Last Sunday i contested the sri chinmoy 1/2 marathon cross country race in centennial park . I had a solid race finishing in 1hr 38m 23s, was i happy no i was run down for 3rd in the over 50s in the last 800 metres by a guy I've beaten before ,i was left feeling very frustrated because this winter has been one setback after another .After thinking I'd gotten over the recent flu it came back to sucker punch me 6 days before the race .What has been more frustrating is illness and injuries caused me to have to back off training, my biggest week in the last 5 weeks has only been 49 km not exactly long race mileage .
Where am i going with this you might ask ? well as i prepare to enter my 42nd year of running I've realised i have to take a step back and be thankful that i can still run and compete at all, i have to realise that at age 54 my best competitive days are behind me and whether i like it or not these not a lot of difference between my training pace and my racing pace these days ,a running friend offered me the following ,when your in your fifties your not running for time your running against father time .
And isn't that what its all about as you get older keeping the body healthy and moving, to remember why you started running in the first place, because it made you feel good , it made you feel like someone special' it gave you a feeling no one could take off you a feeling non runners could never understand .
I will still race but i won't get myself so worked up and frustrated by results i will be thankful that after all these years i am still able to keep going. Its hard to find the motivation and the drive sometimes but when you find yourself laughing in the middle of a great training run saying to yourself how good is this its all worth it .
Monday 30 July 2012
Monday 9 July 2012
RETURN TO RACING
Last Sunday i made a long awaited return to racing at the sri chinmoy half marathon at dolls point .It was a pretty low key affair with only 138 starters with more in the 10 and 5km events .
I have had a lot of setbacks the last 6 months and the lead up to this wasn't without its problems ,a troublesome itb problem had forced me to back off intensity and mileage and i then managed to pick up a cold 6 days before the race but i felt well enough to compete .I got thru it OK but only after dying a slow death the last 3km ,i probably ran the first 5km too fast for my conditioning after my brain forgot my age ! The cold affected me as i had several coughing fits in the 2nd half of the race ,my time was disappointing 1hr 39m 24s on a slightly long course 'garmin 300metres ' which is marathon pace,an average of 4m 40 per km. I wasn't feeling real flash afterwards and even less at the presentation where i discovered I'd missed 3rd in the over 50s by 1 place and 45 seconds ! the winner had come 2nd outright in a amazing 1hr 20min ,i was however 3rd womann !
The good news is i didn't bash my legs up being able to resume running the next day and now 2 days latter the cold is nearly gone . They have another half on in 3 weeks all cross country in centennial park
which i will have another go .I was planning to do the m7 black town marathon at the end of July but due to the itb problem i will defer probably to the Sydney marathon .
Looking back in my diary i was amazed that the only two races I'd done in the last 12 months were last July's m7 black town marathon and the 50miler ultra in Canada ,most of the small local races i used to run have dried up .
Theres a lot of work to be done i just don't need anymore disruptions !
I have had a lot of setbacks the last 6 months and the lead up to this wasn't without its problems ,a troublesome itb problem had forced me to back off intensity and mileage and i then managed to pick up a cold 6 days before the race but i felt well enough to compete .I got thru it OK but only after dying a slow death the last 3km ,i probably ran the first 5km too fast for my conditioning after my brain forgot my age ! The cold affected me as i had several coughing fits in the 2nd half of the race ,my time was disappointing 1hr 39m 24s on a slightly long course 'garmin 300metres ' which is marathon pace,an average of 4m 40 per km. I wasn't feeling real flash afterwards and even less at the presentation where i discovered I'd missed 3rd in the over 50s by 1 place and 45 seconds ! the winner had come 2nd outright in a amazing 1hr 20min ,i was however 3rd womann !
The good news is i didn't bash my legs up being able to resume running the next day and now 2 days latter the cold is nearly gone . They have another half on in 3 weeks all cross country in centennial park
which i will have another go .I was planning to do the m7 black town marathon at the end of July but due to the itb problem i will defer probably to the Sydney marathon .
Looking back in my diary i was amazed that the only two races I'd done in the last 12 months were last July's m7 black town marathon and the 50miler ultra in Canada ,most of the small local races i used to run have dried up .
Theres a lot of work to be done i just don't need anymore disruptions !
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