tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46896135485784418412024-03-05T22:50:56.209-08:0050 years of age and I ran a marathon - what charity challenges are ahead?Can a non runner go from 5k to a full marathon in a year? This blog was set up to track if I could go from a non runner to finishing a marathon within a year - well if you read the blog, that's now done, but what other charity driven insanities are on my path ahead? Can't stop at a single 42km (26 mile) challenge now can we?Messy_Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05793938555354522246noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689613548578441841.post-55089320814130428132014-03-04T17:15:00.003-08:002014-03-04T17:15:32.446-08:00Been a long time since an update<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">August
in 2013 seems such a long time ago. Three half marathons in three weeks seems
like an eternity ago and given my recent physical escapades it is an eternity
away. I’d struggle to punch out 5kms right now and that’s not because I’ve been
lazy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Here’s
an update on what’s been happening.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Soon
after the half marathons I headed to Sri Lanka for a month long holiday,
visiting amazing National Parks and stunning World Heritage Listed areas (eight
on one small island!!) Given every day was 80% humidity and in the mid 30’s
(about mid 90’s Fahrenheit), there was no running involved. As soon as I got
back I was off to central Australia on secondment. Yep, I’ve been in the arid
desert region for the last six months working for the Ngaanyatjarra
Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Women’s Council. An Indigenous Not-For-Profit
organisation that is run by twelve indigenous women from the NPY Region (where
Northern Territory, West Australia and South Australia meet). Needless to say
temperatures in the 40’s (over 100 Fahrenheit) every day and close to no
humidity (so dry, dry, dry) is not the environment to be training for
marathons. I have managed a few small runs up here and can tell you it takes a
lot out of you, even at 6.30am before the sun has real bite.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigLp7y7vX-qHS4wiZOZnypxqeum3w7a8CHyY0qyZu_HazOfyPj2EHzeqA1UwrXLrvLpka8MQHG3ql1wi7I-Pqf0R1zWGyr6m52ShtT0IUQiYQx0uE9sTVUP0xz3FBDphEiv3e_fSRLyp7r/s1600/photo+(5).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigLp7y7vX-qHS4wiZOZnypxqeum3w7a8CHyY0qyZu_HazOfyPj2EHzeqA1UwrXLrvLpka8MQHG3ql1wi7I-Pqf0R1zWGyr6m52ShtT0IUQiYQx0uE9sTVUP0xz3FBDphEiv3e_fSRLyp7r/s1600/photo+(5).JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alice Springs Australia Day Fun Run</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
work I have been doing up here for the Women’s Council covers the people who
live in a 375,000 square kilometre region, with 6,000 inhabitants in 26
communities. To call these places “remote” is probably an understatement, some
people travel for 12 hours to get to a meeting in Alice Springs. As one remote
worker explained – to go to “town” and buy supplies is like driving from the
North to the South of France (just to go to the shop!!!).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">My
time here is nearly done and I return to Melbourne for the long Labour Day
weekend, where training for another run will begin again in earnest. I am
returning to the indigenous lands for a Festival in late March but this time it
is a fleeting visit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPopRuXQjso9v3-QqUN_IWPZFR3UxHl7CCZESUEg7yi0eM9QlvCxxfXUwXPrvzTaXL1a64NZPrCeevv3Dd8UOtIGCHS30UDEW4sd5iVUF9iNZAbT4_FWhRM8L4GSrpUvPQV7nDbVRRpYmk/s1600/1475800_10151844868038621_1129648772_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPopRuXQjso9v3-QqUN_IWPZFR3UxHl7CCZESUEg7yi0eM9QlvCxxfXUwXPrvzTaXL1a64NZPrCeevv3Dd8UOtIGCHS30UDEW4sd5iVUF9iNZAbT4_FWhRM8L4GSrpUvPQV7nDbVRRpYmk/s1600/1475800_10151844868038621_1129648772_n.jpg" height="238" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some famous rock at sunset</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Since
my last update the funds from my various affiliations have been donated to
Neuroscience Research Australia and $218.41 has been donated to them from all
my income from my various blogs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
am now moving to a new charity and from 1 March 2014 until at least the end of
the year I will donate all income to the NPY Women’s Council, so keep buying
books, vouchers, gear etc. by using the ads on my blogs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This
leads me to a brand new affiliation I have managed to secure. Later this week
you will begin to see ads from Litbreaker in my templates. They are
specifically an ad network linking brands, publishers, magazines and other
literary advertisers to content publishers. Again, all income this new
affiliation brings will be donated straight to charity (the NPYWC for the
remainder of 2014). So if you see an interesting article or product on my
blogs, click through, it won’t cost you anything but it will generate
advertising income that will help others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5ybOFe0RMjNt9hq99ycBEi43bu9_8Z38NBpCpg4sQGLM68_8lsxUnfbS3ZYPK8X12soRJL0ouMVcFkBS-PYcszV3tSHVbqfWCZT3KvzvnEOtBAL4iQNzbMc8QB2KakfaiC8nuXH6wBaUu/s1600/Secondment+228.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5ybOFe0RMjNt9hq99ycBEi43bu9_8Z38NBpCpg4sQGLM68_8lsxUnfbS3ZYPK8X12soRJL0ouMVcFkBS-PYcszV3tSHVbqfWCZT3KvzvnEOtBAL4iQNzbMc8QB2KakfaiC8nuXH6wBaUu/s1600/Secondment+228.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mt Gillen in Alice Springs - that was a climb!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m
hoping to put in place another fund raising activity for the NPYWC before the
year is out, it’s just a case of working out the best event, best way to raise
funds, greatest coverage I can get etc. before I announce anything.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If
you’re interested in the work that this wonderful organisation does in remote
central Australia, you can read more at the website </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.npywc.org.au/">http://www.npywc.org.au/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Messy_Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05793938555354522246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689613548578441841.post-40479819432121021512013-08-26T03:15:00.000-07:002013-08-26T03:15:05.553-07:003 slow half marathons in 3 weeks<div class="MsoNormal">
It has been an interesting few weeks as I ramped up the
training. I thought to myself, why go on 20k+ long training runs when I could
simply enter a half marathon and do the training under event conditions? Not
bad logic in my opinion. So what did I do? I entered three half marathons on
three consecutive Sundays. Don’t do things by halves in this household.</div>
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Why stop at simple flat course half’s too? So week one
(three weeks ago), I turned up as part of the “Tan Ultra Trails Plus” event
where there were some serious nutters running 100k, 50k, 42k, 30k (and 12k) and
punched out 21.1k around the Melbourne Botanical Gardens. The iconic track
around the outside known as “The Tan”. The track is 3.87k (or so) and that
meant we started in the opposite direction to the rest of the runners, went out
(up a slow hill) for a kilometre or thereabouts, did a turn and then ran 5 laps
of the Tan. The course includes a steep hill, known to all Melbournites as
Anderson Street, which I had to navigate 5 times – once you’re up the hill you
have a slow steady decline (with a couple of small bumps) for 3kms, only to
front up to the monster again. With me passing the drink station 5 times, I
overdid the water intake and felt a tad “sloshy” at the end of the event, going
around in 2:33 – which disappointed me as I wanted to be under 2:30 but I told
myself it was a training run and set my sights on week 2.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNCUxtTIST5FAh0MYH3Js3atZzezRPTA3_K_vuALlILbna7G65_hddS-CX4EQtDzQImwSOjyksm63tLojgwWUl8LJsfRmkmmbAOc7S2S2JUqH8yw0a9MssQvK0WBglDpvdBgVfdlNPKhcp/s1600/IMG_1835.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNCUxtTIST5FAh0MYH3Js3atZzezRPTA3_K_vuALlILbna7G65_hddS-CX4EQtDzQImwSOjyksm63tLojgwWUl8LJsfRmkmmbAOc7S2S2JUqH8yw0a9MssQvK0WBglDpvdBgVfdlNPKhcp/s320/IMG_1835.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Last Sunday I ran the “Sandy Point Half”, which has been
going for a number of years and is used by a number of people as a lead up
event for the Melbourne Marathon which is coming up in October. The course used
to run through Sandy Point, but this year they started at Mordialloc and we ran
out for 10.55k did a u-turn and ran back. Sounds simple, not when there were
60km winds – head winds for the 1<sup>st</sup> 10.5kms, which sounds okay as
you have a tail wind to bring you home. Only issue is you’re spent and you’re
only half way. This was also the first time they’d run the full marathon on the
same day and I ran with quite a few in the last 5 or so kilometres and they
were done, the first half into the wind sapping their energy for the last half
of the race. I was very happy with my efforts, given the conditions, running
2:25 so eight minutes faster than the week before.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Next up was the trails of Silvan Dam, part of the Salomon
Trail Series (Race 3) which have gotten progressively longer and harder. Race
one was at Studley Park, 15kms on quite easy trails narrow and a bit
frustrating as the middle course 10k runners came up your rear. Race two at
Plenty Gorge with four river crossings and more elevation than race one and a
further 2.6kms to go. Yesterday was the half marathon and the elevation was
serious. We had one hill that climbed 80 metres over a 400m stretch, that
seriously busted the lungs even though I could only walk it. We then had a
steady climb of 200m over a 1.5km stretch – now that did make the lungs,
glutes, calves, thighs and other body parts seriously burn. But what goes up
must come down so there was a chance to up the pace and stagger down a hill or
two. Given the muddy slippery conditions you couldn’t do it flat stick but the
minutes lost going up some were gained coming down. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Yesterday’s event had amazing scenery with fern lined trails,
massive mountain gum trees, piles of leaves, stringy bark all over the trail,
fallen logs (remember it was bloody windy the weekend before) which you had to
clamber over and the most wonderful sight….the finish line. In my mind the
finishing time was irrelevant (3:12.28) as it contained 729m of elevation gain
and fallen tree clambering but with a cutoff time of 3:30 I was there with time
to spare – I must admit there were a couple of times up a couple of those hills
where I thought I wouldn’t make cut-off but hey that’s for another day.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Next week and the Sunday run will be a slow long one – may
even give myself a rest and do a light 10k or so. But it’s been a fun filled
three weeks as the kms are getting back into my legs, the body is pulling up
better each time and the ankle and hip and knee pains from the 100kms are a
thing of the past. Marysville full 42km marathon on 17/11 here I come!!!<o:p></o:p></div>
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On the charity front I’ve banked the earnings from my sister
blog<a href="http://messybooker.blogspot.com.au/"> messybooker.blogspot.com</a> to Neuroscience Research Australia (AUD $54.33)
and will continue to do so until June 2014. Fundraising page can be found at <a href="https://give.everydayhero.com/au/tony-8">https://give.everydayhero.com/au/tony-8</a>
but it will a few more months before I officially launch the latest fundraising
venture.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Messy_Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05793938555354522246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689613548578441841.post-62484246172921565942013-08-01T03:41:00.000-07:002013-08-01T03:41:29.370-07:00Trails, Trails and more trails a running and photo update<div class="MsoNormal">
So it looks as though it is time to update my charity
running blog. It’s been a month and there has been plenty of water under the
bridge (or just plain cold water without a bridge – read on to figure out what
that means) and I haven’t given you all an update on how I’m tracking or what I
am actually doing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It may appear as though I’m lazy, well in fact I am when it
comes to updating this blog, when in fact I do actually train and run these
different events. All of them in the name of charity of some description, the
event itself may not be charity based but the long term aim is to run a
ridiculous event that will push me to the extreme edge of my limits and that
event will be for charity.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Last blog entry was the Salomon Trail Series Race One at
Studley Park, since then I’ve participated in two more trail events as well as
putting in a number of parkruns and a heap of training. Short term I am running
the Marysville Marathon (full 42k) on trails in mid November, shorter term I
will be putting in heaps of miles and events to be ready for that specific
event and long term I have a big challenge ahead. That one I am not going to
reveal until such time as I’ve finished Marysville and know that I can actually
physically push myself well beyond a single trail marathon.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Blah, blah, blah. Onto what I’ve been up to. I’m pretty sure
the events, commentary and amazing photos that go with the trail season (in
Winter) is more to your fancy than me pushing out 17.5k at 7 mins per k around
the local streets and parks. So that’s what I’ll cover off.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The You Yangs are a granite outcrop situated between
Melbourne and Geelong (about 50kms from the City of Melbourne). They sit as a
strange lump on an otherwise flat landscape. Personally I’d never been to this Regional
Park even though it holds over 50kms of trails that are regularly used for
running and mountain biking. So what sort of surprise awaited me?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Our race (15kms) started at 10am with a 9am registration but
my co-runner (and driver) for the day, thought we’d get there quite a bit
earlier to see of the crazy people who were tackling the 50k and 30k events
(you know who you are!!!). We saw off the 50k guys and then Tony realised he
had not brought his asthma inhaler, and you know what that means? It means the
one day you’ll need it is the one day you don’t have it and being a bloke who
always brings up the tail this is not a wise thing to run without. So my
magnificent “driver” took me 15k back to the nearest chemist so I could grab
one – what that meant was we missed the 30k start, ended up being parked miles
from the event and pushed the limits when it came to our own registration. We
made the start though and headed into unknown territory.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This event has some serious hills, sections where you needed
to scramble over rocks (on all fours), walk a steep climb and watch out for the
markers (there was no way I was getting list this time!!). What a stunning park
this was with breathtaking views of the bay, the park, waterholes, gum trees,
cliff faces and more. With 335m of elevation gain (and it felt like that was
all in a 2k stretch) this was a challenging event. I beat five people home but
had an absolute ball, taking photos, struggling to breathe, cheering on mates
and enjoying the outdoors of regional Victoria.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The following Sunday I thought it was time to put in another
trail event and this time it was Race Two of the Salomon Series, Plenty Gorge.
Another Regional Park in Victoria this one being 30k North East of the City.
Now forget 335m elevation gain this one had 424m but over the longer course of
17.6k. And I can tell you, these were SERIOUS hills – a number of people have
told me that this was the toughest course they’d run – I can’t contribute to
that debate as I walked a heap of it, sometimes down on all fours.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We had four river crossings, and it was no creek jump, the
first you were thigh deep in icy cold water and then scrambling up the opposite
bank that was a mud pile from the earlier (much faster) runners and then
heading away on your journey in socking cold clothing. You had enough time to
dry out before you hit the river again. Again the views were stunning, a
completely different view to the granite, with high tessellated cliffs, scrub, colourful
trees and grasslands. For consistency purposes I finished fifth last again but
had just as much fun as the previous week, albeit under different conditions.<o:p></o:p></div>
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For the time being I’m going back to what people would
consider “normal” running with the Tan Ultra Half Marathon event booked in for
11/8 – where I’ll run 6 laps of “The Tan” in Melbourne (an outer track around
the Botanical Gardens) which includes a large hill climb (so six of them), known
in Melbourne to all runners simply as “Anderson Street”. I hope to finish 5<sup>th</sup>
last to keep up the consistency, but I’m not there to run a time, it is just
part of my Marysville training and what better way to book in a long run than
make it an event where you will turn up and do it no matter what the
conditions. I’ll take comfort in the fact that there will be other runners
there doing 100k, 50k, 30k and more so may even pass one or two of the Ultra
journeymen along my own journey.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ll do my best to report back after that event with the
plans for the next few weekends which may well include a Half Marathon event at
Sylvan Dam (yep another trail with stupid hills in it)!!!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Messy_Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05793938555354522246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689613548578441841.post-68992690747592775602013-07-02T03:30:00.000-07:002013-07-02T03:30:04.271-07:00Trail time again - urban trails that is<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m staying true to my word – good grief – and giving you an
update on the Trail event I ran on Sunday morning. Set in the bushlands around
the Yarra River and only a short distance from the city centre itself the Salomon
sponsored Studley Park Urban Trail event was a full subscription with
participants taking on 5k, 10.8k or 15k. Each event had nearly 450 runners so
the tranquil sounds of running riverside were broken by the heavy breathing and
thumping of runners on stone, grass and dirt.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The setting of the event was quite remarkable, the photo
below shows how close to the city centre we really were, but besides the sounds
of the traffic on the nearby Eastern Freeway (we did go under quite a few
bridges) you could have thought you were a fair way from urban sprawl.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As per normal I didn’t take the easy option and signed up
for the 15k event, something you do when you need to put in long runs but are
fed up with the same treks around a lake or local running track. As a result we
were the first lot to set off in the chilly conditions (I’m not going to say it
was cold, I’d felt cold at Mount Macedon and this was nowhere near like that).
