Thursday, August 17, 2006

Very long post alert!
Edited and Added To:

It's 10 to 6 in the morning and even now im too busy to post properly!!!
Had a great time after i relaxed and forgot about goals for once.Just took it fairly easy.It was a blast,i enjoyed this C2S more than the two others i have run by a factor of 10.
2004 89:xx
2005 74:04
2006 66:31

Plus i cut like 7.5mins off last years time!!
More tonight (12 hrs time) when i get home from work
R2B

I came home from work and tonight Jacob had already gone to bed (Doh!) and Carrie was ready also (Doh!).
I didn't want to go for a run because i was cold and still a little sore from weekend (though i pulled up much better than my 2 previous years)There was a 5k race at the track so i decided to head down and just make it a "comfortably hard" tempo run.Carrie had thoughtfully prepacked my running gear in my sports bag so i woofed down a bowl of ravioli and then another,yum!

I thought if i don't run too hard then I won't be sick!!
Anyhow first 200 in 44
got the rest of the splits but accidently erased them.
Through 3km in 11:5x

Felt pretty "comfortably hard" the whole run and even overtook Tim East who normally runs 19:40 ish for 5km
No sprint finish this time,could have but just wanted to see my time sans sprint for a change.Waiting for the exact time to be posted on clubwebsite but nonetheless
a big PB

Edit:Time for 5km was 19:46 now for what it was i am stoked!!
My last 5km race was a PB of 21:30 so i have moved along just a little!!
This is tops as breaking 20mins has been a longstanding goal for me and to do it when i least expected it just goes to show me the benefit of not pressuring myself to much and also that when i set out to run a comfortably hard "tempo" run i have a tendency to muff it up when i get half way into it and i feel good!!The positive side effect though is PBs so i am going to try learning the lessons from this,which include not focusing on my splits (though i did take them(erasing them before i got to check them!)).

Okay C2S:
Turned up and as i had said on my Blog i was going to just go out and have some "fun"
Thursday 10th August
...Came home and i just read all the posts on my blog and i feel better.Just going to try and take C2S easy maybe next year for 60mins.Not the end of the world and besides i want to enjoy the day no matter the pace i ran or the place i came...




And the start as i posted to CR just now
I caught the train at 6am from Wollongong and met my brother in law PHIL who had decided not to run due to bad case of the 'flu. This must have been tough as he was training hard to break 60min after 60:09 and 60:03 last year!

We got to central station and for the first time i wasn't nervous about the run because i was doing it for fun!!

Walked to Hyde park to have a look around it was around 8am and i was suprised that only what seemed like about 100 people were lined up in A1 and about the same amount in A2.I gazed down at the A2 group and you were the first person i saw and you happened to be looking straight at me!!

Anyhow back to topic i thought it was more important to warm up than get straight in line so i trotted around the park for 10 mins fortunately my Brother in law had brought some throw away clothes as muggins here had forgotten his!

Start officials started to close the ranks down and only allow entry from the rear of the pack so i hurried in.I was wearing my CR cap for the first time and had noticed all the CRs towards the front.I wanted to say hi say i walked towards them and people let me pass.It was the cap i'm sure!!
I didnt quite get to them as i saw one of my clubmates and started to chat with him.
Was chatting away and i realised i was only a few feet from BlkBox and Gronk both of whom i got to meet for the first time.All of a sudden the group tightened up in prep for the imminent start.
The gun went of and i felt i was running pretty clear in no time at all.
So in my opinion getting up close to the start line was great and not nearly as stampeding as the near the back where i had been in the previous two years,although i didnt get there nearly as early.
I felt that i didnt impede any one faster than me and no one really slowed me up so i must have been placed just right.

Anyhow next year i plan to get amongst it so i will be camping out early!
Cheers R2B


