Tag Archives: running

2024, my year that was

Leave a reply

It’s amazing how quickly the years pass by.

Before the memories fall into a dateless mix of my life, or worse and completely forgotten, I wanted to chronicle some key moments from the last twelve months for future reference. I’m hoping my recordkeeping is good enough to support the new habit of producing a yearly report. My own State Of The Union.

Events

20/01: Some mates and I attended the Geelong Beer Festival again. Each year it seems to get bigger & better. What made it interesting for me was our dubious attempt to archive the event by recording videos of the different beers we tried, with thoughtful reviews which just got louder and less articulate as the day went on. Well, until my phone died altogether – along with my method of payment.

A mate and I also navigated a very creative route from Johnstone Park to a nearby bar, which I learned the next day that I had helpfully saved to Strava.

24/02: Pakofesta, Geelong’s multicultural festival (on Pakington Street) we lock in to attend each year. This time we had my parents staying with us, and as always we all enjoyed eating various delicacies from around the world. It’s our challenge each year to eat from more countries.

27/06-04/07: One of the most significant events of the year was our full family trip up to Queensland.
It was under the pretence of my brother’s 51st Birthday Party (as Corey & his family came down to celebrate his actual 50th birthday milestone with us). The night out at Redcliffe Leagues Club was actually a surprise celebration for our Mum. She got to see so many of her former colleagues, friends & family from various parts of Australia without having to wait for a birthday, or to put it morbidly as we did, for her own funeral where she’d be disappointed to miss the party.

We combined the trip with a few memorable activities, like flying into Coolangatta where we stayed and caught up with our old Dubai friends who had moved back to the Gold Coast, whom we haven’t seen for quite some time. We even went Go-Karting with them the following day. There it became very obvious they’re a family of petrol head / motorsport enthusiasts and my kids & I clearly are not. It was definitely fun tho.

Lewis, Owen and I stayed up in Qld for another couple of weeks as we had no work/school pressures to get back to. It gave us time to stay up with my brother on the Sunshine Coast for longer, and even drive up to Hervey Bay to stay with my cousin John/Jason for a night and explore the region a little – including a selfie or two with Mary Poppins.

It’s a little perplexing that we had such a great time and fitted in so much, yet I posted nothing online during or immediately after this trip. In hindsight, it was probably too daunting to do justice to such an awesome holiday. So I did keep the photos to myself and just shared with family. And we certainly enjoyed being in the moment.

Movies

It’s pretty rare for me to visit a cinema, but I did go to watch two films this year.
03/04: I kind of reluctantly watched Kung Fu Panda 4, which wasn’t bad. Just felt maybe longer than necessary, and predictable.

25/08: And Lewis & I went to watch Deadpool & Wolverine. It was such an epic movie, we seemed to need quite a debrief afterwards to check on some of the content & gags that we struggled with, which maybe only true fans might get.

Sports

2024 was a wonderful sporting year for me in many ways.

Brinky boys sport

Lewis & Owen both won their first rugby union premierships, after moving clubs to join the Wyndham Rhinos.

Lewis had another significant year in rugby. He captained his school team, who went undefeated to become Rebels Shield premiers of Victoria. He also became a key player in the Super Rugby Under 16s competition for the Melbourne Rebels in their final season. And he joined the Lloydies Aboriginal team with Uni of Sydney again for the Ella Rugby 7s competition in Sydney. His performances got noticed by others as well. A player agent reached out, and has supported him to take a new trajectory with his rugby. It will now see Lewis shifting to Queensland in 2025 to join in the private school’s GPS rugby competition. He’s looking forward to it, with far fewer hesitations than his parents having a first son leave home.

Myles’s Aussie rules team, the Anglesea Reserves struggled more in 2024. I think it’s fair to say it was a rebuilding year. And despite the coaches placing Myles into defensive roles for significant parts of the season, he still had a wonderful year and in the final match kicked four goals to narrowly leapfrog his competition to win the coveted leading goal kicker award.