As regular readers of this blog would know, I’m a slow (but steady) runner so I
self-seeded myself into the slowest wave start, about mid pack, and steadily
proceeded to be passed by even the slowest of runners. A number of sections had
loops so once we were about 2.5k in it was a bit disconcerting to see runners
already about 4k down the path (although some did have a 5min head start on me)
– it became even more disconcerting once I looked backwards at the 5km mark and
could see nobody (and I mean NOBODY) behind me. Yep I was running last, was
worried a sweeper may come and get me (at least it wasn’t going to be like
those big city races where they reopen the freeways so have to come and load
you onto a bus, there was no way any mode of “pick up” transport was getting
along these trails, unless I was going to be asked to sit on the handlebars of
a mountain bike!)) The other worry was the one and only drink station would
shut up shop before I arrived!!! If that happened I’d be going 15 clicks
without a refreshment.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But I do exaggerate, as I did arrive at the drink stop I
found that the 10k runners were joining us at that spot, but they went left and
weren’t taking an extra loop for the longer course, although a couple of very
speedy guys did run passed me about 500m down the trail before noticing a pink
marker and realising they’d taken a wrong turn so they did a very quick u-bolt
and headed back to the correct trail. Even though I had a further 3 kms or so
before I came back to the same drink station, I realised it was going to be a bit
of a pain as all the mid paced 10km runners would then be running up my
backside as they completed the last 4kms of their run just as I was hitting the
11km mark of my slog. Add to that the fact that it was a single file trail with
steep drops to the river on my right and thick bush on my left I knew it was
going to be a case of disgruntled runners waiting for the old slow bloke to
find a clearing and pull over for a few seconds to let the masses pass.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Elevation here was (according to the Garmin) quite small
with only 126m gain over the 15k but there were a few spots where I was reduced
to a fast walk (especially up a large flight of stone stairs) but given I ran
the Hobart Marathon which had 1,200m gain over the 42kms it was a walk in the
park. Not something I’d expect on the trails.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’m using a 20 week marathon training plan to be ready (plus
some) for the November Trail marathon in Marysville in November and am a few
weeks ahead of schedule, figuring I’ll put in a few extra weeks of the longer
runs to make sure I’m ready for a 42km run on trails, up mountains and
waterfalls and through bush. This week’s long run called for 90 mins so I
figured a 15k effort would suffice. One thing I did learn though is the larger,
more well-advertised events attract bigger fields, where we had 54 runners in
my event at Mount Macedon, and a total field of 209 this event attracted 1,307
runners so as you can see a well and truly congested trail. Nothing like the 10’s
of thousands the big city events get but still quite a large number for single
trail running.<o:p></o:p></div>
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All up I finished 2<sup>nd</sup> last in the field of 437
but can say I finished top 20 in my age category with only 18 men aged 50-59
participating in the longer event.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Don’t get me wrong, any event that can get people out and
about exercising and enjoying the scenery is worthwhile and this event was very
professionally run and the course was clearly marked, well marshalled and the
volunteers and runners were all a friendly bunch, I just felt a bit of the
solitude I enjoy on these trail events was missing. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4waTwP0Mx85OeIl4xNXq5kGwCf7tSywE7mYgPRY0rdpXBEfgYFU1TAv2EHupczXiNJorKAMfom-Jqd47TRSABlFYZKc8Oj_oxiDKYQxe35egFbZgbN_I9PPu77qfRoQVAL0COdjGwaqd2/s960/1005095_10151567647153621_646968302_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4waTwP0Mx85OeIl4xNXq5kGwCf7tSywE7mYgPRY0rdpXBEfgYFU1TAv2EHupczXiNJorKAMfom-Jqd47TRSABlFYZKc8Oj_oxiDKYQxe35egFbZgbN_I9PPu77qfRoQVAL0COdjGwaqd2/s320/1005095_10151567647153621_646968302_n.jpg" width="238" /></a></div>
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My next organised event is the Trails of the You Yangs, granite
peaks that are between Melbourne and Geelong, I know for a fact this will be a
smaller event with the large “Run Melbourne” event being held on the same day
in the city (that will attracts 10’s of thousands) and the minimum distance
here is 15kms and that elevation will be well and truly greater than 126m.
Bring it on. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Messy_Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05793938555354522246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689613548578441841.post-42903162307611410512013-06-21T22:48:00.002-07:002013-06-21T22:48:51.914-07:00Running on trails (or is that mud) in the Australian bush<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s been a lazy couple of weeks on the blog writing front,
but luckily not on the keeping fit front. Even though Im not running marathon
training distances I’m still ticking over the kilometres – and now I have a
proper goal!!!! No more “what do you do when you don’t know what to do”
statements from me (well for the time being).<o:p></o:p></div>
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Update for you is that I ran the Mount Macedon Trail series
on the first Sunday in winter the 2<sup>nd</sup> of June. And let me tell you
it felt like winter, it was surely 2 degrees celcius, slow misty drizzle all
day and slippery rocky, muddy trails. When I left the accommodation (at the
base of the mountain) in the early hours of the morning I was tossing up
whether to wear a jacket whilst running or would a simple t-shirt suffice. Thank
goodness I went with the jacket or I’d probably have suffered hypothermia, us
Australians are a tad weaker when it comes to colder weather, we generally live
in 30 degree temps not this close to freezing stuff. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAi76QUnsySfh82_3tKM9r-gbz0AZsn2JbQcpyPFtcYIjJJQGzuH9aG06tCoGzMRZbewNTx_cr9km_IuLCeh4LXoyPEyxgqZK-4rsdhYId-7JjKzcx6o7c0_Vi0-0lCkCSFn1KLmTkDO3p/s1600/270050_10151430416506366_569242665_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAi76QUnsySfh82_3tKM9r-gbz0AZsn2JbQcpyPFtcYIjJJQGzuH9aG06tCoGzMRZbewNTx_cr9km_IuLCeh4LXoyPEyxgqZK-4rsdhYId-7JjKzcx6o7c0_Vi0-0lCkCSFn1KLmTkDO3p/s320/270050_10151430416506366_569242665_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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I arrived at the start an hour before my 10km race (or run)
time, to make sure I could see off a few parkrun buddies on their 30km journey.
Under a small hut everyone was huddled, stamping feet and cursing their
insanity whilst getting instructions from the race director. A similar
situation occurred for the 10km runners before we were led to the start
solemnly whilst the last post was being played over a loud speaker. The reason
for the music was that we were starting near the Memorial Cross, a 21 metre
tall stone cross that was erected to honour those Australians who lost their
lives at war.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi76zN26AtGINPYCIui7GCOEbQTLOH4P8vpBEr2YnwXFsy6JTgUOqxGjpH2quuyYFT4gdit-ipVEMXUx16sH3KmcUNIMj8KOWA3RKz5hvU4n97Uso3Z3BWIVbz3xuJyf5QuW1jWRQACf4nn/s1600/395241_10151443685237073_158689631_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi76zN26AtGINPYCIui7GCOEbQTLOH4P8vpBEr2YnwXFsy6JTgUOqxGjpH2quuyYFT4gdit-ipVEMXUx16sH3KmcUNIMj8KOWA3RKz5hvU4n97Uso3Z3BWIVbz3xuJyf5QuW1jWRQACf4nn/s320/395241_10151443685237073_158689631_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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The 10km course was a simple out and back arrangement with a
mountain climb (the Camels Hump) at the 5km mark. The Camels Hump is the
highest point in the Macedon Ranges and local websites describe the walking
paths being scenic and offering a steep 500 metre path that ascends to the peak
where the viewing platform offers panoramic views to the north and west. I can
inform you that on this day – yes it was steep, and wet and slippery and the steps
themselves were actual puddles so there was no escaping the squishy socks for
the trip back. What panoramic view? I had one of misty fog about 10 metres in
front of me, but that was to the north, east, west and south!!!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0LCGzp29rIjLEANwaHqme1WxJWOiqe2L4A7S_7ZZXUgHp8iQT5m4dTAeEDQBoiT-p5T21lgY4LaSeiSzbsS0wdaXzjSx6rCd3AvJoc23aqYcGIvwM6-qokfMx7NXlK9rlKOzpRrevhH_K/s1600/8746_10151430416996366_1422164655_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0LCGzp29rIjLEANwaHqme1WxJWOiqe2L4A7S_7ZZXUgHp8iQT5m4dTAeEDQBoiT-p5T21lgY4LaSeiSzbsS0wdaXzjSx6rCd3AvJoc23aqYcGIvwM6-qokfMx7NXlK9rlKOzpRrevhH_K/s320/8746_10151430416996366_1422164655_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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But I’m getting ahead of myself, before I made it to the 5km
turn around spot I managed to take a wrong turn along one of the trails (serves
me right for being at the tail end of the field and acting like a sheep and
just following the runners in front of me). What that actually meant was that
we added about 1km to our journey before we realised there were no markers, the
massive downhill path we’d been on wasn’t in any elevation previews that we’d
all looked at as well as there were no lead runners coming back the other way
having turned around. This meant we were LOST. Up and down the hill a couple of
times, checking of paths leading off a few times, a couple of form “I know
we’re lost statements” a call to the race director, retracing our steps until
we found markers and we were back on the proper trail. Albeit at the very tail
end of the field.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYbiYVcBpUpNC2bjlBGf3GpMBvVdrN2Ha3C-0n4UTCAsX9m-bjfjiyzAAPgscribirAfUVIvRqlJ5rtzuyLaTYejybNGrtbwccwFjWJrnvEjlpZJMn08R6hPy3UXmqwzn5dp8QjqgBlSwK/s1600/024.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYbiYVcBpUpNC2bjlBGf3GpMBvVdrN2Ha3C-0n4UTCAsX9m-bjfjiyzAAPgscribirAfUVIvRqlJ5rtzuyLaTYejybNGrtbwccwFjWJrnvEjlpZJMn08R6hPy3UXmqwzn5dp8QjqgBlSwK/s320/024.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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But hey what a blast. I personally finished the 10kms in 49<sup>th</sup>
spot (yippee a top 50 finish – just don’t tell anybody there were only 54
finishers) but with a time of 2:03:19, some very muddy shoes and a story to
tell about how I got lost in a National Park.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibMciB4yMJw-XonR9H-l64hySjK_gwImzr7Qe7F9m4Q3tV7qA0Ii-5Aapu47nXIVzDGQcqajwuOFoZQtT_-niI9b9I95WfSRFhohZhFjI_lxapumgxAIfCG4fLure-NBm3cvl3VtU7mQwK/s1600/030.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibMciB4yMJw-XonR9H-l64hySjK_gwImzr7Qe7F9m4Q3tV7qA0Ii-5Aapu47nXIVzDGQcqajwuOFoZQtT_-niI9b9I95WfSRFhohZhFjI_lxapumgxAIfCG4fLure-NBm3cvl3VtU7mQwK/s320/030.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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All up it has reinvigorated my love of running the trails,
even though I didn’t push that hard there after I became lost as the concept of finishing in under 90 mins was completely shot to bits. But the new training
program has kicked in because on 17 November this year I will be tackling the 42kms
of another marathon but this one will be at Marysville, on the trails, up two
waterfalls and a mountainside or two, avoiding snakes and generally having a
sensational running experience. There are longer term goals that are on the
agenda, but I’ll save the revelation of those for another day. I'll try and be true to my word and check in sometime soon after after next weekend where I'll be running 15kms on the urban trail of our Salomon Series race 1 at Studley Park.<o:p></o:p></div>
Messy_Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05793938555354522246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689613548578441841.post-21029695057919973072013-05-26T02:52:00.000-07:002013-05-26T02:52:01.929-07:00What do you do when you don’t know what to do?<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Does that sound like a strange title for a
blog entry? But there is method in my madness. Just over a month ago (soon
after I’d finished the Oxfam 100km trailwalk) I posted “What’s the next big
challenge???” back in January I posted “my physical and mental energy has been
mutually focused on one goal and I followed a very structured program in order
to achieve that goal….so what now????</span>” So what has been going on in my
head for the last month or so?</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I’ve learned that personally I need a goal,
something to plan towards, a structured set of objectives to get me to the
final result – no wonder I’m a Program Manager!!! For the last few weeks the
alarm has been going off early so I could go for a run and the snooze button is
getting the workout, not my body. With no pot of gold at the end of the
rainbow, my mojo has taken a hike.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">That’s not to say I have completely turned
into a couch potato. I have been going to my weekly local parkrun and trotting
out 5kms at a fair (but not pushing myself) pace. I’ve managed a few longer
runs after work, when time has allowed, and as an earlier post alluded to I’ve
entered a few 10km events just to keep the legs ticking over.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Today I took part in the Emer Casey Fun
Run, an event that takes the runners through the grounds of Monash University
in Clayton. This event was started in 2008 in memory of Emer Casey a young
Irish woman who died of ovarian cancer. Her family have set up a foundation to raise
funds for research into ovarian cancer, in particular research into developing
an early detection test for the disease. The Melbourne event is small enough to
still retain the great community feel and has roughly 300 or so runners
participating in 5 or 10 kilometres. To date the Melbourne event as raised
close to $100,000 for ovarian cancer research.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0snw8JXY0vFkpROB8ZxzTDpl22a0nJ9IQP81Aykmvs0p4Yfm0c_7ItTuXquwEO-j1KG6IcNQdyouscmZmvnvi7rDoBl5b2fGAcRUWMstzV-5U5ssSf5up83asjGZsNVe8TtCmkdBRlHq-/s1600/263229_10152426429264460_484643998_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0snw8JXY0vFkpROB8ZxzTDpl22a0nJ9IQP81Aykmvs0p4Yfm0c_7ItTuXquwEO-j1KG6IcNQdyouscmZmvnvi7rDoBl5b2fGAcRUWMstzV-5U5ssSf5up83asjGZsNVe8TtCmkdBRlHq-/s320/263229_10152426429264460_484643998_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I took my 10 year old son along with me and
he participated in the 5km event (smashing his previous 5km best time by running
28.37 – so he tells me) and I took part in the 10k event aiming to run
somewhere between 65 and under 70 mins, finishing in 68.28. Again not a quick
time but I was feeling the legs on the soft spongy dirt and grass sections of
the course and the knees creaked a few times around the hairpin bends. I was
happy with that time as I’m just ticking over the k’s and it fitted into my
expected finishing time. Again the event was a blast with bands playing at the
start on the course itself and at the finish, eager university students getting
up early to volunteer around the course as marshals, a (now famous) strange
warm up and a great humorous presentation ceremony featuring Olympic silver medalist
Sonia O’Sullivan (5,000m at Sydney Olympics). I urge any Melbourne based
runners to give the event a try out in 2014 – you’ll be pleasantly surprised by
the word “fun” staying in the “fun run” lexicon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifQ8JHZyoGxBqc9u7Ht3dgjsqfBPHYk4vnXBzNWnco9RUs1c303YpDtG9iJ3MvmrF7DwSKWTHpJKOvBpP9jgBfn5qwjMW8YtBPakxjE6b3SIe6S93kMRWa0hcsth5ye5xLp4JjzimorlMC/s1600/943185_10151501890038621_1133145334_n+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifQ8JHZyoGxBqc9u7Ht3dgjsqfBPHYk4vnXBzNWnco9RUs1c303YpDtG9iJ3MvmrF7DwSKWTHpJKOvBpP9jgBfn5qwjMW8YtBPakxjE6b3SIe6S93kMRWa0hcsth5ye5xLp4JjzimorlMC/s320/943185_10151501890038621_1133145334_n+(1).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Next week I’m running the Mt Macedon Trails
Plus 10km event which has 357m elevation gain and being an out and back course
you run the first section downhill, up a hill and back down it to finish the
last three or so kilometers climbing back up hill. All on trails, which could
well be muddy, slushy and slippery. This will be on day 2 of winter so the
temperature could be close to freezing point so very much a different way to
spend a Sunday morning – what sort of running event says to pack a jacket? Well
a running event in Australia that is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">But the point of this post was to highlight
that I have to find a new challenge, a new event a couple of months in the
future so I can train, retire the snooze button hitting and start pushing out a
few decent mid week and weekend runs. Even though these peripheral events are
