed me earlier and managed to pass her with a few hundred metres to go. I never knew a 3.4km run could be so hard! I don’t think Crackenback earlier in the morning had helped!

After the barrel draw we went down to the river, to Eric’s bench (dedicated with a plaque from SARRC, to Eric and his late wife May) for the traditional bubbles and nibbles. Everyone had a glass – even teetotaller Karen got into the ‘spirit’ with the smallest of servings. Mandy and I took our shoes off and stood in the river and WOW was it cold! That made my decision to skip the aquathlon VERY easy, even though Ryan, who had helped us out with the marshalling, tried to convince us that the water in the lake would be warm!

The ladies and Eric then went up to Eagles’ Nest for a light lunch. At one stage I had planned to do either a downhill Dead Horse Gap hike with Karen or and uphill Merritt’s hike with Mandy, but after the run and lunch I decided a nap was a better idea.

Given that we only had a few nights left, and wouldn’t be able to take our fresh fruit and veg back across the border into SA, it was time to get creative and try to use as much fresh produce as possible. I decided to make a big pot of soup – all the vegies and some curry paste were donated by Karen and Elizabeth, and I just had to buy coconut milk and stock. After a failed attempt to use the ancient Magimix to blend it (I later found out that Sally had had a stick blender with her) I tried to find a potato masher as my Plan B but eventually gave up and served it ‘as is’. And it was tasty – and it just so happened to be perfect soup weather too!

Saturday 16 January

The last day of TFFW – the big one. The Kosciuszko Classic. Approximately 20km all up but the race itself was around 5km. First we had to go up to the top of the chairlift – as it was a chilly morning again, a lot of us had extra layers on. Then we walked to Rawson’s where we utilised the facilities and peeled off our extra layers. Sunscreen was even needed – by that stage it had warmed up a bit and the sun was well and truly out. It was a perfect day for the Classic!

Some runners opted to start early – as it turned out, most of the runners from our lodge. From Rawson’s, it was an easy 3km downhill to the Snowy River – I jogged that part with Travis, a previous winner (and as it turned out, this year’s winner as well!)

At 11:00 on the dot we set out, back uphill to the highest point in Australia. It was ALL uphill. No nice little flat bits to break it up! 2 girls flew past me in the first few hundred metres (one girl was already ahead) and knowing that uphill is NOT my strength, a podium finish was out of the question. So I just kept running. Travis had warned me that the first km was the hardest so I had gone conservative, or so I thought – as it turned out that was my fastest km!

I followed Speedo Man much of the way. Speedo Man is well known at Thredbo for wearing Speedos in every event. Just Speedos. Usually with shoes although sometimes he goes barefoot. At Eric’s run he wore a T-shirt but still just Speedos on the bottom half. At Kosci he was down to just the Speedos and shoes. After about 4km I got sick of looking at that arse, and he was slowing down anyway (or I was speeding up – I suspect the former) so I passed him and then went back and forth with another guy with a ponytail on the final ascent up the mountain.

I ran the whole way, except a short part near the end where there was a metal grid. I walked carefully on this bit as the metal grate can do some serious damage if you fall on it. You know that ad on TV for the Nicer Dicer Plus? Well that was what I was thinking of and I didn’t really fancy diced knees and hands. The guy with the ponytail later said he thought I lost momentum when I walked that bit, which surprised me because I didn’t think I had any momentum! He eventually passed me and finished just ahead – Speedo Man just behind. My time was 30.06 so I will definitely be aiming to break 30 minutes next year!

After some celebrations at the top of Australia we made the long walk back to the chairlift via Rawson’s where we had left our gear. We had a quick coffee stop and then went to the presentation. We learned that for the first time ever, there were more female finishers than male! Out of 32 finishers, 11 were from our lodge and 8 of those were female!

After that it was back to the lodge for a cold beverage – if running 5km up a mountain isn’t a hard-earned thirst, I don’t know what is!

The rest of the day was pretty chilled – time to reflect on the week and start packing. Most of us were leaving early on Sunday except a few who were staying on for the Blues festival. The Blues festival always overlaps TFFW by a few days, and it’s pretty easy to tell the Blues people from the runners and the mountain bikers!

Thredbo – you have been WONDERFUL. Such a great week in an amazing place with some fabulous friends, old and new. I can see this becoming a regular event on my calendar!

I’m writing this on the long drive home and I’m keen to see how a week at altitude affects my running back at sea level!