We recognised these amazing achievements with our own “Sporting Legends” dinner at Squire’s Loft for the family. And we felt it important to reiterate that their successes are amazing achievements and not something we can’t take for granted.

My own sporting exploits were definitely hampered this year due to my age and a string of reoccuring injuries.
I “played” in both the VACSAL Basketball Tournament in Shepparton (09-10/03), and the VACSAL Football Carnival in Portarlington (05-06/10). But each resulted in me having pretty bad (and different) knee complaints.
At the basketball I’d put it down to me doing too much before the tournament began. At this stage I was playing basketball every week or so with the AMC (old farts) league, and usually doing well with 2-3 casual games on a Thursday evening. But while in Shepparton I thought it’d be a good idea to run from the hotel down to their ParkRun, do that & run back again. Then, by no surprise at all, after the 2nd or 3rd game, my right knee had enough and started swelling. We played better as a team this year. In 2023 I was frustrated watching from the sidelines, with the same knee issue the year before. But this group made it one game away from the grand final. Once we were done there, the kids and I still managed to climb Mount Piper on our return journey.


At the footy carnival, I’d put my knee injury down to me thinking I was young again and trying to match the athletic kids leaping high for a mark. My body has clearly become unfamiliar with such heights, and on the landing I hyperextended my left knee. I was able to play one more game very sheepishly, then sit on the bench for the final game of that day. Day two I had to play a couple more games, on account of our team lacking numbers. The correct taping of my knee joint by a proper footy strapper though made it bearable and allowed some pain free movement. Apart from those limitations it was wonderful to be out with our local Aboriginal community and have lots of fun.

Golf

On the 01/01/2024, Myles and I with another father & son played a round of golf at Anglesea. The scoring went a bit off, but it was great to start the year right by getting out and having a social hit. And I’m happy to report it’s become an annual tradition now, after we played together again on 01/01/2025. That’s been great, if we ignore that we all said last year that we should do this more often. HA!.

Myles returned to working at the golf course this year, and has taken more of a shining to playing golf in recent months. So with Lewis, we’ve played a handful of times almost weekly. It’s been lovely to see the boys figuring out their games and rapidly improving. Myles in our final game beat me for the first time. I’m sure it won’t be the last.

Sports spectating

When the kids or I aren’t playing sport, I enjoy watching most sports. I’d say I enjoyed some mixed results this year.

Olympics

Just five months on, I had almost forgot that 2024 was an Olympics year. It was hosted marvelously in Paris. There were many highlights, and sadly for breakdancer Raygun quite a few lowlights that will be the main memory for many. I see in my notes from the time, I made the most of the timezone difference on a few evenings to watch the whole Olympics program until our morning. Australia did amazingly well. The Australian team came fourth overall, winning a record 18 Gold medals.

Aussie Rules

The Brisbane Lions are AFL Premiers, after beating the hapless Sydney Swans (their 2nd Grand Final loss in 3 years). What a HUGE relief for Brisbane after losing the grand final the year before, against Collingwood of all teams. We couldn’t get any grand final tickets (for less than $5000). So we happily watched at home, well initially it was more nerves than happiness. The game finally finished 9.6 (60) – 18.12 (120). In many ways the grand final was an anti-climax after the Lion’s two preceding games needed massive come from behind wins. Being behind by 44 poinst against GWS in the Semi-final, and winning a tight contest again Geelong Cats (our local team) after being behind by almost 30 points at one stage.

Two months later Brisbane almost pulled off ultimate bragging rights, with their AFLW team also playing for the premiership in the women’s comp. Sadly that wasn’t to be. It flipped the outcome of the 2023 season, where the lady Lions won, and the men’s team lost.

Before the biggest day on the AFL calendar, I attended an AFL Grand final eve golf day. It had many promotions & special activities, sadly I didn’t manage the year’s worth of beer Hole-in-one. With so much on the line the following day with my Brisbane Lions, I had less interest in the game of golf and much more interest in contributing to the profits of CBCo, the event’s beer sponsor. It was fun day I’ll probably do again.