fun I can’t just keep going from one fun run to the next with no major goal on
the horizon. Another curly to add to my problem is the fact that I’ll be
traveling in September and October (with no chance of training whilst away) so
that makes the Melbourne Marathon an impossibility. Not that I have any real
urges to run that event, as you can probably tell I enjoy the smaller more
community based ones with a littler crowd and less hustle and bustle on the
course. Having said that it is an event on my doorstep so I probably should
participate – maybe in 2014. I did do the half marathon there last year and had
a great time, it’s the full marathon on bitumen that I’ll not be upset about if
I never run it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">So what do I do when I don’t know what to
do? As any good project person will tell you – I’m going to build a plan. I’ll
weigh up my options, find the one that best suits my schedule, enter and start
planning and executing. When I next post here it will be after Mt Macedon (I
hope to get some shots) and with a definite future date and event that I’ll be planning for.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Messy_Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05793938555354522246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689613548578441841.post-72219697775504110132013-05-14T04:34:00.002-07:002013-05-15T02:24:07.988-07:00Why do I run and what do you do after 100kms?<br />
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I never thought I’d be the one to write ANYTHING about the “pleasures”
of running. And I’m not being flippant here, but only a few short years ago the
concept of pleasure and exercise being written in the same sentence was a
foreign concept to me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Of course I’m now a different person, as a lot of my
previous blog posts point out I am in no way a fast runner, I’ll never be
competitive in a race style format, but where I am competitive is in beating my
own demons, pushing myself either faster, harder or further, doing runs up
hills, whilst howling winds prevail, whilst it rains. All of these examples are
part of my greater mental and physical development. <o:p></o:p></div>
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As I mentioned in my post Cadbury marathon blog entry, the
training and the event itself took great psychological as well as physical
training. Those mental aspects are something you can take into your broader
everyday life, and I can guarantee you the lead up as well as the participation
in the 100km trailwalk event took mental stamina the size of which I had not
conquered before. I must have had about five or six instances where I thought
long and hard about pulling out of the event – at no stage were any of these
doubts physically related, they were more about the extraordinary commitment of
time and effort, arranging charity events, being the sole conduit back into the
organisers, and a number of other issues. What actually transpired after those periods of doubt was a
serious self-talk about the fact that I had enormous support, both financially
and physically, by other close friends, family and colleagues. We also had raised close
to $7,000 for people who are significantly less fortunate than myself, so what
was a few internal conflicts compared to the potential gift we would be giving
others?<o:p></o:p></div>
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So what has this massive preamble have to do with the simple
pleasures of running? I think it's more the aspect of running being a selfish
pursuit, it is generally not team based, you run for your own reasons alone. As
mentioned above I do it to push myself, to challenge myself, to undertake
another journey of self-discovery, to change my perspectives, my priorities, my
possibilities. Me, me, me – a tad selfish really.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But interestingly enough I also enjoy the ability to work
with others who are starting their own journey or need help somewhere along the
way of their long lived experience. I love being able to offer some assistance
to anybody out there who is discovering their own pleasures in running, when I
first started I received heaps of encouragement (and continue to do so) and I
now think that I personally have a duty to offer somebody else the same sort of
support somebody once offered me. So a pair of shorts, a pair of socks, a top
(not mandatory) and a pair of runners and all of a sudden I’m a different human
being – quite a transformation I suppose.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This leads me to my next challenge – I was intending to run
the Barossa Marathon on 26 May however the recovery from Trailwalker has not
been ideal so that idea was replaced with the plan to run the half marathon at
the same event. In the last few weeks I have slowly started the training and
again putting more miles into the legs to get me to that event, even though a
5km run 7 days after the 100km exertions was probably one of the hardest I’ve
ever conquered. This time around though, the training is purely a physical
challenge as I can guarantee you 100% if you can run a full marathon or if you
can walk 100kms (on trails) without a break, you have the mental toughness and
stamina required to pump out 21 kms, it is now simply a case of my body being
able to follow the head. But to be honest the individuality of running, the
ability to push yourself and only yourself is probably a bit too lonely a
pursuit for me to be heading 729kms by road to punch out a 21km run. The
camaraderie will not be there – not saying I won’t know anybody there, I
actually will, but that joint journey of discovery, the sense of achieving
something together won’t be - so that venue’s off the agenda too. Why waste
your time experiencing something if you’re not going to enjoy it, celebrate it? Better
planning in 2014 will see me in the Barossa for a few days, sampling the local
produce and relaxing beside a pool after knocking over 42kms amongst the autumn
leaves on the vines.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Interim plans now consist of the Emer Casey Foundation fun
run around Monash University in Clayton, an event that I ran in last year and
one that is asymmetrical opposite of “selfish”, an event where funds are raised
for Ovarian Cancer Research, where there are people lining the route laughing
and cheering you on in a community sense, where bands mingle with the runners
playing lively Irish tunes, where you finish to the smells of a communal BBQ,
where a sense of doing this for somebody else is the prime driver. Yep I’m revisiting my roots again, and going
back to the simple pleasures of why I run.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The following weekend I’ll take that another step further
and take on a small part of the Mt Macedon event (probably 10kms, but maybe
30kms), yep another trail event, again for the simple pleasures. Back in
November I ran the half marathon at Marysville (the small mountain community devastated
by bushfires back in 2009) and reading my post from that event I wrote that “the
fun was out of this world, the community feel, the friendliness, the scenery,
the trails, the whole weekend was an amazing experience”. So I’m going to do my
best, with a bunch of close running friends, to relive that experience – yes I’m
going to simply enjoy the running.<o:p></o:p></div>
Messy_Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05793938555354522246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689613548578441841.post-57418118683364123702013-04-23T02:21:00.001-07:002013-04-23T02:21:37.532-07:00100kms conquered - $6k+ raised for charity - how was it and what's next?<br />
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So we did it!!! A team of four all walked 100kms (62 miles) each,
together as a team, for charity!!! Besides a couple of quick food intake breaks
and one 45 minute one whilst a team member had their feet re-strapped we went
straight through and accomplished the task in 25 hours and 35 minutes.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ve had a couple of days to reflect on the achievement and
given I was so full of adrenalin on Saturday and Sunday I didn’t want to post
my thoughts as they could reflect quite a bit of my delirium. <o:p></o:p></div>
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For those who aren’t familiar with Trailwalker, a team of
four must start and finish together over the full 100km trail distance. Ok we
averaged just under 4 kms per hour, but do not forget this was on trails, we
had over 2,300 metres in elevation, at some stages the hills were astronomical
(there is a section called the 1,000 steps so you get what I mean). Below is a
copy of the Garmin elevation readout to give you some concept.<o:p></o:p></div>
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After going on such a massive excursion with three fellow
walkers there is so much I could share with the readers here, but I don’t want
to bore you, so I’ll be doing my best to keep it brief.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Although travelling 100 kms on foot is obviously a personal
achievement, this was a team journey, an odyssey. Could we do it???<o:p></o:p></div>
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I learned so much about my fellow walkers (and support crew)
during our 25 hour journey, and I’m not talking about now knowing their first
pet’s name. I learned about their characters, their motivations, their breaking
points and their commitments to a team challenge. Potentially this experience
could break a range of friendships but I personally believe that with the group
I was fortunate enough to walk with I now have a special bond that has only
strengthened our relationships. Sounds corny doesn’t it? Let’s see if any of
them talk to me over the coming months!!!!<o:p></o:p></div>
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The journey itself was tortuous, with the long Warburton
Trail flat section being one of the most strenuous as it is monotonous and
you’re walking it at night with only a headlamp illuminating about 10 metres
ahead of you. At this stage you have been walking for about 15 hours so you are
exhausted and feeling sleep deprived. This is when the cracks began to really
appear – the banter was kept to a minimum and the humour was a little less
appreciated than earlier in the day and even fellow trailwalkers were less
willing to engage in conversation. I got through a huge section of that trail
by putting on Beck’s “Guero” album via the iPod and danced, shuffled, marched
along with my walking pole, getting strange looks for all around, but hey I was
naturally hallucinating, why not take advantage of it???<o:p></o:p></div>
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Another highlight was the warm pumpkin and lentil soup that
met us as we arrived at Graham Colling Reserve, we’d just climbed 1200 odd
metres, and gone back down the mountain and the sun had set and the temperature
had dropped to about 3 degrees celcius. The home made warm soup with bread was
enough to refuel and hit another 16kms or so before the next scheduled refuel
stop. Stops themselves not really consisting of much other than a quick banana,
a couple of mouthfuls of rice or pasta, two more anti-infalm tablets, a black
coffee and maybe an extra layer of clothing and off again.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The other section that was absolute pain was the last 6.7kms
– this consisted of a steep climb up, another down, up again and then a massive
down to the finish line. The last kilometre of this journey took our team 33
minutes to complete as one of our team member’s knees couldn’t cope with the
downhill walk and he had to complete it backwards. I personally had my knee
lock on me about 2 kilometres from the finish line after I’d just finished the
second last climb and was waiting for one of my team mates at the top of the
hill, my left leg would literally NOT bend, it took a good five minutes of
leaning on team mates, attempting to stretch and bend before a click occurred
and I slowly warmed up again.<o:p></o:p></div>
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All of this was being done with massive blisters, as
mentioned above, one team mate had to take a 45 minute break at one of the
stops to get his feet re-strapped by podiatrists. I personally self treated my
blisters, which was probably not the best approach as the photo below shows.<o:p></o:p></div>
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All up a most amazing experience and one that I will never
forget. The thanks go far and wide, to my fellow walkers, to our support crew,
to my wife who has put up with the training and now the bandaging and bandaging
of my feet, the people who donated to the charity (as at today was have raised
over $6,500 and there will be more coming), the people who attended our
fundraising events, those who sent us words of encouragement throughout the
vent itself and I’m sure there are plenty more who I’ve missed. <o:p></o:p></div>
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All I can leave you with is……what’s the next big
challenge????? I’ll need a few days to think about that (it will take me that
long before I’ll be able to run again)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Messy_Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05793938555354522246noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689613548578441841.post-25162442861109748722013-04-18T03:22:00.001-07:002013-04-18T03:25:30.095-07:00One more sleep and 100km on the trails awaits<br />
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One more sleep to go. The nervous anticipation of walking
100kms without a substantial break has kicked in. <o:p></o:p></div>
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After an absolutely chaotic week at work I think I’m all
organised for the big event. Toenails clipped? Check. Myotherapy and
chiropractic sessions finalised? Check. Spare socks, shirts etc? Check. Shoes
washed? Check (Why would I wash shoes before I walk 100kms in mud and dust?
Officially losing it? Check.) Gels, carb tablets, electrolyte tablets, carb
drink powder, protein powder, snakes, anti inflam tablets, normal medication
tablets and bananas? Check. False ID in case I get pulled over on the way to
the start and they want to know what all these powders are? I’ll risk that one.
Beannie, gloves, coat other warm stuff? Check. Headphones for iPhone when I can’t
stand the nattering or complaining anymore? Check. Food for dinner at 50km
mark? Not yet – cooking that later. Picnic chair to collapse in at checkpoints?
Check. Garmin? Check. Walking poles? Check. Change of clothes for end? Check. Vaseline
(don’t ask)? Check. Bandages, bandaids, blister gels, anti inflam cream, insect
repelant? Check. Headlamp and spare batteries? Check. Small power station to
recharge all the technology? Check. Small trailer to carry all this stuff? Don’t
own one.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Think I’m ready but sure and certain I’ll be cursing the
missed …..whatever….about 5kms after the start. Lucky we have a support crew.
Phone call “Help we need a corkscrew”, response “You’re kidding right?”
Apparently they call it Murphy’s Law – and some nutter has written a book about
that, attempting to find out who “Murphy” really was. I think that writer set
out with a grand ambition but soon found out that anything that can go wrong,
does go wrong. He never found out who Murphy was...gold.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Now as I have people who read this blog (or visit, glance,
come here by mistake…whatever) from places all over the globe, I should really
explain what the weather is predicted to be like. Less than 4 weeks ago we did
a training walk, the weather was 35 degrees Celsius and dry. This weekend the
prediction is for a minimum of 10 degrees and a maximum of 18 and dry…in Melbourne. Now
we’re not walking Melbourne, we’re walking up and over Mount Dandenong. Today
the maximum there was 8 degrees less than the city and tomorrow they are saying
overnight between 3 and 8 degrees with a max between 13 and 17. WHAT’S THIS????? Scattered snow showers for
ranges above 1400 metres? Better check the Garmin read out from the training
walks – elevation gain 1,099 metres, max elevation 606 metres. Thank goodness, only
snowing above our heads. Jumper? Check. Thermal? Check. Thicker jacket? Check. Thick
track suits pants? Check. Larger trailer? Better ring local hire company.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As I’ve mentioned in previous posts this event can be
completed within 48 hours, you can set up a tent, use heaps of energy, toss and
turn in a freezing camp ground, pack everything up (slowly because your body
has locked up) and then kid yourselves that the next half will be easier. Until
you suddenly realise your body won’t move. Our team has decided to not stop and
rest (apart from a couple of quick meal breaks) therefore not locking up and
getting the agony over and done with quicker. Our intention is to get through
this in less than 24 hours and based on our training walks this is achievable.
