C2S Number has arrived

Now I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not? Red start group number arrived today.

Training on track? Zero, zip, zilch. Perfect to run then. I better go buy some flakes!

I am now walking without a limp which is a vast improvement from Tuesday last week when I picked the orthotics up. So the only way is up.

I'm up to 5hrs

That is wearing the orthotics each day. Supposed to add an hour a day until I run out of daylight I guess and wear them all day.
Can't really tell if they are working as yet. The pain seems a bit less sometimes, but then I get a shot of pain through the heal to remind me I have PF.

It's a long road.................

Orthotics are in

Had a phone call this morning to pickup the orthotics.
Had my 1 hr in them this morning and then have to do another hour tonight.
Apparently so your knee joints get used to the weird angle of your feet while you wear them.

I'll see what happens. Hopefully they work reasonably quickly, but I'm quite happy if they don't work fast. Anything has to be better than walking with a bad limp.

Wouldn't miss C2S again. Thanks for all the comments.

Injury update

Contrary to popular opinion. That would be Blue Dog's Mum. I am still around. Turning to fat though from too much chocolate eating and alcohol. Must be a good thing I reckon.
Except my neck gets fatter and the work shirts have trouble fitting, and now I have to loosen the belt.

Finally went to see a Podiatrist about my heal pain/plantar fasciitis. He had me run on a treadmill which I have never done before. Damn things are hard to run on without practice. Safe to say I looked like a complete git on the video.

He did workout that I pronate slightly but my neutral shoes I always use would be fine.
After that he made a mould of my foot to fit me with an orthotic to fix the pain in my foot. As I am anti-orthotics he said once the pain is gone I shouldn't ever need to use it again. Good!

He did reckon that I should give up the Asics racing flats and use the trainers instead as they had a bit more cushioning for my feet. I love the lightness of the flats but if it will help running in the trainers instead I'm all for it.

Have to go back to have them fitted in 7-10 days when they are ready. Hopefully I'll be right to run C2S. I'm entered anyway.

I'm Out of SMH Half

After running last night I have been limping around badly today at work.
I have decided not to the half on Sunday.

The foot just hurts too much to consider running on Sunday, even at a slow pace I would probably do some damage to my hip as I am not running with my natural gait.

Good luck everyone on Sunday.
I will be down there taking photos, so you better all look good at whatever speed you are running at.

The race isn't worth the long term damage!

10x400m Reps

Ok they were supposed to be 400m but somehow I stopped at the wrong spot on the first one so did them all short. I think they were about 360m.
Used the path next to the bus lane in Alison Rd to run these. Pretty humid tonight, I guess the cold weather is coming at some stage before Sunday.

The reps were 66, 69, 72, 72, 74, 73, 71, 72, 74, 71. All done with a 90 second walk recovery. Too much red cordial on that first rep. Did a 2k warmup and a 2k cool down.

And I thought I would have lost any resemblance of speed since Canberra.

Easy 10k

I had already entered SMH Half back in March so I'm justifying running with an injury by that. Does that work? Probably not. The foot is no better and no worse since Canberra so I might as well run rather slowly round the course. Although I might be tempted to run faster depending on how I feel on the day.

Tonight was a rather slow run of Centennial Park, Moore Park, the SFS and SCG and then back home.

Total was 10.3ks in a pedestrian 53:46. Average pace of 5:13 per klm.
No problems at all running that. Maybe it was just a jog. The only thing hurting was the heel and that is best left alone.

Church Point Challenge STaR 12ks

As the 7am host of this morning's Striders Run I get to run a very short course at a very slow pace. Arrived at North Narra carpark, the home break of World Champion Surfer Damien Hardman as the sun was rising over the ocean. Ahh.

Ran with about a dozen Striders and a soon to be new Strider from South Africa. Must have been convinced by my story of the first President of Striders being South African. And I did mention the Comrades King Bruce Fordyce is speaking at the Striders dinner but only if you are a member.

The run went from North Narrabeen up around a few headlands past Turimetta and Warriewood beaches before arriving at Mona Vale and heading inland. Then we ran through Warriewood and came back to the start again. Very leisurely pace as well. 1:10.13 for 12ks. Glad I'm taper for SMH Half next week.

And Tesso the foot does still hurt badly. So I could be joining the keystone cops running 2 hrs.

Palm Beach Sand Hills

After getting a tip from Blue Dog's Mum yesterday about running on sand I headed to my surf club this morning for some exercise.
It was a beautiful morning on the coast.
Ran from my surf club up to the only sand hill the beach has. It is nothing like Wanda. The Sandhill is used by the Kings School's football and rowing sides for punishment.
Plus the surrounding dunes did feature in a playboy spread of World Surfing Champ Wendy Botha in the 80's. And Home and Away is filmed on the beach. Enough crap!

The run up was 2 and a half k's I think and then I did half a dozen reps of the 100m sandhill. Who said running on sand was easy?
Then ran back to my surf club.
I don't know if running on soft sand was any easier than running on the road in shoes. Doesn't matter. It was good to get out for a run.