We attended a couple of matches this year.
07/06: Bulldogs vs Lions in the Medallion Club of Marvel Stadium was a highlight. We sat alongside some of the injured Bulldogs list in the fancy seats. Lions got a nice 40 point victory. It led many nearby Western Bulldog fans to quite hilariously complain incessantly about the umpiring which we viewed as absolutely perfect.
That victory was the first in a record nine match winning streak, which was desperately needed to get the Lions back into a position to battle for the premiership. And it was also the first time Myles saw a Lions win live, after him attending matches since 2018.


28/06: While in Brisbane for my Mum’s celebration we managed to catch Lions vs Demons with nine of us. Brisbane won by less than a goal in the final minutes courtesy of a Hugh McCluccage 6 pointer, after being behind from basically the middle of the second quarter.

Rugby League

04/04: In a pretty sad annual tradition, I went to see Melbourne Storm beat Brisbane Broncos down here at AAMI Park. This time it was terribly close, ending 34-32. A couple of mistakes the only thing keeping Broncos from achieving quite the upset.

17-19/05: I loved attending the NRL Magic Round again. This time I took two mates from Torquay up to Queensland to make it a boys trip. One of the guys had not attended a single match before that weekend.

Unfortunately in the NRL, my Brisbane Broncos failed miserably in 2024. So miserably, the powerbrokers realised a change was needed and Kevin Walters their coach was dropped, along with a few other off-field changes like club stalwart Allan Langer no longer running the water on the field.

And one the other 5 league teams I support, the Redcliffe Dolphins in just their 2nd season narrowly missed out on finals again, due to a final round loss to Newcastle. Though they had a fantastic season.

Sadly, Queensland lost the year’s State of Origin Series despite looking unassailable again after winning Game 1 of 3. That result was massively assisted by (new rugby union recruit) Joseph Suaali being sent off in the 7th minute for a brazen high shot on Reece Walsh. It seemed Mike Maguire the NSW coach was worth his money, turning around the series very impressively. Now that he’s the new Broncos coach, things are looking up for Brisbane in the 2025 season! And hopefully bad again for NSW for three foreseeable future.

Rugby Union

Last year I attended only a couple of professional matches.

23/02: We saw Rebels vs ACT Brumbies at AAMI Park while my parents were in town. The stadium lived up to its informal title as the coldest place on Earth. Sadly the Rebels got smashed 30-3 in the opening round clash.

13/07: And we also watched the Wallabies playing Wales at Marvel Stadium. It was good to see Wallabies playing better, winning 36-28.

Wrestling

11/05: Something entirely different, was when Owen & I went to watch Lucha Fantastica (Mexican) Wrestling at Geelong Town Hall. It was so much better than I ever expected. We’re definitely on the look out for when wrestling comes to town again.

Running

I was happy to easily complete another 100km per month, finishing the year at the Dawnbuster Fun Run on the morning of New Year’s Eve with a total of 1290km. This year I was less motivated to round up and force in another run. It was the same time at the Dawnbusters two years earlier that I learned how to find my yearly km total in Strava, where I had a meagre deficit to make a 1200km year, which I rectified when home with a second run.

10/02: The first event of the year though was the half marathon at Bellarine Sunset Run, which I unexpectedly joined up with my friend Gary.

21/09: The highlight event for me was Surf Coast Century 50km trail run. What a delight that was! Training went well with the Surf Coast Trail Runners, and it was a worry to open my eyes to the potential of going further, when in the final 3 kms we actually sped up and had plenty left in the tank.

13/10: I also ran the 10km at Melbourne Marathon with Myles and our family friend again. This goal time was reduced again to support Todd, and somehow I managed it – despite the hyperextension of my knee at the footy happening the weekend prior. I thought that was a sign the knee wasn’t serious. Nope. The physio clarified running in a straight line is easy. My PCL injury is bad with all other types of movements.