Now I may revisit that goal 70 kms into the event when my legs no longer act
from brain impulse as they’ve decided to grow a mind of their own and have gone
on strike. But at this stage we want to be wolfing down hot food and (maybe) champagne
at 7.30am or so on Saturday morning. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Now even though I have a severe case of trepidation I am
looking forward to this event, it is a new mountain for me to climb (literally
as well as figuratively) and I see the challenge, the team camaraderie, the support,
the mental strength and the sheer exhilaration if and when we finish as being a
great adrenaline boost. I do know a few team mates are maybe not as upbeat as
myself, but maybe their feet are planted a lot more firmly on the ground and
they could well have a better grip on reality than myself. Only one way for us
to find out how this is going to go – get those trail shoes on and put one foot
in front of the other (approx. 150,000 times each). <o:p></o:p></div>
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Finally I’ll end on an a quick thank you to our wonderful
support crew who used all of their Project management skills last night, at our team dinner, or what I refer to as our "Last Supper" and
made lists of who was bringing what, who will be at what stop where, a
sensational spreadsheet with expected arrival times and oh so much more. These
guys are the unsung heroes of this journey as it would be pretty bloody hard to
undertake an adventure like this without their support, both physically and
mentally. Great work support crew we owe you one (do us a favour and use a
filter for Instagram if you’re going to take any shots at the finish line – we’ll
look terrible).<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Messy_Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05793938555354522246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689613548578441841.post-63574576925364319922013-04-10T13:58:00.002-07:002013-04-10T13:58:25.424-07:00100km walk looms large - how are we preparing?<br />
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It’s been two and a half weeks since I updated this blog on
my progress towards the 100kms walk that takes place in 8 days time, so I
suppose it’s time for an update.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Put simply a number of injuries have kicked in. First off,
after our 57km walk overnight on 22 March I was sore all over for a number of
days, this wasn’t getting better over time and seeing I had to be at the
doctors four days later I got her to check me out. I had a virus so it wasn’t
just the pain of such a long walk, I was actually crook!! I took a few days off
the running and returned with a 30 min five kilometre effort at parkrun, I was
very happy with that time (as it had taken me a while to get to 6 mins per km)
but all afternoon was having quite strong pain in the outer left knee and lower
back. A chiro visit determined my pelvis was out and I was under strict
instructions not to run the Geelong Half Marathon on 7 April if I was going to
be any chance of being in shape to walk 100kms on 19 April.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The knee and lower back seemed to have settled, but stupidly
(always good in hindsight) I decided that a geocache trip with my 8 year old
son would be a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. So instead of running a
half marathon we walked about 3 or so kilometres to a local park where a cache
was hidden up a tree. The booty was too high for the little one so I took it on
to scale the bottom 5 or so branches. Two branches up, I slipped (should have
had my grippy trail shoes on) grabbed the branch above to steady myself, fell
anyways and have damaged my ribs on the left side. I can tell you coughing is
not an option at present.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So I have just over a week to go until I hit the trails with
three team mates and the daunting 100kms up and down mountains awaits, whilst I
have a potential dodgy knee, lower back and ribs. Looks like the anti-inflams
are going to take a pounding!!!!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Our team fundraising for the trailwalker event has been
monumental, with our latest event being held at “Milk The Cow” in St Kilda, a
wine and cheese tasting extravaganza which raised $640 for Oxfam. Our total
team funds is now over $5,000 and obviously I would like to thanks all those
who have donated either their cash or their time and skills in arranging,
hosting, assisting with all the events and fundraising activities. There are no
more specific events scheduled but the fundraising via email, selling chocolate
etc. will continue.<o:p></o:p></div>
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A quiet(ish) week awaits where I’ll put in a few 5km-10km
runs, maybe throw in a long walk of 15-20kms and carb up as 23 hours or so of
straight walking without a break will use plenty of energy. This week’s plans
will centre more around the logistics of the event, how are we going to get to
the start with minimal walking, what food do we need to pack, what is in
backpack what is in the support vehicle (which can only meet you every 15kms or
so), how many litres of electrolyte and carb drinks do I need, what spare
clothing (there will be plenty of socks I can tell you) and all that sort of
stuff. Four of us doing the same
planning concurrently is going to result in an interesting outcome – I’m sure
there will be lots of heated debate, and I’m hopeful we don’t all have 20
bananas each, as the weight in the backpacks would be ridiculous.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ll check back in with details of our final preparation,
just before we head off, and will obviously report back soon after the finish
to let you know how the whole team (and support crew) fared. I’m sure there
will be heaps of amusing stories and (not so happy) snaps.<o:p></o:p></div>
Messy_Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05793938555354522246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689613548578441841.post-60764054002042179942013-03-24T23:16:00.000-07:002013-03-25T00:23:15.499-07:00Insane - a 57km all night training walk & other rantings<br />
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Do not speak unless it improves on silence. – Buddha<o:p></o:p></div>
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I opened our Trailwalker team blog with that quote as it
surely resonated with a couple of my team mates. Whereas I may like to endlessly
chatter along miles and miles of ceaseless trails I do believe my team mates
prefer a bit of the “silence”. How we’re going to walk 100kms with a nice
balance between the banter and the sounds of the environment is going to be one
of the great challenges that face us as we head off at 8.30am on 19 April this
year.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The team interaction of walking with the same three people
(yourself and three others) who are tired, grumpy, smelly and hungry would test
the most solid of any relationship. The check in points where we’ll meet the
smiling faces of our support crew will break it up a little more than the
training walks, where we’ve hit the trails with just ourselves and over stacked
backpacks. Last Friday we headed on
another long training walk, intending to walk from Olinda to the end of the
course in Wesburn (according to the guide book 55kms or so). You can’t accurately gauge how far your
training walk will be as there will certainly be a few times where you get
lost, considering you’re walking through the night with head lamps your only
source of light, your Garmin only has enough power for endurance events that
last 7 hours or so, and the staggering that kicks in after 50kms or so adds a
bit of distance to your travels. <o:p></o:p></div>
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All up we ended walking about 57.2kms and didn’t even get to
do the final 6.7km section, which we cut out as our support crew member who was
meeting us to take us back to the start point, or home to warm showers and
crisp sheets, needed to be back in Melbourne at a certain time and pushing out
the last tough section was going to cut it a bit fine. We ended up re-joining
the Warburton Trail at the Warburton Golf Course and walking back to Millgrove,
the third side of the triangle as we’d gone through Millgrove a few hours
earlier before heading up into the mountains for a final 8+ kilometres of pain
as you push through elevation gain on bitumen roads before joining up with the Aqueduct
Trail in the Yarra Ranges National Park.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Now this blog isn’t just about keeping you up to date with
training insanities it also serves as a reminder that anybody who wants to put
their mind to it can achieve or perform quite extraordinary things. I’m not
putting tickets on myself by putting myself in a category to help people do
great things, but I would like to be able to motivate anybody who believes they
can’t do something, to at least stop and dwell and ask themselves “why not?”
Not that long ago I struggled to run 5kms without needing a break, and within a
year or so I’ve finished a marathon and am now training for another as well as
training and finalising plans to do a 100km non-stop walk, with three amazing
people who are also on that same journey, all to assist people who are less fortunate
than ourselves as well as learning quite a bit about ourselves along the way.
There is no way a team based endurance event could be completed without a solid
team interaction, each team member would all go through doubts, have periods of
pain, have times where they need self-reflection (where the words of others are
not welcome) and without the support of each other the whole event could not be
completed. This event is not just about your body’s ability to finish 100kms it
is also about your mind’s ability to handle 24 hours of constant movement and
team interaction. This is where our support crew will be angels from above,
they’ll know to feed us, even if we don’t want it, they’ll know to encourage
us, when we are feeling like we can’t go on, they’ll know to pamper us with
strange food requests or long black coffees at 4am, and most of all they’ll be
the glue that holds our team together when we get to the stage of falling
apart.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The image below is a little hard to make out but it is of the hill that awaits you once you've completed 93kms - you have to have a final push over that - to give you some perspective the light in the middle is a street light so this ain't no little hill. I can tell you that when we saw this at 6.30am on Saturday (as the sun was about to rise) we were a little bit concerned, I don't know about the others but if I'd had any fluids left in my body I may well have cried.</div>
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At this stage we’ve managed to raise $3,863 for Oxfam
through our events, sales and generous donations. And with one more event to
come and some memorabilia to sell we could well push the $5k funds raised,
which is a massive effort – works out as $50 per kilometre or $12.50 each per
km or about 1 cent per step we each take. Not that I’ll be counting them (not
out loud that is – that would certainly drive my team mates bananas).<o:p></o:p></div>
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Other training plans are centered on a marathon plan for
late May (which I am yet to commit to) and includes running the Geelong Half
Marathon on 7 April with a few fellow runners from Albert Melbourne parkrun. So
besides the insanity of 57km all night walks I’ve been putting in a number of
7km, training runs and the weekend before last put in a 17.7km training effort.
As you may know the weather in Melbourne went through a heat wave and that
threw running training plans into chaos with it being too hot to run at night
(35 degrees Celsius or so) and then you’d be way too tired to run in the
mornings after a restless night’s sleep. Things have now returned to normal,
for the time being, so the training plan will return to normal also, with an
average of 40kms+ of training kicking in. Surely that will help me shed those last
few kilos, you know the ones, the ones that I’ve been wondering why they won’t
budge?<o:p></o:p></div>
Messy_Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05793938555354522246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689613548578441841.post-72486159253106890962013-02-23T20:03:00.001-08:002013-02-23T20:03:27.645-08:00100km walk training update & more<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I've definitely filled that "what shall I do after the marathon's complete" void, with plans now in place to walk the 100km Oxfam Trailwalker in under 24 hours (we are entered as a team and the cutoff is 48 hours but I want a boundary I can push) and visions of a further long run (marathon or half marathon tba) in late May in the Barossa Valley.</span><br /><div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Stupidly I’ve been thinking “if I can run
42.2kms surely I can walk 100kms”, I really put that theory to the test on
Friday night where myself and my fellow Trailwalker Team mates pulled an all-nighter
and walked from Olinda to Warburton in the Dandenong’s a total of 48kms . With
backpacks stacked with supplies, spare socks, jumpers, long pants, gloves and
beannies in case it got cold, as well as gels, anti infalm tablets, band-aids
and more we loaded up on carbs at a local Olinda restaurant and then chucked
the laden backpacks on, adjusted our headlamps, checked our maps and headed off
into the moonrise (sun hadn’t quite set).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The first trail, as soon as it was becoming
dark, was a little gnarly, with tree roots and rocks and I was seriously
thinking “how the hell am I going to go 11 or so hours with this little lamp”
as my 50 year old eyes were struggling to see 5 metres in front of myself. Our
navigator was top class, firmly reading all instructions at each turn and
making sure we didn’t wander off track in any way (although we did get lost a
couple of times it wasn’t her fault the instructions left a lot to be desired in
one or two places). The first section of the trail was quite narrow so you
couldn’t walk 2 abreast, and our leader took control of a decent sized stick,
once she became sick of walking into cobwebs, to clear the way for the tail
enders. There were a number of fallen trees to clamber over and we could only
really imagine to remoteness and the beauty of the place as it was pretty
bloody dark.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Once we got to Mt Evelyn only to wander
around aimlessly for a while at the local sports ground trying to</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> find a “bridge
to our right” and then eventually onto the Warburton trail things eased up a
bit. Even though the first 30 minutes of that trek was taken up by our
navigator debating the poor instructions to find the trail, at least we now
know our right from left and we are grateful to another team who were resting
in a car park who told us we were going the wrong way and most helpfully put us
back on track.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The Warburton Trail is easy for walking with
a gravel surface which is flat and wide enough to take all four of us abreast
if we’d have wanted it that way. It would be a great trail to run, and
something I may do one day. We generally split into pairs for the majority of
the trail, swapping around at intervals and chatting to keep ourselves on the
job at hand. We did have a few repair stops where socks and/or shoes were
changed, snakes consumed, bread rolls and bananas devoured and drinks of
various types guzzled. I did have a burning desire for a coffee about 3am and
may have to ask our ever helpful support crew to carry a thermos or two to keep
us caffeinated during the night.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Once we hit the 30km mark a few blister
injuries did kick in for my team mates (thankfully I was blister free – the legacy
of working that out during my marathon training) so the remaining 18kms was a
struggle for some. But full credit to all of them, they soldiered on under
duress to fulfil the planned 48km hike. Even though our support crew member,
who had risen at 4.40am, must have been laughing at the sight of us staggering
up the hill as sunrise beckoned, she was kind enough to hold back the laughter
until we all groaned about the pain, moaned as we tried to stretch, and
generally whined about the various ailments.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Recovery at home was not ideal with a
sleepless night not a wonderful mix with an 8 and 10 year old wanting their due
attention, and them being booked into a birthday party. But the duties required
added to my training and I am now mentally stronger for the effort (although
probably physically weaker).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The theory of do Radox baths actually work
was put to the test, and I don’t care if the whole salt bath theory is total
bunkum the bath I did have was the most enjoyable I’ve ever had, and that
include the ice cold bath I had after my marathon. There is probably nothing
better than a nice water based relaxation after an endurance activity and this
bath break was probably one of the highlights of my week (throw in the added
bonus of one kid being on the playstation3 and the other playing on the pc so
there was silence, I could well have thrown in a meditation session).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Other training has consisted of following the
Gold Coast Marathon Beginners Training plan and I’ve run each recommended run
for weeks six and seven, although skipping today’s planned long run as I think
a 48km walk equates to 17.5 km jog, and even if it actually doesn’t I’m not
really in any state to go running today. But plans are in place to hit the
running track with sprint training on Tuesday, and to ensure I’m in tip top
shape I spend 30 minutes the morning going through a full stretch routine, I
can’t be in that great a shape though as it did raise a sweat at one stage – I’m
blaming the 32 degrees Celsius temperatures and no amount of convincing will
make me change my mind – just the same as “it said left at the traffic lights”
is not a clear instruction.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Messy_Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05793938555354522246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689613548578441841.post-57555684466081085142013-02-13T19:21:00.000-08:002013-02-13T19:21:02.243-08:00100km walk update<br />
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Update time – you may have noticed that I’ve changed the
title of this blog – no point in it being titled “Can a 50 year old run a
marathon” when I’ve already done so and the intention was to keep the blog
going to see if I slipped back into a couch potato lifestyle or kept the
activity going and given the content was also about charity insanities that I
perform the new title is “50 years of age and I ran a marathon – what charity
challenges are ahead?”<o:p></o:p></div>
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As you know from the last two updates, I am participating in
the Oxfam Trailwalker Melbourne event that starts on 19 April this year. They
say the event is one of the toughest charity endurance events on the planet, so
why not give it a try. Basically it entails a team of four all starting and
finishing together and walking a trail of 100kms through the Dandenongs on the
South East of Melbourne. Some of the criteria – you need to complete it in
under 48 hours (we plan on roughly 24 hours as we’re not stopping to sleep,
just straight through until the end), you must raise at least $1,000 for Oxfam
(we’ve got that covered as we have $430 so far, 94 people booked into our
trivia night at $10 per head and CGU kindly matching us $ for $ up to $1k), entry
fee was $750 for the team so not cheap, you do need to be committed. Speaking of
being committed you can’t just wake up on April 19 and say I think I’ll walk
100kms – the amount of training will be significant to get us through this both
mentally and physically. Suppose we better start ramping it up then.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As mentioned above we have arranged a trivia and games night
for 14 March, at the Duke of Kent Hotel in Latrobe Street Melbourne, $10 entry
fee, fun starts at 7.30pm, the pub has kindly agreed to have $15 meal specials
for us between 6pm and 7pm and there are heaps of prizes on offer – of course
the bar will be open. This is a public event so anybody who is in Melbourne and
free on that night just direct message me via twitter @messy_tony and I’ll get
back to you asap. Another part of the evening will be memorabilia auction where
profits will also go to our fundraising, but it gets even better – CGU, as a
major sponsor of the Collingwood Football Club, have donated a 2012 club
football signed by the whole Collingwood team AND a jumper signed by Nick
Maxwell and Harry O’Brien. Now as most Melbournian’s know you either love or
hate Collingwood Football Club, but given the full proceeds from these items
will be going to our team fundraising I’m hoping there are quite a few Magpie
supporters there on the night to boost the coffers.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p>We also have team tee shirts arranged, courtesy of Primary School Wear ("PSW"), as well as flogging blocks of Oxfam Fair Trade Organic chocolate in the office, with all profits from that venture also going to the team. Again contact me via twitter or a comment in this blog if you're after some.</o:p></div>
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Training for myself has consisted of a few runs but nothing
major as I’m still a little tight in a few muscles after the marathon, but did
6.7kms on Tuesday and will do 10kms or so on Saturday before long walk training
ramps up. A couple of the other team members have been giving the 1000 steps at
Upper Ferntree Gully a good working over, which is great to see and the other
has been running a marathon training program. Looks like I could well be the
one to let the team down unless I start amping up my physical activity. Looks
like the snooze button will not be in use for the next couple of months
(again!!!)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Messy_Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05793938555354522246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689613548578441841.post-74155469973836270192013-02-02T23:18:00.000-08:002013-02-02T23:21:20.110-08:00Oxfam 100km training starts and Wiggle affiliationIt's been a busy week here at
messcharityrun.<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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First up I finally got back on the
horse post Hobart, even though the physio said to take two weeks off. I decided
that the ankle was feeling ok and I’d test it out with a vigorous walk. Now I
know that’s the sure fired way to exacerbate an injury but after you’ve trained
for 6 months or so, and an upcoming 100km trail walk is niggling at your
cortex, sitting around waiting to come good really isn’t an option. After 5kms
of walking at a 9-10 min per kilometre pace, the usual “ants in my pants”
syndrome kicked in and I jogged the last km or so at 6.40 pace. This was total
insanity as I had a physio appointment early the next morning so could get
treatment if the body did blow up. Good news is I pulled up fine, had a light
treatment and am now getting on with things. That translated into another
6.85km vigorous walk/run on Wednesday evening as a warm up to the team trail
walk on Friday night.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Our first team excursion with
backpacks and runners took place on Friday evening (the get together to plan
our training, fund raising, support crew etc. over pizza and a few glasses of
wine doesn’t really count as an “excursion”). Three of us (one from another
team) took the monster train trip into the Dandenongs and were met by two of
our other team mates at the bottom of the Kokoda Memorial Walk, more commonly
known as the 1,000 steps. This is the start of Section 3 of the Oxfam
Trailwalker and is rated the hardest section of the course due to the 1,000
step and the steep hills. Backpacks stocked, trail shoes attached, drink
bottles full, we headed off stopping every so often to refer to the map
instructions and to take a few happy snaps. Personally I had a great time as I
have had months and months of training pretty much on my lonesome for most of
the time and it was great to have a few people to banter with and to share a
laugh or two. We took 2 hours 46 mins and 17 seconds to cover the 10.52km
course, so a tad slow but given about 30 mins was consumed by stops, the fact
that it was pretty dark at the end and the 733 metre elevation gain it wasn’t a
bad first outing for the team. Just watch out for single armed or legged
characters wandering the streets of Melbourne, it could well be one of our crew
missing the limb.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I followed up that late night with
a very early rise on Saturday morning to attend the usual parkrun at Albert Park
and ran my 2<sup>nd</sup> fastest official time of 30.09 for the 5kms so was
quite happy with that result too. No ankle problems yet so am certainly all
good post Hobart Marathon.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Earlier this week I also arranged
for an affiliation with wiggle.com – you will notice their banner on the right
hand side of this blog – and what that means is, if you go to their site using
my banner and purchase something I will receive up to 4% commission from the
sale. You pay no more than usual they just track your click from my site and
credit me with a portion of the sale. As per ALL of my links, any commission earned
is donated straight back to a featured charity. On my book blog
(<a href="http://messybooker.blogspot.com/">messybooker.blogspot.com</a>) I have affiliations with The Book Depository and
Amazon and have donated the US$47.52 earned to various charities (Indigenous
Literacy Foundation, CARE, Ultra Spirit and more), generally tipping in a few
extra personal $ to make the donation a nice round amount. Any earnings from my
affiliation with Wiggle will also go straight to charity with the amounts
earned between now and mid April being tipped into our Oxfam Trailwalker Team
at <a href="http://trailwalker.oxfam.org.au/melbourne/teams/team/?team_id=14113">http://trailwalker.oxfam.org.au/melbourne/teams/team/?team_id=14113</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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We have also arranged a
fundraising night for 14/3/13, with trivia, games and memorabilia to feature.