He's Back from Hospital

Thanks for everyone's thoughts and wishes.
My father was let out of hospital yesterday. It wasn't as bad as I thought as they didn't cut him open, just made him a pin cushion for a week. I think that did involve a few tubes in some weird places, but much better than last time.

So it was straight to the golf course yesterday for him.

Now if only his son could run!

Battle with the evil empire part 2

Some of you may remember my father had part of his lung cut out from cancer two years ago. Tonight he has had to go back to hospital as he has a really bad infection in the same lung. Where did he get the infection from? Most likely cause is the hospital two years ago. Just takes that long to come back.

He is not expecting this time to be as bad as the last time. Should be home in a week fingers crossed. Damn Cancer!

Love you Dad.

p.s He is the good looking bloke in the middle of the back row.

Canberra Marathon DNF

I knew the day would turn out bad when I couldn't get my car out of the hotel car park at 6am and had to get a lift to the start with another runner.
I have had ongoing problems since December with Plantar Fasciitis which moved into one spot in my heel at the start of March.
Inspite of this I still tried to keep all the training up for the race hoping that I could run 'at pace' for the full distance.

I started off standing near Tucks and Springer although not running near their pace. Was just trying to get a decent start. Ran most of the race in a nice pack that was just around half a dozen runners on 2:55-3hr pace. Included Blue Dog, Sub50 and Brick.
I had a split calculator on my arm for 2:56 and stayed almost on those splits for the first 17ks. At about the 15k mark the Dog said he was pulling out. But from the 17k we head down hill and my heel was getting increasingly more painful from the downhill pressure on it.

From the Black Mtn turnaround my pace started to slow as the pain became to much to handle for me. From there the voices in my head were screaming at me to stop/run/stop/run. Oh come on make up your mind you idiot.
When I saw my family at the 25k mark going back to the bowen turnaround I had made up my mind that I would run back to see them and let them know. They had been standing in the rain cheering for myself and all the "Go Striders" or is that Ghost Writers? I laugh at that one.

That was it, no amount of CR's or Striders imploring me to keep running as they went past was going to make me continue. I was an emotional wreck standing there talking to my parents.

It was a slow hobble back to the finish to watch all the other runners come in. Got to see Mark Tucker power on for the win as I was still walking back. And it was great to see Uncle Dave and Tucks up close as they both still looked strong running sub 2:30.

Thanks to all who have encouraged me to run sub 3hr for the marathon this time. I'm sorry that I couldn't keep my end of the bargain. I shouldn't have run the race at all with my foot like it was. I'm now paying for it as I had the physio this morning put me on crutches to relieve some of the pain so I can walk properly. No running for at least a month for me.

Sorry for such a long post. My first race DNF. Probably very lucky.

Marathon's through the years.

Marathon's through the years.
Top to Bottom.


Canberra 2005
Canberra 2007
Sydney 2007

Easy 40 minutes

Ran up to the SFS and back. Took the run very easy avoiding all the pot holes.
Total was 8.6ks in 40:01. Average pace of 4:39 per klm.

Yes Heel still hurts Tesso. Just trying not to think about it.

5k @ Marathon Pace

A nice very wet run in the rain tonight. Ok it was bucketing for part of the run, lucky I had a few trees to run under so didn't get the full force of it.
Did a 2k warmup before starting. How much can you do when it is already raining?

5k in 20:10. Must have been the extra water in the clothes slowed me down.

Did a 2k cool down after finishing. Mud everywhere how cool.

I'll see what I can do on Sunday with this heel. Could be interesting.

Last run in the park 15ks

Is this really a long run? Not really only 15ks this afternoon after I slept in this morning.
Did a few laps inside Centennial Park late in the day.

Ran 15.8ks in 71:27. Average pace of 4:31 per klm. Felt very easy running that pace.

Lifestyles of the rich and famous, when your daughters private school has their own Equestrian team. Yes it is true. Spotted a horse rider in Centennial Park with a Rugby top on saying that.

Easy 10k + 6 Strides

Did a couple of laps of the running track in Centennial Park late this afternoon plus a bit outside as well.
Ran 10.02ks in 46:05. Average pace of 4:35 per klm.

Then did half a dozen 100m strides on the grass along Alison Rd.

Mona Fartlek

Ran a flat course around to Fox Studios and back. Legs not feeling that good, especially the heel.

Total was 5.2ks in 20 mins. Average pace of 3:50 per klm.

One Hour

Ran around Moore Park, Centennial Park, SCG, SFS and Fox Studios and back home again.

All up 13.1ks in 60:02. Average pace of 4:34 per klm.

Time Trial

Did a 2k warmup before starting tonight. It was getting pretty dark in Centennial Park when I started doing my run.
The time was 13:42 for the 3.7ks. Average pace of 3:42 per klm. And I'm supposed to be getting faster when I taper. I thought I would be faster, but the sore heel is not helping me.

Did a cooldown with Mohammad inside the park. Good luck at London Marathon mate. Also saw CT and JT running a lap after training.

Edit: I did run a 14:09 last year before Canberra around the park. So I guess I am faster.