2024 was my most prolific year at ParkRun. I ran 21 events (in the preceding 6 years I ran just 37 times). It’s hardly a noteworthy number, with some people religiously completing 52 each and every year. But for most of the year I do have a clash with the kids Saturday sports. At ParkRun I enjoyed volunteering twice also, including being the photographer for the first time. It was definitely fun, although the whittling down & editing of 400+ photos was a mammoth undertaking.

Actually I volunteered a few other times this year:

  • Marshall at the inaugural Torquay Triathlon – where I basically just cheered on for all my friends out on the course
  • Aid station at Afterglow, which was lots of fun, and
  • Sweeper at the Anglesea Roo Run.

Health

I started the year with big hopes for being super healthy, returning to Yoga after many years off. It became a solid weekly practice thanks to a ClassPass benefit from my employer. I’d even pack my mat when meeting mates at the brewery, before walking on to my Yin Yoga session nearby which got a few laughs. A couple of knee complaints though put a stop to me wanting to stretch in non-mandatory ways.

Overall I think I was pretty healthy in 2024, given it’s the oldest my body has ever been. There was one further hip/adductor complaint in late July that had me painfully glued to the couch which required physio attention. The physio sorted that out without it hampering my Surf Coast Century training, which I remember being an absolute relief.

I am surprised to spot that I actually had COVID again in 2024, on 9th January missing the first few days returning to work after the new year.

One further blemish last year was that I donated blood only once. And that occasion was a #fail, with the blood flow slowing too much to continue in full. I sufficiently drank far too much water as usual beforehand to help, which I learned from past experience. But my veins weren’t playing on the day. There was a trainee nurse who did seem to struggle with the needle. And it was the week after the 50km ultra marathon. But neither of which should have mattered.

Reading

I managed to complete my 2024 reading goal of six books. Having a 2 hour commute a couple of times per week has been really helpful. I actually read 7 books, https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2024/12648231.
I noticed in the initial Goodreads summary, one of my tally was a graphic novel which I didn’t even enjoy. So I fast-tracked finishing a more appropriate book before the year was out.

This is in quite stark difference to previous year’s reading goals where I included audio books, which I was well aware I had very little recall of moments after listening to. This was particularly the case while listening during a run, to manage the final book’s completion on the final day of the year.

And that’s a wrap

2024 was another great year that I’m terribly grateful for. My family and I experienced so many joyful moments & events.

It’s been lovely to review and recount many of those moments in pulling this together.

Here’s hoping, we all have a happy and safe 2025!

Alternate modes of transport

Leave a reply

On my last commute into the city, my regular train service was unavailable due to their staff members being on strike. I shared the update with my work group chat, and that I still managed to get into the office.

Their emoji reactions show they’ve become familiar with me perhaps running more than most. Covering 102kms between home and my work office though!? I must say their expectations are severely out of touch.

Bellarine Sunset Run – 10 Feb 2024

Leave a reply

On the weekend I ran the half marathon at the Flying Brick (Cider) Bellarine Sunset Run. It was my 21st half marathon.

I think there were almost 900 people at this event in all. 369 runners and walkers for the half alone.

I spotted Australian cycling royalty Cadel Evans collecting his runner’s bib which got a lot of interest from our group. Cadel was looking very fit, altho a shadow of his Tour de France champion physique. Definitely still athletic, he went on to finish in 6th position for the half marathon, in a respectable 1hr 30.

It was a warm day, at least 26 degrees which led to lots of people struggling through the afternoon. But the support of the crowd and caravan park party people didn’t subside. A few along the course sprayed us with their garden hoses, which everyone appreciated. When I checked facetiously if it was in fact water, there were a variety of funny answers.

My own running pace was very controlled for the first 10kms, and I was pleased with my training to be on track somewhere under 1:50 pace, but the heat was definitely becoming a factor.

While I was running, I saw my mate Gary, my coaching counterpart for the Under 12s rugby team last year. Gary surprised me by giving me a high-five as he ran by from the other way. He’s new to running long races and had started in the group which began 20 minutes earlier.