This night is being held at the Duke of Kent Hotel in Latrobe Street in Melbourne,
a special meal deal of $15 for a burger, steak sanga, parma or fish and chips
and only $10 entry (if pre booked) and a full bar at bar prices the night is
sure to be a huge success. All proceeds
will to go to our Trailwalker team. Any Melbourne based readers who would like
to attend please leave a comment on the blog with contact details and I’ll get
back to you asap. <o:p></o:p></div>
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This week will be a little quieter
on the organisation front but will consist of some training but nothing back on
the trails until 22 February where we are kicking off a 27.7km walk at 9pm to
test out our night walking on trails skills.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Messy_Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05793938555354522246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689613548578441841.post-85235934393934413162013-01-27T15:14:00.002-08:002013-01-27T18:09:22.741-08:00More recovery and planning for Oxfam Trailwalker News<br />
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Let’s see if I can be a little more vigilant in keeping this
blog up to date, without the four times a week running and without the 4 hour
long run commitments it may be a little easier but as the training for the
Oxfam Trailwalker kicks in the hours may (again) be spent on my feet and not in
front of the computer!!!<o:p></o:p></div>
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My post marathon physio visit consisted of a diagnosis of inflamed
muscles either side of the shin (possible tendonitis he said), electrode
treatment – on the leg not a la “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest”, although
some could quite rightfully argue that this type of treatment could improve me
overall – and some ultrasound with clear instructions not to run or do long
walks for two weeks. Since then things have improved considerably with the anti-inflam
medication being reduced to zero and the pain disappearing. Luckily I’ve
followed his instructions, to date, as things did feel normal on Friday and I
could well have gone for a quick 5km run with dire results. Instead I volunteered
at the local Albert Park parkrun, where I was allotted timekeeper duties again,
and as it was our National Holiday, Australia Day I dressed as the Crocodile
Hunter Steve Irwin and gave all 144 runners an educational speech on the
dangers of crocodiles, with global warming and all you never know when they may
suddenly appear in these more temperate areas.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Oxfam Trailwalker planning has commenced with a team get together
and dinner (got to carb load) on Tuesday evening, where we cornered one
unfortunate co-worker into volunteering for our support crew (the following day
I managed to rope in another two so we are all supported and willing to hit
these trails). Besides discussions about what type of gear, food, hydration
etc. our meeting was very fruitful in that we came up with a team training plan
for four long walks together, meaning individually we will need to fit in the
other training to ensure we are all ready to walk 100kms in 81 day’s time. The
recommended training plan is below, a mere 864kms to get to the starting line –
ouch.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Our group plans are an evening (after work) walk this coming
Friday, of 10.2kms along the most challenging part of the trail (very steep and
the hardest ranked part of the course), a night walk along another of the most challenging
parts of the course (so we can test our abilities with head lamps, darkness and
tiredness – will we be yelling at each other come 2am???) of 27.7kms three weeks
later, an early start walk of 37.2kms (a fortnight later) taking in the same section
we will do for walk one, and adding a further 27kms down the hills and flat,
and finally (another fortnight later) a 40.5km early start walk taking in the
final sections of the walk, some flat some challenging. Come the event itself
we will have walked most of the trail besides the first couple of sections
which are flat and we’ll be all pumped up for those and will be able to
complete them quite easily, safe in the knowledge of what is coming up over the
hill (or mountain) quite literally.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This week the weather forecast is for rain all week, with the
prediction of thunderstorms on the day of our walk. It will be a test of the
team’s mettle to even get to the start line on the walk, and a massive test if
the trails are all muddy and slippery, however there is no way of predicting
what the weather will be like during the event itself so personally I think the
training should go ahead (maybe not if there are lightning strikes all around
us), that way we are fully prepared if the event is a wet one. If it is a dry
event we’ll be even more chuffed as we know we can walk those sections under
harsher conditions.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Finally onto the gear, I own the majority of the recommended
gear but need a decent backpack, trail shoes and a jacket. I went trail shoe
shopping yesterday and have myself a new pair of Salomon Speedcross 3’s, they
are so bright that if we go missing the aerial search parties should be able to
spot us on the tracks. They’ll be put to the test this week – can’t wait.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ll keep you up to date with the training, the fundraising,
the events we will organise to assist our fundraising and more via this blog –
it is subtitled “other charity driven insanities”.<o:p></o:p></div>
Messy_Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05793938555354522246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689613548578441841.post-10762505355057567382013-01-21T16:20:00.000-08:002013-01-21T16:20:03.036-08:00Recovery from the marathon – and it’s not just physical<br />
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Time for a blog update – can’t have me running a marathon
and….that’s all there is folks. A bit like going through 3 months of birthing
classes, where they talk about all the preparation for childbirth, and once the
baby’s arrived they wash their hands, job done. Where are the lessons about how
to change a nappy, bathe the little creature, not freak out every 5 minutes and
check they’re breathing, how to deal with sleep deprivation, how not to lose
your marbles with the innumerable well-wishers, advice givers and endless talk
about babies???? Now I’m not comparing running a marathon to childbirth (well I
am really) but there are some similarities – have we heard mothers say “I’m
never doing THAT again” only to have another child a few years later? Well I’ve
said “I’m never running another marathon”, approximately 2 metres after the
finish line, and for about three weeks leading into the event. Was that a tad
premature? <o:p></o:p></div>
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The book I used to prepare for the marathon was “The Non
Runner’s Marathon Trainer” by David A. Whitsett, Forrest (Run Forrest Run) A
Dolgener and Tanjala Mobon Kole. A book based on the successful marathon class
offered by the University of Northern Iowa. A sixteen week, four-day-a-week
workout plan which focuses on the psychological aspects as well as the
physical. Therefore the program prepares you mentally to keep going once you’ve
hit the notorious “wall” as well as getting you into physical shape to run 42
kms. If you are interested in getting a copy please follow the link here to The
Book Depository, it will cost you no more than going directly to their website,
but I will receive 5% of the purchase price which I donate back to the featured
charity of the month (at the moment all income from my affiliation with them is
going to be donated to our Oxfam Trailwalker team, where on 19 April this year,
myself and three colleagues are walking 100kms as a team, yep 100kms each starting
and finishing together).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://affiliates.bookdepository.com/scripts/click.php?a_aid=messybooker&a_bid=5be39ef5&desturl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bookdepository.com%2FNon-runners-Marathon-Trainer-David-Whitsett%2F9781570281822" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy This Book from Book Depository, Free Delivery World Wide" height="30" src="http://affiliates.bookdepository.com/accounts/default1/banners/BuyFrom_Grey_160x30.gif" title="Buy This Book from Book Depository, Free Delivery World Wide" width="160" /></a><img alt="" height="1" src="http://affiliates.bookdepository.com/scripts/imp.php?a_aid=messybooker&a_bid=5be39ef5" style="border: 0;" width="1" />
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As mentioned above the book focuses on the mental as well
as the physical aspects of running a marathon, so this blog entry is about both
the mental and physical recovery.<o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcYfjYhmDs0ASwYIa8YzCu0yRpYso3kK9kF0v5IrOYB4Bbzay7cyizl0vUUy6maqQJV6LiHKcaVHEoOajekrWvOByj3T0nfY68h2QJ2j5xr1Dn8MqtGEhN1CQXCaBChKqCFsLA0sS1juUl/s1600/14797_10151303683506723_1078267759_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcYfjYhmDs0ASwYIa8YzCu0yRpYso3kK9kF0v5IrOYB4Bbzay7cyizl0vUUy6maqQJV6LiHKcaVHEoOajekrWvOByj3T0nfY68h2QJ2j5xr1Dn8MqtGEhN1CQXCaBChKqCFsLA0sS1juUl/s320/14797_10151303683506723_1078267759_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Closest I got to Cathy Freeman</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Physically it is now nine days since I ran and my ankles
(especially my right one) are still sorer than slab of beef which has just been
put through a tenderizing machine. The right ankle pain is where the shin meets
the ankle and as each day wears on it becomes increasingly difficult to walk,
which does draw a few laughs from my fellow office workers. The only one who
copped an earful was the larger gentleman who called me “soft”, my retort went
something along the lines of “when you run a marathon I’ll take your advice” (I
blame the mental tiredness here). I’ve seen a myotherapist, who did go
especially soft on me this time around, and a chiropractor (twice) since the
run but still no pain relief (without doses of anti-inflam drugs) so I’m off to
the physio today to see what else I can do to reduce the swelling besides RICE
(rest, ice, compression and elevation – see I sound like a pro now). Besides
the legs the rest of me has pulled up quite well, the upper back, shoulders and
neck were quite sore but a couple of chiro visits have sorted all that. I’m
hoping I can get the legs right soon as I would like to go out for a trot and
need to prepare for my next long run or even train for the 100km walk.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Onto the mental aspects, and I’m sure there are a lot less
views written about this side of the event. I spent the good part of 30 weeks
preparing for this event, with the last 4 months being the intense ones,
involving a raft of mental training (not to mention those ridiculous 30km
training runs – who in their right mind goes for a “training run” that takes 3
and a half hours????), therefore I have had a single focus for six months. I am
going to run a marathon. A quote form
the book mentioned above:<o:p></o:p></div>
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Training and running for a
marathon is not a single event; rather, it is an experience. It is a discovery
of self that will forever change your perceptions, perspectives, priorities,
and possibilities. You will meet yourself at what you thought were the boundaries
of your potential and endurance and watch in awe as they evaporate to reveal
only open expanse. To know that the only boundaries in life are those which we
create ourselves is a discovery which can not be taught – it must be
experienced. For once you have seen the view from the mountain top, living a
life of voluntary blindness is no longer an option.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Big bloody boots to fill once you’ve run the bloody thing…..my
physical and mental energy has been mutually focussed on one goal and I
followed a very structured program in order to achieve that goal….so what
now???? At this stage I’m going to let the body recover, plan and train for my
100km walk, and assess the possibility of running another marathon. This may
not come about, I will continue to run and I may stick to the “easier” 21km
half marathons where I don’t hit the wall, but then again there are so many
things I could have done differently – rest better beforehand, relax and
recuperate afterwards, be in a familiar place, are just two examples of a
myriad of things, maybe one day I’ll put them all to the test again. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In the interim I will be keeping this blog up to date with
our 100km training efforts and if you feel like throwing a few dollars our way
please visit <a href="http://trailwalker.oxfam.org.au/melbourne/teams/team/?team_id=14113">http://trailwalker.oxfam.org.au/melbourne/teams/team/?team_id=14113</a>
any donation however small is most welcome and I’m also proud to announce that
our employer CGU Insurance has agreed to match our fundraising $ for $ (up to a
maximum of $1,000) – most appreciated CGU><o:p></o:p></div>
Messy_Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05793938555354522246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689613548578441841.post-25364632913597740542013-01-15T19:53:00.000-08:002013-01-16T17:49:17.877-08:00All done - I finished a marathonIt's the day after the Cadbury Marathon in Hobart and I thought I better update my blog to let you all know that I did finish it, yep I ran a marathon, well walked/ran for the last 10kms and there was more walking than running for a couple of kilometres in there, but hey I finished the marathon. Updating the blog via the iPad is going to be a bit of a struggle as I hurt all over, but more on that later.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The day started at 3.30am with the usual breakfast of peanut butter on an English muffin and a coffee only normal thing about the day really, as what sort of person gets up at 3.30am to torture themselves? I had all my gear ready, gels, replacement tablets (replace carbs and minerals and stuff like that, not my sanity), bib, drinks, shoes all waiting for me so a quick get ready plan went into play. I then had a quick 10 mins walk to the local Hotel where the race bus departed, but let me advise you Hobart's street lighting is seriously inadequate and we are during a new moon, so the area was pitch black and it is hilly, "Streets of San Francisco" style so I was cautious, didn't want to roll an ankle on the way to the race bus, that would make a funny story after 30 odd weeks of training....not.<o:p></o:p><br />
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Met my buddy (and training guru, supporter and more) George at the bus (I was on it, he was wandering around it outside thinking I was running late or had chickened out) and we then headed out to the race start. The journey consisted of George telling me things like "we run up this hill", "we pass this place" etc. and me staring out the window into the pitch black wondering how he has night vision.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Not a lot to report per race except a couple of compulsory nervous toilet breaks and a panic moment where George let me know that even though it was a loop course of two lots of 21kms we don't actually go back into the chocolate factory grounds, we turn around about 1km out. Now that wouldn't have been much of a big deal but I'd left my carb replacement drinks with a friend who was going to meet me half way for a top up (or belt swap to be more precise) before she ran her own event which started later. Planning was all stuffed now, I was going to have to run the last 21kms on water and a few gels. I let her know via SMS not to worry, but she was determined to make sure I was alright. A mid race SMS from me (thank god I took my phone) and she arranged to leave my spare belt with the volunteers at the 21km mark drink station, what a legend. She did wait there for a few hours cheering on most of the field (bar myself at the tail end) before she ran to the start of her event. Wonderful effort by my unofficial support crew.<o:p></o:p><br />
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I mentioned earlier that the race is called the Cadbury Marathon and that it starts and finishes in a chocolate factory. I didn't spot any Oompa Loompas, nor got to visit the gift shop, but I do know that I'm one of a few hundred people who have mixed long distance running with chocolate consumption. Even though I'm a vegan and didn't participate in the milk chocolate devouring comp at the finish line, I do have a couple of chocolate bars and a large purple Cadbury Marathon beach town for my efforts. It is funny to watch these athletes, who have been on strict diets for months, just throw it all out the window and hook into a family sized block of chocolate as though it was their last ever meal.<o:p></o:p><br />