Anyhow i started to run with Gronk,we seemed to keep fade towards and away from each other.One minute he was there and then gone and back again.Obviously we couldn't have been far apart!
Lost Gronk for good around Rose Bay and found Digger and said hi!He was a nice bloke and we chatted a little.
Heart Break Hill arrived and i wasn't going to bust a gut so i walked a little and ran a little i saw some people i knew and tapped them on the shoulder to say hello and offer encouragement.
Got to the dodgy 7km halfway mark in about 34mins feelin allright.That was easier than i expected off no hill training (one big hill in previous 10 weeks!)
Felt the undulations to come would be tougher and they were.Crossed 10km in about 48mins was feeling a bit tired so i walked a bit was starting to think about times again...durrr! forget that!Was just past a drink station when i saw a CR Cap ahead and decided to get up closer as i had a feeling it was Tesso.I reached her and i think i surprised her with a "Hello i'm R2B!" we ran together for a while but i didnt get it when she tried to explain to me that the CR cheersquad including Johnny Dark et al were ahead.I was tired but we had begun the downhills and it was easier just to let go and go with it i sensed Tesso had also picked up the pace.She told me afterwards that i helped her go alot faster than what she would have done if she was alone but alas i lost her somehow before we got to the cheersquad and we didn't get the photo she was hoping for D'oh!
Any how lovely lady and exactly as i had expected her to be!
Got to the 13km mark and as always it's still ages to the finish line, i started to walk again...people were saying to me
"mate the finish line is just ahead!"
i didn't care!
I just started to trot again and out of nowwhere CR Blue Dog was there beside me urging me on!I didn't feel like going any quicker but he insisted that i not fall behind him!How could i refuse a bloke who had just the previous day run 12ft?(90km)
Had a lot of respect for him after that so i picked up my stride and moved as fast as i reasonably could as we rounded the corner it felt great to finish!I had drunk at every drink station and quickly regained my composure.

Met Phil at our customary spot at surf club for an opening beer after a few minutes cool down and a swim in the ocean,beautiful.Was surprised when the lovely Lulu tapped me on the shoulder to say hi.(I didn't realise how prominent the CR cap makes you in a crowd!)
Left Phil and went to the other side of the beach and caught up with the Kj's tent.
Went across the road to a big pinkish hotel which i knew from a photo on Coolrunning was where the CR meetup was!

Met loads of top people including those mentioned previously and the likes of Johnny Dark, Ellie 80,Uncle Dave(what a down to earth guy!),Sparkie,Tesso,Digger,Bluedog,MPH, Bargewanna?,and many others!But unfortunately i had a train to catch and there aren't so many on a Sunday so i had to go early and missed meeting some of those i extra wanted to like Horrie,Don Juan,Shane Lewis and others who had helped positively by posting on my blog!

Anyhow thats a long post by a sometimes retiring type!
Thanks for reading.
R2B

19 comments:

Lulu said...

Great to meet you on Sunday R2B and well done on a great race.

Anonymous said...

Congrats on the pb, 7.5 mins is a decent slice.

Black Knight said...

Very fast!!! Congrats. Are the people scared now when they see the first assassin ready to run?

Unknown said...

Nice job on the PB. I look forward to hearing the whole story.

Ellie80 said...

great to meet you adrian! i'm glad that you came to the pub and we all got to chat with you this time! hope you enjoyed your trip and hope to see you again soon! :)

CJ said...

Thanks for your comments on my blog. And you must've been just behind me at C2S because our times are very close - mine was 65.33min. Shame we didn't meet but next time!

Spark Driver said...

Well done on the PB. Smashing your C2S time must have been very fulfilling?

Horrie said...

Well done on the 2 PBs in a week. That is a sensational improvement over 5km. You obviously have the speed. Once you build your endurance, your times will continue to plummet. Sorry I didn't get to meet you on Sunday but it took Tim and I a long time to finish. Good to see that Blue Dog kept you honest. He has a habit of doing that!

Superflake said...

R2B Congrats on the C2S and the 5k PB. Excellent to run that quick in a shorter race so soon after having a hard hilly race.

the_en4cer said...

Great work on the PB for 5km and the C2S. Are you running at Blackmores?

Anonymous said...

Hey R2B ... looks like you're in for some serious rewriting of your personal record books over the next 12 months. Congratulations on the new 5km PB, and your easy PB at C2S. Looking forward to racing you in the next couple of weeks.

Cheers, BJS

Tesso said...

It was so good to finally meet you R2B. Sorry to call you Gary mid race, but you do look like a Gary ;-)

I'm so grateful you yelled out to me and we got to run together for a while. I honestly would have been way slower if I hadn't have busted a gut to keep up with you.

Congrats on that awesome 5k PB. Wish I had that sort of speed in me.

Hopefully catch up again soon.

Don Juan said...

Congratulations on the PBs: C2S and the 5km.

Keep up the momentum and you'll smash 60 mins next year.

CJ said...

And I have put the link to my blog under my profile - thanks for that!

TD said...

That's a great post, R2B on your C2S experience. Tesso is a gem and as you indicated she is one of those (probably rare) cases of where 'what you see (online) is what you get (in person)'. This C2S was also my third and my most enjoyable. It was made more enjoyable by all the great people I caught up with on the day. To feel the collective energy of 60,000 was something special. And that's a great shot of you and the family in an earlier post.

Unknown said...

Great report. Nice job on the 5k as well.

Ewen said...

The real excitement of the day comes through in that post R2B - well done.

You have the speed to be well under 60 next year. Good stuff.

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