Just before this chance encounter, doubts were entering my head whether I could continue at this pace or if my body would reluctantly slow down. I continued on, even speeding up a little as I was distracted with a mini goal to catch up to my mate. It didn’t take long to reach him, and the poor guy was definitely struggling. I thought it’d be a lot more rewarding to help him pull through his ‘hurt locker’, and also catch up with him for the first time since our kids rugby season concluded last year.

He tried unsuccessfully for me to return to my race alone instead of joining him. I wondered, did I really choose to slow down and help him with some company through the race, or did I just choose the easy option and opt out on the hard work to run faster?

It didn’t matter in the end. It was enjoyable to take it easy and ignore my finishing time and spend the time more socially. He lives on the Bellarine, not far from the half marathon route and knew the course quite well. He even ran the whole thing a few days earlier – probably contributing to the massive muscle cramps he suffered in his quads. So he knew the landmark tree to spot which signalled the final two kilometres. We finished up our last resting walk before raising the pace, and even adding a sprint down the hill and around the corner to the finish.

It felt so rewarding to cross the finish line to the cheers of the remaining crowd. Maybe a sign of our mutual struggle, we didn’t give high fives at the end, we had a hearty hug.

After getting our medals I found a grassy spot for my mate to crash and relax his painful legs, while I got us two Apple Ciders (including quite an unusual line called a Splicer). Unfortunately my phone had unlocked at some point inside my hydration vest and had pressed wrong passcodes. It resulted in the phone locking me out for 10 minutes, which blocked me from making mobile payments. So my friend had to regrettably stand up again on his painful legs and pay for the drinks I was supposedly buying us.

I ended up having more with some of our Surf Coast Trail Runners who had returned from their volunteering duties at the event. Given the afternoon’s heat they were impressed with everyone’s effort, and more than a little pleased with their decision to volley instead of run. We stayed on at the finish line cheering the finishers until the final participant crossed, closely followed by more of our SCTR friends who were the volunteer tail walkers.

The night ended with us making the last order of Bahn Bao Buns from the final food truck yet to pack up. Then we found the local pizza place still open at 9pm, which provided a great (only?) dinner option, before I made the 50 minute drive home.

Starting a half marathon at 5:20pm doesn’t feel natural to me. It’s near impossible to spend an entire day around my kids without them consuming most of my energy. Perhaps that helped with the decision to take this race comfortably in the end, which made for a wonderful running experience. Think I’ll add this event to my annual running schedule.

Parkrun fun

Leave a reply

I ran another Parkrun this morning, my 40th. It’s not quite a notifiable milestone, but finally getting close.

Being part of the local Parkrun community has been more fun than I imagined. I’ve quite enjoyed seeing the same faces, and experiencing the camaraderie and often some banter.

There are always a couple of funny moments. Today it was as I dropped off my car keys at the table before the run, and one of the regular volunteers joked if I was there to see the course map (that I may have actually run 100 times or more). I said I was fine, I’ll just follow someone today – instead of leading for a change. Not!

On the course there was a guy just in front of us not dodging the overhanging branches of trees. It was something to behold, and something to avoid as the branches flung back. He had what looked like a hydration vest. I joked that it wasn’t for hydration, it contained a machete he’d start using as he goes more bush.

Then as I finished and was handed my place token, the volunteer mentioned he saved Number 0001 for me (to record me as the winner, instead of 31st out of 353). Ha!

It kind of reminded of the time I was volunteering as a barcode scanner and the guy who did finish first forgot his own barcode to record his result. I helpfully told him I have my own barcode he could use. The guy was a visitor to our Parkrun and didn’t initially know it was just a joke.

When the kids’ sporting seasons commence, Saturday games kick in and I often can’t make it to Parkrun. I will whenever I can though, as I know there will always be some fun moments. Maybe ones I’d like to record here and read again one day.

Surf Coast Trail Marathon 2022

Leave a reply

In terms of number of marathons I’ve run, this was to be my “Unlucky for some” race. So I left nothing to chance. I completed a pretty diligent 16 weeks of training, running 705.4kms in total.