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Race started with a "10 seconds to the start, 8, 7 etc", no hoopla, no sirens, guns, no timing mat (you get gun time as your official result so the 30 seconds or so it took me to get over the start line itself, as I started at the back of the field, is included in my official time, which doesn't mean a lot over such a long distance). George was with me for the first 300 metres or so, putting on film my first marathon start, and then he went off to run his own brilliant race. I was running next to Olympic Gold medalist, Cathy Freeman for the first half a kilometre or so and was tempted to go a little harder to say "I've beaten Cathy Freeman over 400 metres" but that would be stupid, funny but stupid as a still had 42kms ahead of me. Race started with a few loops of the surrounding housing area and a number of my buddies from parkrun, who were running in later events (half marathon and 5kms) were probably the loudest cheer squad on course, yelling "go messy boy" as I passed them on those loops. Thanks guys, started my day with a huge smile, and even had people a lot later in the race tell me that I didn't look that messy, so great encouragement.<o:p></o:p><br />
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We then headed down a pretty big hill, which meant we were going to have to run back up it 41kms later - ouch, and onto the main roads, passing the world class MONA Gallery, around the back of the Elwick racecourse (where the Hobart cup will be run later this month) and over this bridge, which had a steady climb, just what you need for aching legs. On the bridge I was passed by a very fast police motorcycle who was leading out the half marathon runners, and quite a few guys who were running faster than I do 200m sprints and they were keeping that up for 21kms!<o:p></o:p><br />
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Once over the bridge you do a turnaround, back to where we started (roughly) and then do it all again.<o:p></o:p><br />
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The second time I got to the Elwick racecourse I hit the infamous "wall", about 29 kms into the event my brain was pushing me to finish and my body was just stopping. You read all about it in all the books and articles but until you've experienced it you can't explain what it is like (or seen it as everyone around me was also dropping like flies - and being a loop course I could see the same thing happening to the people who were way in front of me). This is when the mental toughness had to kick in - focus on a witches hat about 50m away and get to it, and then do it again, and again and again ad infinituum (well that's what it felt like).<o:p></o:p><br />
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I did have to have a quick toilet break about 36 kms in and getting down the steps of the portaloo was interesting in itself, as was the officials deciding to open the roads to traffic one hour earlier than scheduled "as there weren't many of us left on the course". This caused a bit of undue stress as there wasn't always footpaths to follow so I had to remain alert to oncoming traffic.<o:p></o:p><br />
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Three kilometres from the finish I pass a bas station and sitting there was George, Scott and Joanne, all ready to get me through the last bit of pain. Now no disrespect here, but after getting through 39kms there was no way in the world I was not going to finish, but their presence did buoy me a little as I pushed through the last big hill and onto the finish line.<o:p></o:p><br />
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Over the line I get a large medal, a Cadbury's beach towel, some chocolate and a huge cheer from my support crew and my wonderful family, who had put up with months of training and days of laziness leading up to the event as well the upcoming days of complaining about the pain after the event.<o:p></o:p><br />
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A special thanks to George, Joanne, Scott, Carol, <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Troy</st1:place></st1:city> and Jarrod for the efforts in keeping me going during the event itself, cheers, high fives, words of encouragement etc. all helped heaps. Thanks also to George, Dom, Kathryn, Phil, Julie and Jane who met me for long runs during training. A special thanks to Kai, Carol, Jane, Dennis, Jo, Jaymie, Oyiela, Kathryn, Teresa, Phil, Julie, Kevin, Joanne, Scott and Ana who all donated to the Clown Doctors. A great result of $404.20 for the charity.<br />
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I'll be checking in again in the coming days with a number of post race humorous tales as I stagger about with a ruined body and will be keeping this blog going with updates on how I'm tracking for the 100km Oxfam Trailwalk in April.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<o:p>Photos to be uploaded later today.</o:p></div>
Messy_Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05793938555354522246noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689613548578441841.post-39310048717475488792013-01-09T16:43:00.003-08:002013-01-09T16:43:52.249-08:00Three more sleeps until the marathon<br />
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Well hasn’t Tasmania been having a horrendous time of it
recently? Hottest day since records began, bushfires all over the place with
100’s out of homes and their Big Bash Team needs to win quite handsomely to make
the Semi Finals (I know that is not that important but I thought I’d add it to
make it a nice three horrible things going on in the Apple Isle). Things are
only going to get better for them though as I fly in today with the family to
spend a few $, laze around (I’ll call it a taper) and get mentally prepared for
my first ever 42km run.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Since my last post (where I’d just finished my last 30km
training run) I have officially been in “taper” mode, where you slow things
down and stock up the energy for race day itself. My taper has consisted of a
few short runs and two longer runs of 15kms and 13kms as well as rice, pasta,
wine and cider all to boost those carbs for the energy stores. I know a few
others who have been doing yoga, pilates, swimming etc. seriously guys I’m not
going to finish top 10 so my arvo naps and green tea will do it for me (we’ll
see on Sunday of course)!!!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Last Sunday a group of Parkrunners took part in a scavenger
style hunt around the streets of Albert Park and St Kilda, topping it off with
breakfast. A great morning was had by all and I can only urge people to get
involved in these local events, as there are heaps of friendly people arranging
fun events which help your fitness as well as adding smiles to your face. Great
effort by the organisers last weekend it was a blast.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Not a lot to report really, I’ll post a few photos of
Tasmania if I get a chance, prior to the run but the remainder of my week will
be taken up with relaxing times, including a much anticipated visit to the MONA
Gallery <a href="http://www.mona.net.au/">http://www.mona.net.au/</a> one of
the highlights of any visit to Tasmania. I’ve packed a couple of books as I’ll
be reading a lot, and hopefully will be fine to do a little sightseeing on the
Monday post run. There are plans to do the 20/20 cricket on the Saturday night as I've never visited Bellerive (so wanting to add that to MCG, SCG, Gabba and WACCA visits) as well as a forest walk of some lazy description (no stupid hiking a day out like I did in Marysville). Kids will be keen to see some convict history and the markets are always popular with tourists on the Saturday morning.<o:p></o:p></div>
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There's quite a few Melbournians heading down for the event on Sunday so there will be a nice support crew to cheer me on - thanks heaps guys. And there are plans to do a Facetime link up with all the participants we know who are competing in Two Bays 56km and 28km events on the same day - good luck to all of them, maybe next year for me.</div>
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As part of the run I’m raising funds for the Clown Doctors
in Tasmania (If you haven't heard about the Clown Doctors before, check them
out at <a href="http://www.humourfoundation.com.au/">http://www.humourfoundation.com.au</a>/) and if you’d like to chip in a few $ my fundraising page is at <a href="http://cadburymarathon.gofundraise.com.au/page/MessengerT">http://cadburymarathon.gofundraise.com.au/page/MessengerT</a>
every little bit helps. A huge thanks to all the supporters so far, whether
financial, mental or training, it’s been a great journey and with only a few
days to go I’m eagerly awaiting the outcome of my 42km jog/run.<o:p></o:p></div>
Messy_Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05793938555354522246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689613548578441841.post-43779810400097115902012-12-23T17:14:00.002-08:002012-12-23T17:16:54.553-08:00Why I've been walking like Roy Rogers<br />
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It has been a very long time since I last posted here, doesn’t
mean I’ve dropped off the face of the earth, or given up my marathon goal, or
become lazy it’s a simple case of being a very busy time of year. Busiest being
my 50<sup>th</sup> birthday itself in early December – so now the “Can a 50
year old” header of this blog is now true.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Here’s a tip for you, if you’re planning on running your
first marathon think of the 60 odd kilometres of training you’ll be doing about
a seven weeks to three weeks out and see if that coincides with a major event,
like a 50<sup>th</sup>, or Christmas or major work events. Don’t drop your goal
because of that, just be aware of the time pressures.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Onto more amusing anecdotes though. A couple of months ago I
posted about the time I ran my t1ts off (chaffing on the nipples), well a few
weeks ago I was walking around like Roy Rogers for a few days after a 25km long
run. This was due to the large sized 2XU skins becoming too big for me. All
this running has caused me to drop 13 kilos since July and naturally I’m down quite
a few clothes sizes to boot, but the wardrobe is not going to be replaced just
yet, may as well wait until I’ve run the marathon in Hobart, the post Xmas
sales and then restock. Having said that, baggy skins are not recommended,
unless you want everyone in the office thinking you’ve been on a horse riding
trail for a couple of days on the weekend. Watch them smile as you wince every
step you take!!!<o:p></o:p></div>
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As training has been upped to 50-60kms per week, it has also
been necessary to book in for a weekly myotherapy massage (as I told you before
the practitioners tell you it’s Latin for “deep tissue” whereas it is Latin for
“watch me f*ck you right over”). The process is where my masseur rubs heavily
on my calves, until he finds a pea sized lump and he then proceeds to push,
prod, rub and stretch it in every possible way with the most force he can
possibly use, until I am beyond tears, am about to put a flailing foot into his
solar plexus and then he stops and finds another spot. Or he may rip the thigh
muscles apart using his palms at either end, or maybe your neck or shoulders.
Once I’ve decided enough pain is enough, I pay the receptionist a healthy sum,
stagger back to the office and wait for the bruises to appear. Experience tells
me they look best two days later, more purple than black. <o:p></o:p></div>
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All up it’s becoming an expensive exercise, this running
caper is not as simple as find a pair of runners some shorts and away you go. I
have special socks, compression bandages (which were a gift I must admit) for
post recovery, ointments to stop certain parts rubbing, skins (which aren’t
cheap), proper shoes, drink belts, recovery powders, during run powders and
gels, a watch that costs a fortune (but did help me from becoming lost one day
in some wetlands I’d never run before), hats and goodness knows what else. So
an $80 entry fee, $2000 or so in accessories, probably $1500 in chiro and
massage bills and I’m just about ready to run a marathon.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I won’t go into a lot of the training runs that I’ve
recently done, other than to thank a wonderful array of friends who have been
more than supportive, joining me for 5 or 10kms to keep me motivated and on
track, push me when I’m going from kilometre 20 onwards or even just the fact
that they are going to be there so I can’t renege. I’ve now put in a couple of
30km training runs and although not at a great pace, they have taught me quite
a few things about the marathon itself:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<ul>
<li>I’ll hurt</li>
<li>I’ll be grumpy when done</li>
<li>I’ll hurt some more afterwards</li>
<li>I need to get my hydration and fuelling spot on (which I
think I’ve done)</li>
<li>I need to stretch more</li>
<li>I need to pack my compression gear, pre-race, during race
and post-race powders and gels (I wonder if I’ll have to explain the bag of
white powders and Vaseline?)</li>
<li>The last 12 kms will be the toughest, but my head is around
that so I will do it, it could well be at almost walking pace but I’ll do it</li>
</ul>
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So only 20 days to go until the marathon itself, and
therefore I’m onto the “taper” time, whereby the 30km run I did yesterday was
my last long-long run and I slowly reduce the distances so my body can store
energy or some such scientific thing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ll post again here before the run itself together with an
update on my next big challenge (for charity) which will take place in April
2013.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Links on right hand side take you to my fund raising pages.Messy_Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05793938555354522246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689613548578441841.post-53848585642675252372012-11-16T22:11:00.000-08:002012-11-16T22:11:18.358-08:00More running - this is getting crazy 42.57kms this week!!!<br />
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It’s been a while between drinks so I thought I better give
you a running update on my goal towards the Hobart Marathon in January 2013.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Since my last blog update I’ve clocked up 91.58kms and even
if I do say so myself there have been a few decent efforts in there. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Marysville Half Marathon – There is a Marathon Festival held
in Marysville each year to assist the town with rebuilding after it was
completely destroyed in the 2009 bushfires (37 locals lost their lives). They
ask you stay 2 nights when booking for the festival to contribute back to the
area so we headed up on the Friday afternoon. Saturday I stupidly decided a
bushwalk up a mountain trail would be a good idea and after 8kms or so realised
that the terrain was steep and tough and was feeling quite a bit worse for
wear. But the next day I fronted up for my second ever half marathon with the
only aim being to finish and have fun. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBwkfKAYBb81S_0zTrt21SzsOlVhXNSFOIIPHMjowYNKioVKq9myFc_1yY8Fd8H3-BTfxCc5M177dOTKx69O90S7ExCOL7hSg5C_l5He4jPUs8w_Xi4pBQaWYqhpHrCs2yaDaWvAmcYD_S/s1600/IMG_0840.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBwkfKAYBb81S_0zTrt21SzsOlVhXNSFOIIPHMjowYNKioVKq9myFc_1yY8Fd8H3-BTfxCc5M177dOTKx69O90S7ExCOL7hSg5C_l5He4jPUs8w_Xi4pBQaWYqhpHrCs2yaDaWvAmcYD_S/s320/IMG_0840.JPG" width="239" /></a>Finish I did, but not without a few issues. About 6 or 7kms
into the event (after climbing a massive hill – whilst walking, even the pros
didn’t run it), I was admiring the scenery and not looking at the terrain and
took a handy tumble. With cut hands, knee, hip and back and with a few decent
bruises I soldiered onto the 8km drink station where I washed the grit from my
wounds. It was then onto the 10km checkpoint where I took a few minutes time
out in the first aid station to get antiseptic applied and a couple of bandages
added before I headed off for the final 11 kms, up to Stevensons’ Falls and
then onto more riverside trails back to the finish line. My finishing time was
2:38.14 coming in 247<sup>th</sup> that
was only 9 mins 16 seconds slower than the Melbourne Half Marathon four weeks
prior and this event included hills, trails, a stack and time out in first aid
so I was ecstatic.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The fun was out of this world, the community feel, the
friendliness, the scenery, the trails, the whole weekend was an amazing
experience and I could be hooked into this trail running stuff (even if I am
slow).<o:p></o:p></div>
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Another highlight was competing in the BRW Corporate Relay
event with two colleagues from work, here you had to run 5kms, remove the
timing anklet, pass to your team mate in a crowded transition zone and then
cheer then on at the start of their run. I was the slowest of the three, but
given I’d run a half marathon 3 days prior and had backed up for a training run
of 7kms the day before it was amazing that I could run under 32 mins. We all
had a great time, finishing off with a further slow 6kms and then dinner at a
great vegetarian place in St Kilda.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Final highlight of the week was participating in ParkRun’s 1<sup>st</sup>
Birthday event, where the theme was Super Heroes and Villians. I turned up
dressed as Zorro and escorted my eight year old son (Batman) around the 5km
track in a slow time, but with a stack of people getting into the theme and
cakes, coffee, bananas and more at the finish line it was a fantastic morning.
