Live, love, run

Spent the Australia Day long weekend in Augusta in the South West of WA. It’s my Uncle Keith and Aunty Trish’s house and is a beautiful little shack on the river mouth of the Blackwood. Truly amazing views.

We went with the Richards - Brad, Chris, Mitch and Emma. What a hoot! 

Wood barbecues out the back, kids sleeping in the bunkhouse, toasting marshmallows, drinking beer and just relaxing. We visited Hamelin Bay, Cowaramup Bay, Dunsborough and surrounding areas.

It really is a beautiful place in the world down south. Pity I was injured or I could have run some great trails. Sigh. Next time. Besides that it was just nice to kick back and enjoy good mates.

Amy and Tyler had a great time with Mitch and Emma and Louie and I had fun just hanging out with C & B.

You can’t beat time away with friends. I found a hand drawn map of the local surf spots drawn by my younger cousin Tim Howe. I am going to get the Mac Ops at work to design it up and thought I might send a framed copy down to the house.

Shocker. When I got home from work on Monday I took my shoe off and my ankle had swollen considerably. It stayed that way all night then went down. It swelled up a few times again but never as bad. Decided it needed some rest.

Then second, my snip issues arose. I had an operation last year to take my turn at being the responsible parent and it went terribly. It causes me pain and hampers my running. So, no runs this week AT ALL! Will try again this week and will go to doctors.

A good running week with 15kms run including the Christchurch Run 5km event (see Race Report), and 15 kms biking at Rotto, plus a weight session in there.

Rotto is good for the soul and very relaxing. Back to work this week as well which is hard, mainly because I only have a few days until we leave for our Augusta Australia Day mini break. Last holiday until October.

Well, that run felt bloody hard. I felt breathless most of the way and really thought it would be a struggle to get close to my Burswood Twilight PB, especially because of the strong easterly headwind in the last 1.5 kilometres.

But in the end…

Personal Best 23 minutes and 45 seconds. 4:45 min per kilometre pace.

20th place out of 60 and 3rd again in the Male 35 age category, beaten by 1 second by another M35 runner. Damn.

I thought I had spotted the M35 runner who finished just ahead of me in the last race when waiting for the start. So I basically got in front of him and pushed. The guy overtook me in the last kilometre and I think this really helped my time as I finished about 1 second behind him. In the end, it wasn’t even the same guy!!! Funny.

My thoughts were quite negative during this run. Lots of, “what am I doing here”, ”I can’t do this” and other equally crap things. I have to start turning those thoughts around.

Absolutely stoked with the start to my running year with two great races. Next stop is the Matilda Bay 10km run in February. Time to push the kilometres up and add some speed work.

It’s not the typical holiday, but Rotto is fantastic for just getting away and relaxing. We had 7 days in Longreach which is a bay on the northern face of Rottnest. It is sheltered from the sea breeze and has beautiful lagoons for swimming and sandy beaches for cricket. 

So for 7 days we made sand castles, had barbies, played cricket, read books and rode our bikes around. My kids are growing up fast, so it’s nice to spend time with them before I get busy again.

Amy and Tyler made a couple of little mates, Michaela and John and they played all day out on the beach. Louise and I didn’t know what to do with ourselves sometimes but napping, chatting and reading was just fine. It’s a safe, friendly environment and so relaxed it’s practically asleep (that includes the shops and restaurants!!).

It was Louies birthday while we were away (41) and we had dinner at the tearooms. I wasn’t too happy with the number of pressies we got her, but she didn’t want for much more. Hopefully she spots something nice soon! Her new car Heidi Honda (CRV) comes in a couple of weeks. Can’t wait to see her face! She deserves a new car.

It was a great holiday. One more to go down at Augusta in a weeks time, and then we have Bali booked in October. I’m sure Louise is aiming to have me working 22 weeks of the year and the rest off!! Would be nice.

Spent this week in Rottnest Island. Fantastic, relaxing holiday with the family. Got some runs in and did alot of bike riding on my dodgy old MTB.

This week leads into Race 2 for 2008, the Christchurch Run which is a choice of 5km or 12km run. Last year I ran the 12km in 1:00:03. Not sure if I should be running a 12km at this stage so I’ll wait until the day.

A great week for heaps of reasons, and not much to report because….. I didn’t do much! Perfect! 

My first race of 2008 and my first opportunity to knock off one of my goals - a sub 25 minute 5km race.

The run is an out and back along the Swan River. It was about 25 degrees and sunny, so was pretty warm. The family came to watch me so I was pretty nervous. No one likes to come last in front of their kids!!

A field of about 100 runners lined up. This is one of two twilight events the WAMC runs so there was a BBQ after the run.

I felt pretty good heading out, and stuck with a group I felt comfortable with, then after 2 kms pushed ahead. The pack had skinnied out so I kept my eye on a couple of guys in front and tried to whittle away. After 3kms I was sitting at 14 minutes so knew I had a great opportunity to beat my previous record of 27:24.

Heading into the last kilometre stretch I could see the family support crew waving and yelling that I was going to make it in under 25 minutes. It was great to see them so excited for me and joining in.

Final time….

24 minutes and 02 seconds. 4:48 min per kilometre pace.

34th place out of 77 and 3rd in the Male 35 age category.

A new PB and under my goal time and much faster than I have ever run. It was a great start to 2008!

Back to work this week, so had my 8km run on New Years Day after a quiet New Year, and ran a short run with Dexter on Saturday. And today I ran my first race of the year - the Burswood Twilight 5km.

Louise, Amy, Tyler and Amy’s friend Miki came which was great. The run is down along the river near Burswood and it was a warm evening for a run so it was nice. Stay tuned for race report.

Off to Rottnest Island for a weeks holiday this Wednesday so plenty of time to run, swim, sleep, eat and play beach cricket! Can’t wait. It is one of the most enjoyable holidays you can have.

“What I’ve Done” - Linkin Park

In this farewell,

There’s no blood,

There’s no alibi.

‘Cause I’ve drawn regret,

From the truth,

Of a thousand lies.

So let mercy come,

And wash away…

What I’ve Done.

I’ll face myself,

To cross out what I’ve become.

Erase myself,

And let go of what I’ve done.

Put to rest,

What you thought of me.

While I clean this slate,

With the hands,

Of uncertainty.

So let mercy come,

And wash away…

What I’ve Done.

I’ll face myself,

To cross out what I’ve become.

Erase myself,

And let go of what I’ve done.

For What I’ve Done

I’ll start again,

And whatever pain may come.

Today this ends,

I’m forgiving what I’ve done.

I’ll face myself,

To cross out what I’ve become.

Erase myself,

And let go of what I’ve done.

What I’ve done.

Forgiving What I’ve Done.