An added bonus was most of my training was on the Surf Coast Trail Marathon course, known as the “Surf Coast Walk”. The SCTM sets off from Salty Dog Café (Bella and my local beach walk turnaround point), and finishes at the Fairhaven Surf Life Saving Club. And it’s a simple route, as the Race Director announced. If you’re up to your waist in water you’ve gone too far left. If you’ve crossed Great Ocean Road, you’ve gone too far right.

Most of my final packing and prep has become quite standard over the years, and went to plan, except .. The night before, I wisely left out the Vaseline to apply in the morning to prevent any chafing during the race. Except, it was NOT Vaseline I was applying. Quite the opposite. I could tell from the strong Eucalyptus aroma I was mistakenly giving my tender areas a generous Vix Vaporub! Instead of the cool relief of a moisturising balm, I felt the warm inner glow of a sexually-transmitted disease. It washed off OK. Good thing our Deep Heat isn’t in a similar shaped tub.

Rather than walk the 2kms from home to the start, and organise a ride back from the finish 42.2kms West, I decided to leave my car at the finish & use their shuttle bus back to the race start. It seemed logical, but certainly felt odd to drive the entire distance of a race before shuttle bussing all the way back, only to then run the full distance under my own steam.

At the start line, there were maybe just 200 runners, which was nice and intimate. There seemed to be no sudden influx of runners despite US politician, John Kennedy’s suggestion that gas prices are currently so high that people would find it cheaper to “buy cocaine and just run everywhere.”

The temperature at the start time of 8:30am was much warmer than my training runs which were usually an hour or two earlier in the day. As we set off, I was shocked to see the group in front of me were all vaping. Were they all sharing the same e-cigarette, or did they each have their own cause it looked like they were puffing in unison? As I got closer I realised it was just the steam from their breath. So maybe it was colder than I realised.

I felt reasonably OK throughout most of the distance. There are always moments though when you need to find something to encourage you to keep up the pace, or just keep going. At one of these points I found some extra motivation, hearing quite close behind me a guy coughing and spluttering. I had no choice but to pick up the pace and outrun any potential COVID germs.

At the 39km mark I saw a runner crouching down next to a marshal at the Airey’s lighthouse. He was clearly struggling and looked unable to continue. As I was about to pass him he joked “I’ll give you $50 if you give me a piggyback.” I laughed and apologised, “Not today” (which sounded a bit more suggestive than I hoped). As I painfully shuffled by him, I realised I’d knock him back even if he was offering $50,000.

It was no surprise, the final four kilometres were the toughest. I’ve learned from trail runners it’s fine to walk up hills, guilt free. When my legs were starting to run out of juice, everything started to look hill-like. I tried keeping a little bit of movement ready for the infamous finish line which is halfway up the surf club stairs from the beach. But it proved unnecessary. The high tide had washed away the sand and left the bottom step dangling infeasibly a metre or so above the shoreline. Coming up the alternative final climb of the subway suited me fine. I crossed the line with much relief at 4hr 25mins. This was five minutes under my target time; and 15 seconds per km quicker than my Surf Coast Century relay leg late last year. The SCC Leg 3 was a beast with the same elevation, but SCTM is over twice the distance. So today felt like a good result.

I made use of the surf club’s gloriously warm showers, then after a beer enjoyed cheering on the others still finishing.

All I then had to do was make the journey between Fairhaven and Torquay a fourth and final time. Which at least had an enjoyable pit stop at event sponsor Aireys Pub with some of the Surf Coast Trail Runners. I enjoyed a rewarding free beer (the tastiest of all beers).

Following is the Relive video of my Strava journey on the day, with some photos along the way.