Quite a few of us may have looked ridiculous, but we put smiles on heaps of
people’s faces, had fun fun fun got some fitness in and encouraged quite a few
bystanders to not take themselves so seriously. Another great event by the
ParkRun crew, and if you haven’t checked out their website to see if there is a
ParkRun near you I thoroughly recommend you do so at <a href="http://www.parkrun.com/">www.parkrun.com</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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I have now been running 4 times a week with one day being a
long run (that now means a single run every week of 20kms+ between now and the
new year). Tomorrow the plan is to push out a slow 22.5 kms – reckon I might be
a tad hungry tomorrow arvo!!!!<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ll check in again in a few weeks’ time with a further
update on how I’m progressing to my first ever 42km event.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Messy_Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05793938555354522246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689613548578441841.post-80593740877721670662012-10-30T04:22:00.002-07:002012-10-30T13:17:48.428-07:00Total rant update which means little<br />
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Here’s a bloke who is too busy at work, got a running
program that is eating into all his spare time and then is feeling guilty for
not updating his blog. I’ll give you a tip, if you want to keep people up to
date, or motivated, or engaged then don’t have a full time gig and then decide
you’re going to keep a blog going. All it will do is make your hair greyer than
it originally was.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Pathetic intro really, but how else do I let you know that I
ran a half marathon over two weeks ago and didn’t even bother to proclaim to
the world my own personal achievement?<o:p></o:p></div>
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So here is a summary of the last 18 days since I last
updated my blog:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Day one – (the Saturday prior to the half
marathon) – went to my local ParkRun and did about as much as part time busker
on a Monday (ie. Spoke a lot, felt
involved but contributed f* all)</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Day two – ran 21 kilometres – yep ran a whole
half marathon. I could give you km by km run downs, but the support pacing crew
helped me through 7 mins average per km and pulled me up early for being too
enthusiastic, but let me go at the 18km mark (which was my fastest – how the
hell did that happen???) and all up I finished inside the MCG doing a lap of
the “hallowed turf” (what sort of term is that? Hallowed be thy name??
Sanctified, since when is an oval shape of grass a religious experience?
Sacrosanct? Now seriously guys, you’ve just let 50,000 runners do a lap, so how
sacrosanct is that???). All up I finished the half marathon in 2:28.58 so under
the 2:30.0 I would have liked to have done, but in all honesty I had a goal of
having fun, and another one of just finishing, to put a time constraint on my
performance was not a smart thing to do, even if I did beat it. Rambling now –
point 2 alone is going to constitute more than the whole blog update. BTW –
Went to the soccer in the afternoon and felt alright until I decided I needed to
stand up and walk around, geez those small plastic seats can do wonders for
your legs…not…</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Monday – the day after – felt okay really just
pottered around, might have even snuck in a few ciders – oops wouldn’t have
done that as I was at work getting hammered.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Tuesday – decided that if I’m going to run a
full marathon then I better hop back on the bike, so went for a slow 5km run –
it was slow but it felt okay</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Next four days – not much bar getting the fluids
back to a normal level, which probably included a few pints of brewed material,
but to be honest it may not have as I can’t remember (so that probably means it
did!!!)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Six days after half marathon – started to feel
guilty as I had only put in a piddling 5km effort and what sort of marathon
runner does 5kms per week. So went out for a quick 5km jog (actually I think
this was a weak ParkRun - don't recall) .</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Next day – probably watched sport – might have
even had a glass of wine whilst doing so</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Day after – guilts kicked in, a long run is
required, so pushed out a 12km slow run. Actually felt okay with it, must have
been the wine the night before</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Next day – nothing in gps so must have had more
wine</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Next day a slow 5km effort after work (well I
was locked down for two days in a planning session for employer so ducked out before the whole team
came breathing stale liquor into the breakfast room and did a run up some
massive friggin mountainside in the Yarra Valley region. It raised a sweat so
at least I wasn’t the only one smelly over the toast!!!)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Next 2 days – must have been more work, probably
tossed and turned in bed all night wondering how the hell I’m going to run a
marathon when all I do is procrastinate and fend off the guilt monster with an occasional
5km jog.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Saturday – back to ParkRun and for some bizarre
reason the people who had paced me through the half marathon thought it would
be a good idea to push me to a sub 30 min 5km run. Now don’t get me wrong here,
all help is most appreciated, however I had plans for a light run as I was
going to pump out 15kms on the Sunday. One click in and I’m not worried about
tomorrow as I’m making sure I can keep up with a 5.45 per click pace. Earlier
in my blog I wondered if I could ever break the 30 min mark for 5 kms – well if
you’re slow like me I suggest you train 20 weeks for a half marathon, bust your
guts to finish that and then back up 13 days later to run a personal best for a
measly 5 kms. You’ll smash it. 29.35 is now my pb (remember that’s a serious
runner’s terminology for “Personal Best”).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Sunday – plans for 15kms slow run out the
window, still knackered from my Craig Mottram impersonation the day before</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Monday – feel guilty for missing the 15km (how
am I going to run a marathon if I’m too lazy to even back up for a 15km run?)
so get the bee in my bonnet (even though it is 26 degrees Celsius) and decide I’ll do a slow 16kms instead.
Aching achilles, sore calves and a dripping t-shirt only 12kms in and I pull
the pin. That is not the sign of a bloke who is committed to running 42kms in
eleven weeks’ time, better start that meditation tape again – think I must have
switched off whilst it was on.</span></li>
</ol>
<br />
<span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Somewhere in all of that I spent a quick session with a
couple of punters from ParkRun who walked me through these machines and weight
thingies at a gym (no not at Jim’s house but more like one of those venues
where you work out to improve your body image or muscles) – all I can say is
that I didn’t realise I could have an aching ribcage from lifting a dumbbell smaller
than a flashlight. It was approx. 1980 when I last hurt that much (I only say “approx.”
as a few of those years were a blur) and that involved Johnny Lydon, beer,
spittle and illegal substances.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUp7JSOLRZSZOw90MrlSDRc2U90SjH_cBoMNXVLAYshLhwMZ2CIoXlBgcgKNfSPmT-CcvnsUc1k67ngXsfOr2KXp9u4f3fyBm7awgpUWAwMdX4ytxwPAf0CiUzOhmbcegYbOkSzXuALkAE/s1600/302767_421159064604693_2105989276_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUp7JSOLRZSZOw90MrlSDRc2U90SjH_cBoMNXVLAYshLhwMZ2CIoXlBgcgKNfSPmT-CcvnsUc1k67ngXsfOr2KXp9u4f3fyBm7awgpUWAwMdX4ytxwPAf0CiUzOhmbcegYbOkSzXuALkAE/s320/302767_421159064604693_2105989276_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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There was also a “myotherapy” (apparently Latin for I’ll
make every muscle in your body hurt and bruis like fu*k) session in there too –
but I’m booked in for another one tomorrow so that’s probably another story.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Messy_Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05793938555354522246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689613548578441841.post-3192559013794467792012-10-12T19:14:00.000-07:002012-10-12T19:14:01.718-07:00Quick Pre Melbourne Half Marathon Update<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tomorrow is my first half marathon – yippee. So after 20
weeks of following a training guide (loosely I may add) I should be ready for
21kms of running. It will take me about the same time as a full soccer match
PLUS and hour!!!! OUCH.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Just to give you an idea of the amount of training I’ve done
I've put together a quick table of the date and kilometres run. Sometimes the
distance doesn’t appear that far, but it could well have been hill runs or a
sprinting session (eg. Sprint and walk). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-left: 4.65pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 153px;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
29/05/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
4.68<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
31/05/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
5.32<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
3/06/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
4.25<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
7/06/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
3.79<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 4;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
10/06/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
5.46<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 5;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
15/06/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
5.26<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 6;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
17/06/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
6.5<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 7;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
23/06/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
5<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 8;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
24/06/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
7.53<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 9;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
25/06/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
3<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 10;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
26/06/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
5.25<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 11;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
1/07/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
8.25<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 12;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
3/07/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
5.8<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 13;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
5/07/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
6.38<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 14;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
7/07/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
5<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 15;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
8/07/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
10.69<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 16;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
10/07/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
4.68<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 17;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
11/07/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
4<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 18;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
15/07/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
10.17<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 19;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
17/07/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
6.8<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 20;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
19/07/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
4.1<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 21;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
20/07/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
6.02<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 22;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
22/07/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
12<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 23;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
24/07/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
3<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 24;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
25/07/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
5.31<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 25;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
28/07/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
5<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 26;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
29/07/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
14.19<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 27;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
31/07/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
6.74<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 28;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
2/08/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
6.6<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 29;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
4/08/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
5<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 30;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
5/08/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
14.32<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 31;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
7/08/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
6.09<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 32;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
8/08/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
5.7<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 33;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
11/08/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
5<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 34;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
12/08/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
16.07<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 35;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
14/08/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
3.52<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 36;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
15/08/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
6.96<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 37;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
18/08/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
5<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 38;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
19/08/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
18.03<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 39;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
21/08/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
3<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 40;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
26/08/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
11.11<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 41;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
29/08/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
6.09<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 42;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
1/09/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
7.94<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 43;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
2/09/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
15.04<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 44;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
4/09/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
5.38<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 45;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
8/09/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
5<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 46;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
9/09/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
16.8<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 47;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
11/09/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
1.609<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 48;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
20/09/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
5.11<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 49;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
24/09/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
5.11<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 50;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
26/09/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
15.42<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 51;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
29/09/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
5<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 52;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
2/10/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
18<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 53;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
5/10/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
3<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 54;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
6/10/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
9.73<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 55;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
10/10/2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
5.04<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 56;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89"></td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64"></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 57; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 67.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="89">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
TOTAL<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="64">
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">
404.839<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
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It was interesting putting this together as I was looking at
some of the sessions and they were “run 5 mins walk 2 mins” and in the space of
4 and a half months I’ll be running 21kms with minimal (if any) stops. I’ve
done a couple of 18 km efforts and feel ready to go – taking it easy today and
will be upping my carb and liquid intake to ensure I’m all set for a best
effort.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I will be tweeting with photos at stages so feel free to follow
me @messy_tony and unlike quite a few runners I have no time expectations as
this is step one of my longer term goal of the Marathon in Hobart in January.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I'll update the blog post race with the promised opinion of myotherapy massage as well as my plans to get fit enough for 42kms sometime next week.</div>
Messy_Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05793938555354522246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689613548578441841.post-15912257185315554602012-10-03T23:06:00.000-07:002012-10-03T23:37:49.152-07:00Training in Far North Queensland? You betcha<br />
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It has been three weeks since I updated my running and
charity blog and boy have I been busy. I have been off work, right up the top
of Queensland (if you count north as “top”), sitting by swimming pools, wandering
through World Heritage Listed pristine rainforests, swimming in the Pacific
Ocean and more. The hardest part was having to put up with the half a dozen or
so nubile 20’s something bikini clad, university students on our small excursion
to the Great Barrier Reef, really guys I have coral and stuff to look at!!!
What has this got to do with running? Absolutely nothing, except that my
running diary did look a little slim. But there were valid reasons for that.<o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDKL5Zwc5pSDA42VY8ZV6OLkvzfSsV0nzJ1pSQxTuyniYn_WUMFguPsr60_icooKgzcEiUTclVvo5cHHAb_H55LEbvHSaYjptRjT9QR_Y9JcXBCmNQyrkp5Km31zU6KOTQPz6gMZPO7TqQ/s1600/533793_10151097488993621_172024233_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDKL5Zwc5pSDA42VY8ZV6OLkvzfSsV0nzJ1pSQxTuyniYn_WUMFguPsr60_icooKgzcEiUTclVvo5cHHAb_H55LEbvHSaYjptRjT9QR_Y9JcXBCmNQyrkp5Km31zU6KOTQPz6gMZPO7TqQ/s320/533793_10151097488993621_172024233_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cape Tribulation</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Just before I left on holidays I managed to do something to
my hip flexor (I’d know if it was a hip flexor), but the top of my right leg
was stuffed. I was hobbling like a draught horse who’d carried the alcohol into
the MCG on Grand Final day and the pain was around the hip region, so I've done
the self-diagnosis thing and called it a hip flexor injury. A mate told me
about 10 days rest would do the trick – amazing, I was going to Far North
Queensland for 10 days, what a coincidence. Since my last blog update where my
last logged run was a long one 16.8kms (and I did say my right thigh hurt!!!),
I had only completed one extra run before I flew out – The “Marathon Talk Magic
Mile” where you run your fastest mile and log it on their website. 9 mins 22
for me – all along I have said that I'm not fast, just persistant, but I was
happy with anything under 10 mins and considering I was doing it on one leg for
about the first 500 metres I was okay with the results.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Onto holiday running, now imagine this, I left Melbourne and
it was something like 15 degrees Celsius, when I landed in Cairns it was 30
degrees Celsius and about 80% humidity, not your ideal long running conditions.
So whilst away I clocked up a couple of extra “one mile” runs on the Sunday and
a further 5.11 kms on the Thursday and another on the flowing Monday. No fancy
times, as I was wetter than a tissue at a screening of “My Sister’s Keeper”, I
usually sweat from the head, so wear a cap, but nothing was coming out the
noggin’ up there, it was pouring out of my torso. At least I had a swimming pool
to leap into, or some salt water therapy about 10 metres from where I finished.
