Live, love, run

I spent Saturday afternoon getting my gear prepared for the 15km Deepwater Point run on Sunday 30th November. 15km is a distance I don’t have a benchmark in so I was pretty keen to get a time logged.

After preparing all of my clothes, Gu, food, carbo loading and drinking 2 litres of Gatorade I went off to a card night with the lads. I didn’t drink, preferring to be ready for the race. For the record I still got fleeced in Texas Hold Em.

I got home just after midnight, and re-checked all my gear then jumped into bed knowing I needed to be up at 5:45am to be ready for the 7am start. That’s all great, but in order to wake up with only 5 and a half hours sleep you need…… AN ALARM SET!

Louie woke me at around 7:30am with a cup of tea. Gutted. I snuck a peek out of my window, and it was a beautiful sunny spring morning at about 19 degrees. Blue skies, no wind. Double gutted. Sigh.

One week until Deepwater Point and I feel pretty good. Work has been hideous with lots of financial issues flying around, so running mid week was off the agenda. Got two runs in this weekend, for 8.5km and 11.5km today.

We had an extended family picnic at Rotary Park which was great. My Papa was there and he continues to amaze me. Noni, my grandma passed away a year or so ago, and he has just soldiered on getting it done. He had some photos of his younger days with him today, and it reminded me how much I respected, or maybe feared him, when I was younger. He was a pretty intimidating bloke. Strong and fearless, the guy who went to war, adventure man who shoots wild boar and kangaroos, and although suffering from sea sickness never came home without a catch. Tough bugger!

Saw all my cousins and my sisters plus the gaggle of nieces and nephews. Really nice day.

Anyway, I ran home from the picnic which I think I’ll try and do more of when we are out. It’s a good way to get a long run and makes for a change in scenery.

Starting some hill training this week at a spot called Mount Street near Jacob’s Ladder in Kings Park. It is a 600m steep incline hill. I am thinking I will do shuttle runs and see how that goes. I’m also starting to incorporate some core work to add some strength.

The plan post Deepwater is shorter races for a few months, gradually building to a half and then my first marathon. I’m just waiting for the 2009 WAMC Programme to schedule it in.

Dexter is my running buddy. He’s a 2 year old cavoodle (cavalier/ poodle cross) and is a pampered pooch! But he loves to get out and run with me. We are lucky enough to live a couple of minutes from Mullaloo beach, so beach runs are a regular occurence.

He’s not your classic running dog. Most people have a bit of a smirk when they see us run together. But he loves it and is doing well on runs up to about 12kms.

The issue is that he is not great off the lead. He gets SO excited chasing flies on the beach or pursuing other dogs that he simply forgets I am there. That’s fine when I am running and he is around me, but on Saturday he just ran, and ran, and ran…

I reckon he was up to 1.5kms up the beach from me which was A. annoying because I had to go and catch the little bastard, and B. scarey because I simply can’t go home without him!! The family would prefer I left home before the dog did!

He is great company, but I have to find a way to get him to stick with me. We have a membership at Bark Busters so I’ll  get them in I think. If he’s going to keep running with me I need to have him under control.

Good week of running managing to get back over the 20km mark. Will up to four runs this week and try for the consistent 30km plus. Over the week I completed a 7km, 9.5km and an easy 4.5km at horse riding.

Daylight saving is in play now, so  running early or late is now the go.

I have two weeks until the Deepwater Point 15km which I will run with no other intention than setting a finishing time for future reference. I hear it is a beautiful course, and it will provide me with some motivation to push the kilometres up.

I am hearing that next year’s City to Surf will have a Marathon component. I was aiming for the Melbourne Marathon next year, but if this comes true I’ll run the local one first to support it.

Since Melbourne Cup I have cut down on the booze considerably, with none during the weekdays and only a couple of beers on the weekend. I am sleeping better and running better as a result. Will keep that up from now on.

You head out on a 7km easy run with the dog. You feel good. It’s a nice day, sun setting, all good. You run freely and increase speed. You remember why running is so much fun. You’re gliding and you hit the turn around point in great time. Then you turn…..

Into a hideous south westerly breeze!

Out 17:34. Back 20:28. Doh. 

So, since my birthday I have spent a couple of weeks in Bali. Did a bit of running and plenty of gym work, but not enough to stabilise the one million Bintangs I consumed. After being back for a day I shot straight off to the island of Rhodes in Greece for a Conference.

33 hours on planes and in airports, lost luggage and a nice dose of jet lag helped to have me do pretty close to nothing physical while I was there. To be fair, the conference was the reason I was in Greece, but it doesn’t excuse not using spare time to have a run, or go to the gym.

Greece was great, but it’s a long way away and I am not a great solo traveller. I met some nice people along the way but nothing substitutes for your family and friends. It was a nice trip but it was a relief to go home.

Getting back home proved to be just as difficult on my body. It took me a full week to get over the flight and return to work. The end result is I reckon I have put on a couple of kilos and my running has suffered.

My plans for races has fallen away in the last couple of months, and I have simply deleted them out of training log rather than give them a go. I suppose there is no point competing if you are just not ready, but I feel like I’ve let myself down. So it’s time for a new plan.

For a start I am off the booze Sunday to Friday with Saturday reserved for a few drinks if there is an occassion that suits it, but I want to cut back alot. I love a beer, and a red wine but I feel like I have been drinking too much lately. It’s too easy to come home and have a couple of beers, then a couple of reds each night.

Rather than try and build a 4 or 5 day a week running programme I am going to aim for 3 and stick to that. I only have one race left this year which is the City Beach 8km, so I’ll wait for the 2009 Programme at WAMC and start the build again with the aim of completing my first Marathon either in Perth, or in Melbourne later in the year.

Ok, so you’re turning 40. It’s a big deal. So why just have a birthday when you can have…… a festival!

The Festival of Bainy began on September 5th, four days before my 40th. A 1pm  kick off at The Brisbane Hotel with the MF Management team closely followed by the creative lads, then my mates, colleagues, clients and others. What happened? I’d love to tell you, but unfortunately I was not in any state to remember. All I know was that it was long and VERY painful the next day. From what I hear I had a great time!

Second came the family lunch on Father’s Day. The immediate family came, and Lou’s Mum. It was a nice barbecue and drinks afternoon. Mum and Dad gave me a great photographic history of life up to 40, plus all my school history which got a bit scarey in Years 11 and 12 where I really played up. Good times.

Third was my actual birthday, 9th September. Much love lavished on me at home, then a surprise morning tea at work followed by an hour long swedish massage in my office. Now I can say I have been in my undies only in my office. It was a lovely day and great fun. I felt very spolit.

Event four was dinner at Soda Cafe in Trigg with all my closest mates. That morning Muzza picked me up and whisked me away for a helicopter flight over Perth’s beaches, complete with a home made sign he had done on his block in North Beach. What a great surprise, and what a great bloke. I think I bought him cufflinks for his 40th! Disgraceful.

The final session was lunch with Kelly at The Wild Fig. Unfortunately, Marita couldn’t make it which was sad, but OK. We’re mates regardless of what or where we see each other.

Best birthday ever. Exactly what I wanted.