My Melbourne Marathon, 2019

Leave a reply

Repatriating to Australia at the end of 2018, and into a new state for us in Victoria, it opened up a wonderful opportunity to run new marathons. I set my sights first on my capital city’s major road race, the Nike Melbourne Marathon. (For anyone counting, this would be number 11)

This race had been on my mind many years earlier. Even since I completed the Gold Coast City marathon probably. For fellow Queenslanders, the decision of which marathon outside of Queensland to run usually comes down to their preference to finish at The Sydney Opera House or finish on the hallowed turf of the MCG. I love my sport which, combined with my illogical opposition to all things from NSW, meant Melbourne was always going to be the clear winner.

Once I had finished running it, (in a slightly off target 4hr 03 minutes) I wanted to capture some of the amazing moments from the event, and I thought a Tweetstorm was the simplest (and therefore best) format for that. Now I have found that WordPress has an Unroll feature for Twitter embeds. So here following, are the 12 tweets from my 2019 Melbourne Marathon experience.

Sunday’s #MelbMara was amazing. A thread might be simpler than a blog to capture a few fun tidbits. (1/12)

Before the race I walked more than I wanted looking for the marathon bag drop. My Apple Watch informed me I’d completed my exercise goal before reaching the start line. ?

Loved an early spectator sign in the first few kms saying “You’re nearly there … (just kidding)” ?

Saw a spectator with a “Go Random Stranger” sign popping up all over the course. Runners beside me yelled “Thank you random cheerleader”. ? Later I noticed the sign flipped to show “Go Dan” on the other side when needed.

Another spectator sign I enjoyed, “It’s an awful lot of effort for a free banana.” ? (I might be mistaken, but I recollect there being only half bananas after the finish. Yet on the course they were whole. The opposite would have been better?)

.@EliudKipchoge running the first sub 2 hr marathon the day before was quite a talking point.

At one point on the course our group hit a complete standstill, where I said we’d now not break the world record. My neighbour concurred, since we had no laser guidance from a pace car (we were on 4:30 pace). ?

I saw more spectators around the course randomly handing out lollies than I have at any marathon. I asked one runner if his Mum knows he’s taking candy from strangers. After a pause, he said “At least he was wearing a glove.” ?

Around 30km mark I stopped noticing funny things, as my focus shifted to the pain of running 42.2kms.

I had anticipated a jubilant lap of the MCG before the finish line, maybe even getting out my phone to film the milestone moment. Wrong on two fronts.

1. My legs were excruciating and I could think of nothing beyond moving forward; and
2. My phone had been unlocking and entering wrong passwords in my flip belt. So it was disabled for a further hour. (At least on the drive home my marathon pace sped up quite a bit!?)

The end. For now.

I just remembered on the course I saw an Avenger running , but couldn’t keep up with him.

“Which one was it?”
“That’s not important.”
“It was Hulk wasn’t it.”
“But I did beat Spider-Man!”

Originally tweeted by Ryan B (@rbrink77) on 14 October, 2019.

Far more than running 10 marathons

7 Replies

I’ve always run.  When I was young, my Mum and I used to do laps of the local rugby league field – dropping pebbles to count our laps.

Through high school and university I ran a few times each week to keep fit.

I continued even in the workforce. And this is when my running got more serious.

A colleague had his first kid around the same time as I did.  We already had a lot in common, and going through the same life changes, seemed to form a stronger connection.  Sadly he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and  passed away two years later in November 2006.

Within a few weeks of his passing, I felt an urge to not take my good health for granted. So I decided to run a full marathon.
My logic was, since people less fortunate than me are unable to do this, it’s a waste if I do not.

I decided to prepare for Australia’s premier event, the 2007 Gold Coast Marathon (#1).  And at the tender age of 30, I went on to complete the marathon in 3:38:28.

As I painfully crossed the finish line, the feeling was glorious.
My finish time was closer to my “B” goal time. So on top of the feeling of achievement, there was already a sick desire to run this distance again.

My next marathon – as a result of expatriating with more travel options, was (#2) Berlin Marathon in 2009 – one of the famed “Big 5”.
I finished that one in 3:57:00.

Again, my finish time didn’t feel like a true reflection of what I was capable of.  So I felt the need to run again.