View was nice too – pity those palm trees, sand and waves kept getting in the
way of her…um I mean “it”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglsfK0vW5F27YVmpO09Bgt-g0T-xENTtd96AumiI4-P74flIVOXMNEKF06W1qSP4kiradQ_liDh_tiYDnOlgxwR5L8d-MH1nIqhOFRqj1n_aGgPDqktUeyp2eFVGTmSYUeHlPDz_HyQEro/s1600/307750_10151098537228621_35900013_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglsfK0vW5F27YVmpO09Bgt-g0T-xENTtd96AumiI4-P74flIVOXMNEKF06W1qSP4kiradQ_liDh_tiYDnOlgxwR5L8d-MH1nIqhOFRqj1n_aGgPDqktUeyp2eFVGTmSYUeHlPDz_HyQEro/s320/307750_10151098537228621_35900013_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I flew back to Melbourne on the Tuesday arriving late that
night with a work training session booked in for the next three days. Day one didn't start until 3pm and I had the morning off, so it was time to get serious
again and put in a long run. 15.42kms later I was spent, but it was a good
solid test plus I had to be alert all afternoon, so I was testing out my mental
strength as well, it’s not a good look learning about “emotional intelligence”
and you’re the only one of the group of 12 who is snoring. The others did have
a number of laughs at my expense, generally when I needed to stand up, walk
anywhere, bend down to pick something up, the groans were louder than the main
character in “Fifty Shades of Grey”. Plans were for a light 5km early morning
jog on the Friday, but when the alarm went off at 5am I realised that sleep
deprivation is not my thing and gave the tune up a miss.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So after a three week hiatus I was back at my favourite
ParkRun, wearing a Sydney Swans scarf (it was Aussie Rules Grand Final day) and
although my plans were for a sub 30 min effort, the pace runner got about 30
metres in front with about 2kms to go and I thought “ I'm never going to catch
him” as he seemed to be speeding up. Turns out he’d run the 1<sup>st</sup> 2
kilometres in 6.07 so had 14 seconds to make up and decided to do so into the
massive head wind we had that morning. All up I was done in 31 mins and 35
secs, but could have shaved about 20 seconds off that time, but etiquette meant
I shouldn't blast away the newbie in the last 500 metres, so I paced with her
and let her finish 1 second in front of me. Next week she is toast.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvZKsIp6DDdak3raq_096JShoi-gm26Kz0A_aJMofHo2ELd_lKogSsQ5xWfbZdNd1hD6fj0slvev6_TEyQ0wYShtE5zu9ihC0uhkpnGfyiu6PuzXRfAZz4ZMl-pBwdZY4CkT37xl4_bVKA/s1600/228171_411516678902265_698607760_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvZKsIp6DDdak3raq_096JShoi-gm26Kz0A_aJMofHo2ELd_lKogSsQ5xWfbZdNd1hD6fj0slvev6_TEyQ0wYShtE5zu9ihC0uhkpnGfyiu6PuzXRfAZz4ZMl-pBwdZY4CkT37xl4_bVKA/s320/228171_411516678902265_698607760_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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With only twelve days until the Melbourne Half Marathon and
only one long run under my belt in the last three weeks I decided that I better
pull my finger out and on Tuesday this week I headed off for an 18km training
effort. All done in a slow time but I felt strong at the end and could have run
a further 3kms so I’m ready for the half marathon, just a few more light
training runs in between (plan on 10kms on Saturday) and I'll be fresh for my
first attempt at the 21kms.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Onto the marathon itself. Now the commitment had been made
to run the Hobart Marathon on 13/1/2013, in as far as I’d booked my airfares to
Hobart. Entries opened on 20 September and on that very same day I was online
and entered. Now I just need some accommodation, three more months of training
and I will be finishing my first 42km run. The hardest part of making the
commitment has been done, the rest just now depends on myself being mentally
solid enough to keep training and the rest will fall into place.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Next week I'll give you an update (hopefully prior to my
first ever half marathon) with my thoughts on listening to tunes whilst you
train or run, as well as a review of my first ever deep tissue massage (that
should give you a couple of laughs).<o:p></o:p></div>
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Messy_Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05793938555354522246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689613548578441841.post-84581202508078688242012-09-09T02:45:00.000-07:002012-09-09T03:28:17.013-07:00UltraSpirit Charity Run and other training stuff<br />
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Again two weeks since I’ve updated my blog, and in that time
there has been a bit of charity eventing happening (as well as the usual
training).<o:p></o:p></div>
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Training – I’ve been a bit lazy, work’s been a bit full on
and the training dairy had a “recovery week no fast running”, if only they
knew, with me there is no such thing as “fast running”. I did take the recovery
week a little literal and did a 6km run on the Wednesday in preparation for the
UltraSpirit charity event I was running on the Saturday. Should probably have
done another 5/6km effort in there somewhere, couldn’t get my mojo (nor the
time) to do it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Saturday – eleven of us turned up to run for Kate Sanderson
and Turia Pitt who were badly burnt by a bushfire when competing in an ultra
marathon event in the Kimberleys in the far north of Western Australia. Our
fund raising was matched by our employer (up to $1,000) and as we managed to get
generous support from numerous kind people we raised $1,110 – with the $
matching we managed to raise $2,110 to assist Kate and Turia with living
expenses and ongoing medical costs. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The event was two laps of the famous Melbourne Tan making it
a 7.6km event and two runs up Anderson Street (a large hill). I wasn’t feeling
that well on the day, but seeing I was running for other people and to raise
funds for them, I took part and ran most of the journey (except a couple of
walks up Anderson Street) and a much needed toilet break about 2.5kms in.
Strange how these events require you to hydrate all the day before and on the
morning of the event and you only really need a toilet about 10 minutes before
the start!!! Official finishing time for me was 49.21 (lap 1 in 24.37 and lap 2
in 24.44 – although the timer says lap 2 in 24.22 the total time doesn’t add
up!!!) My previous best time for a lap of the Tan was 27:23.1 so a huge
improvement since February. Thanks to all the supporters who donated money to
us and a huge thanks to the other 10 work colleagues who took part, great
effort by all.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzE6H542-r671sm32aGmv8HG6j4FrA0uUP_PAa_89uryLC6j3jIBMFENwFidXC5K3DPO9x3g-7FAfHyFv2uZFKWLdmJRCPMizngmhAFT7Ex88Th8KDkOFqtk6YNyfolZubwQOfknL_wzsO/s1600/403989_10151075714083621_501388628_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzE6H542-r671sm32aGmv8HG6j4FrA0uUP_PAa_89uryLC6j3jIBMFENwFidXC5K3DPO9x3g-7FAfHyFv2uZFKWLdmJRCPMizngmhAFT7Ex88Th8KDkOFqtk6YNyfolZubwQOfknL_wzsO/s320/403989_10151075714083621_501388628_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The next day was “long run” day – so I pumped out a steady
15 kms. Nothing too dramatic to report, except the blister on the BOTTOM of my
little toe the size of a golf ball. How on earth can you get a blister that is
bigger than your toe??? Experts told me I had to either change sock brands, get
some new ones, or change my runners. Now given I’d only recently spent $200 on
a new pair of runners, expertly fitted by a podiatrist there was no way I was
blaming the footwear. It was the socks. A visit to the local running store and
$30 later (yep $30 for 1 pair of socks), I was now Steve Austen “Six Million
Dollar Man”. I’d need to be to keep paying for all this stuff.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Tuesday – hill run – spoken about them before, 10 times running
up a hill, 10 times walking down a hill. Nothing more to add, except it has
been a week for gale force winds in Melbourne, they hurt.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Saturday – another ParkRun and I was feeling okay, I was
certain today was the day I would break that 30 minute barrier for the 5 kilometres.
Two clicks in and the iPhone was telling me I had 16 seconds up my sleeve, 3
clicks and I had 10 seconds, one kilometre to go and it was touch and go (that
bloody wind!!!!), finish line I was 16 seconds slower than my previous personal
best and 26 seconds off breaking the 30 minute mark – grrrrr, poor Julie with
the stop watch – I was grumpy.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Sunday – new socks got a long run into them, plan was for 18
kilometres and if I was feeling good I’d push out 20. About 4 or so in and I
was feeling okay, about 15 in I was done, I kept going to 16.8 and decided the
left ankle hurt, the right thigh hurt, my ribs hurt, my shoulders hurt and my
mental strength was still going strong but my body was telling me no more.
Looks like it is next week for the 20 kilometre run.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I won’t be updating this for another couple of weeks as I’m
off for a break so if you’re inspired, keep running, if you’re not, start
running. If you’re looking for a charity to support, search the web and find
one. On 10 October I will most likely participate in "Zip It" where you are silent for 24 hours on World Mental Health Day to help turn up the volume on mental health issues and raise funds for Black Dog Institute, headspace, Lifeline and Suicide Prevention Australia. How about you join me? <o:p></o:p><a href="http://zipit.org.au/">http://zipit.org.au/</a><br />
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Messy_Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05793938555354522246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689613548578441841.post-42171692359596898192012-08-26T23:07:00.000-07:002012-08-26T23:07:02.980-07:00Two weeks since I’ve updated my blog – doesn’t mean I haven’t been running<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
There’s one little problem when you commit to maintaining a blog with updates on your charity and running exploits – work. Forget the commitment of hours to long runs, the social agenda, the recovery sessions, even though they eat into your limited waking hours, they pale into insignificance when you have a full time job to hold down. Anyways I’ve managed to find a quick 30 minutes to update you on the past fortnight.</div>
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Training </div>
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Tuesday – <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Training program says 5 lots of 400m sprints with a 1 min recovery walk between each. How easy is that going to be? Under 3kms, surely a piece of cake. What it actually means is run as fast as you can for a lap of an Aussie Rules footy oval, walk slowly, run as fast as you can again (but slower than the 1<sup>st</sup> time as you’re still stuffed from the 1<sup>st</sup> one), walk slower, speed up again, walk even slower, speed up again if you dare, walk walk walk maybe even add 10 secs to the recovery, go fast again even though you need to stop to throw up, hold it in you only have a couple of 100 metres to go, stop short, double over, wonder why you chose bananas for breakfast, hope it’s still dark enough for none of the locals to recognise you, stagger for a minute, plan on doing a 5 min recovery jog, actually jog for about 2 minutes and then through in the towel. Go home re-eat the breakfast you lost, shower, feel nauseous for an hour or two and then complain about sore legs.</div>
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Thursday – An easy 50 min run. Clocked 7 kilometres at 5.20am so probably could have travelled a bit further if I could have seen more than 5 metres in front of myself. Pitch black and about 4 degrees Celsius, but the added advantage of no passing cars as everybody is still smart enough to be snug in their beds. Walk home with the added advantage of spotting the people heading to the running track, safe in the knowledge that they still have to commence their run, I’m all done.</div>
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Saturday – Not part of the training plan, but how can I knock back a ParkRun when the kids have a soccer “bye” and I (again) have a free Saturday morning? The long runs, sprints, hills etc are obviously weaving their magic as I clocked a personal best (that’s more commonly known as “a PB” for insiders) of 30.09 for the 5 kms. Only a couple of weeks ago I was lamenting if I’d ever break the 30 minute barrier – under 6 mins per km for a sustained distance. Well nearly there, if I’d only been at the start of the pack at the start I could well have made up those lost 10 seconds!!!! Maybe next time.</div>
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Now is probably a good time to show how training three times a week can improve your times, and I’ve noticed a considerable improvement in my 5km times since I’ve been running 10km+ in training. Below is a history of my ParkRuns – the same course and distance every week so a fair indicator of the improvements (although there are obviously weather impacts they wouldn’t be significant enough to slow me down almost a full kilometre).</div>
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14/1/12 – 36.51</div>
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28/1/12 – 35.53</div>
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4/2/12 – 35.15</div>
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18/2/12 – 34.08</div>
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25/2/12 – 36.05</div>
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3/3/12 – 34.07</div>
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10/3/12 – 33.45</div>
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12/5/12 – 36.54</div>
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23/6/12 – 35.48</div>
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7/7/12 – 32.48</div>
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28/7/12 – 32.01</div>
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4/8/12 – 30.39</div>
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11/8/12 – 32.30 (hungover something shocking)</div>
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18/8/12 – 30.09</div>
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Sunday – long run day – as per my last instalment I add 2kms to each long run, so this week it was 18kms. Not a lot to add here – a slow slog for 18 clicks, sore legs, sore body, sore shoulders, about 2 x 50 metre walks up a hill when I got to laps 14 and 15 of the 1.2km track. Eventually done and a slow stagger home. Averaged 7 mins per click so was happy with that. Surely I can now run a further 3 kilometres and finish a half marathon. Don’t know about a further 24 kilometres though – still have 5 months to get my head around that.</div>
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Later Sunday I had that “euphoric” I’ve been for a long run feel, that’s the moment when you decide to enter more official events, or put your name down for some obscure fund raising activity (anyone up for getting their head shaved or maybe a few rounds of boxing?). What I did was made the first commitment to running the Hobart Marathon in January…well I booked the flights, next step is somewhere to sleep and then on 20 September (the date entries open) I’ll be putting in my first ever marathon entry…..small steps but the commitment is there, may as well run it, I’ll be in town.</div>
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Tuesday – 3 km time trial. Was still a tad stiff and sore from the 18 km run on Sunday but managed to punch out 3 in 18.17. I was happy with that as it wasn’t that long ago it would have taken me 20 minutes. This one it was at 5.25am (so pitch black again) and a shocking head wind down one side of the oval with no tail wind on the other side as it’s protected by the grandstand. Finished that had my breakfast and headed into town for a 7.30am blood donation appointment. Overall a productive morning. Which I followed up with about 10 pints of beer that evening at a work team function.</div>
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Wed – Saturday – decided it was a week to take it easy. Had a chiro appointment on the Wednesday night as my back was playing up, probably from the long run on Sunday, all through my shoulders and neck area. It’s now looking as though it will be a regular fortnightly visit throughout this journey so add in the costs for treatment to the multiple pairs of shoes, gels, creams for tender spots, anti-inflams for soreness, band-aids and creams for blisters, apparently you need expensive socks too, all up this commitment is going to cost me to equivalent of a herd of goats and a well for a village in some third world nation. That’s not even counting air fares, accommodation and entry fees!!!!</div>
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Sunday - Planning for a long run was thrown out the window as I was invited to a fun event through the streets of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Melbourne</st1:place></st1:city>. The Royal Melbourne Zoo as part of their 150 year celebrations have arranged for 50 baby elephant sculptures (modelled on Melbourne Zoo’s own <st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on">Mali</st1:country>) to be decorated by artists and scattered throughout the greater <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Melbourne</st1:place></st1:city> area. Our own ParkRun organiser arranged a “run” to visit (and photograph) all 50 sculptures. This trek would cover approx 25 kilometres and take about 3.5 hours.</div>
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Here’s the honest bit – all the “acceptances” for the event run marathons (well nearly all of them), I’d run a maximum of 18 kms in my life, I’d had a lazy week, they run fast (well faster than me), so I decided to join them about 2 hours in at elephant number 22 and I’d take in the last 28 sculptures.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnvUD61qSclALOgZQ_ySfZ7cNsGApCnAnHNpPkgLpXppOBmckuxOmEMN50Q5-KCg6z0bomZ0a8poNcROS6ANqlcAEnx02ISeEZdR4U-cZv82OPnu-cJzk_ipTvGvii0Y8OiRKrh5Z-Dtsv/s1600/255989_10151179097792621_464010564_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnvUD61qSclALOgZQ_ySfZ7cNsGApCnAnHNpPkgLpXppOBmckuxOmEMN50Q5-KCg6z0bomZ0a8poNcROS6ANqlcAEnx02ISeEZdR4U-cZv82OPnu-cJzk_ipTvGvii0Y8OiRKrh5Z-Dtsv/s320/255989_10151179097792621_464010564_o.jpg" width="320" yda="true" /></a></div>
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What a great time I had (even if I was the only one praying for red traffic lights so I could get a breather). All up 11.1 kilometres for me, taking in a few hills, busy <st1:city w:st="on">Melbourne</st1:city> streets, all ending in a coffee and a meal over looking the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Yarra</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">River</st1:placetype></st1:place>. So here’s a tip, you can make any long run interesting, instead of lap after lap, just add in a challenge, a few friends and suddenly you have an event.</div>
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This week is a few slow training runs culminating in a charity event for Kate and Turia, ultra marathon runners who were caught in a bush fire in the El Questro Wilderness Park last year. On Saturday, myself and 12 of my work colleagues are running two laps of the famous Tan track in Melbourne (7.4kms) to raise funds for the ongoing living and medical expenses for these amazing girls. For more of their story go to <a href="http://www.ultraspirit.com.au/the-story/"><span style="color: #606420;">http://www.ultraspirit.com.au/the-story/</span></a> or to donate to our fund raising visit <a href="http://www.everydayhero.com.au/team_cgu"><span style="color: #606420;">http://www.everydayhero.com.au/team_cgu</span></a> CGU Insurance will be matching us $ for $ in our fund raising (up to $1,000) so whatever amount you can spare will be doubled before it gets to help out Kate and Turia. I’ll have an update on the event in next week’s blog instalment.</div>
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Messy_Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05793938555354522246noreply@blogger.com0