Next was the 2011 Dubai Marathon (#3). With some speed training, I set my personal best time of 3:23:32.

My (#4) Dubai Marathon 2012, 3:47:00 didn’t seem particularly special, until I did a presentation at work about running marathons and got a standing ovation.

I happened to be home in Brisbane on holidays in July, which coincided for (#5) Brisbane Marathon 2013, there I ran 4:15:00.

Occasionally life events got in the way of me running every year.  But I always seem to return to 42.2kms.  And I feel great for it.

Another Dubai Marathon 2015 (#6), 4:18:02 – very unprepared, and faced the consequences.

Yet another Dubai Marathon 2016 (#7), 3:45:23 – after getting back in shape to smash the former year’s performance.

Then I was on holidays COINCIDENTALLY back at Australia’s Gold Coast during the marathon weekend.  So I really had no choice but to run the (#8) Gold Coast Marathon 2016, 4:36:11

Then at the start of this year, I ran the hot (#9) Dubai Marathon 2017, 3:49:56

And then the “milestone” of running a 10th was on the horizon.  It lined up nicely with being the 10th year since my first.  And more emotionally, it coincided with me having just turned 40 years old.  This is the same age that my friend was, when he passed away 10 years earlier. It made me think even more how lucky I am.
This became no ordinary marathon to run.

The plan was to combine a family holiday in Jordan with the Amman marathon.  However, after returning from holidays home, the timing didn’t work.  So it made more sense to do the Beirut Marathon.  It has its own TED Talk by inspirational founder, May El-Khalil, which you must see.  The Australian Government’s travel warning to Lebanon is to reconsider your need to go. It made us feel more comfortable for my family to stay in Dubai.

On the flight I checked my iPad if I had any movies.  I wasn’t hopeful, as I usually free up space after watching anything.  However, there was still one movie there, the inspiring documentary I’ve watched many times, Spirit of the Marathon.  Quite a motivating and reflecting thing to watch, as I was landing in the Lebanese Republic.

My hotel room was placed perfectly between the start and finish lines.  A short walk before the race, a not-so-long shuffle on the way home. (The hotel made me feel at home with RAK coffee cups.)

I picked up my race pack on Friday when I arrived, part of a 12km walk to explore the city of Beirut.

Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, is renowned in the region for its glamour – once known as the Paris of the Middle East. Even at the Marathon Village this was pretty obvious with a Nail Couture and polish stand,

I vowed to walk far less on the day before the race. It was kind of a success, I only covered 10kms sight-seeing.

The long violent story of Beirut is one marathon effort to read.  The country was torn apart through civil wars.  The Holiday Inn Hotel is still on display after visibly fierce attacks between factions. I wondered if it was from 2005, when Prime Minister Rafic Hariri was assassinated near that location. Nope, the hotel has been standing like that since 1975.

The flight path into Lebanon itself shows the predicament the country has. With hotspots in Syria to the East, and Palestine and Israel to the South, we flew far from a direct route from Dubai.
Some uncertainty returned to Lebanon while I was there, with the shock resignation of current Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri (the son of Rafic).
To all Lebanese I know, Saad is an inspiration – even a regular runner of the marathon. That weekend the city began erecting signs seeking his return, from sudden exile in Saudi Arabia. The newspaper headlines were concerning.  The huge number of heavily armed police officers and army personnel, were reassuring.

Sunday was race day, for the many different events.  They even hosted a 1 kilometer run which went brilliantly from the marathon start line to the marathon’s finish, IN A STRAIGHT LINE – cutting out the superfluous 41.1 kms.

I mentioned in an earlier marathon blog that I find it pretty emotional at the starting line, among all these amazing people ready to push their body to the absolute limit. There in Beirut, away from my family, participating in my 10th, with all these lovely Lebanese people (incl. May El-Khalil) cheering me on, I was a blubbering mess for almost the first 3kms.

I settled into a rhythm, and spotted a lady running in an Australia singlet.  Morag and I then covered a few kilometers together, while chatting away like Aussie neighbours. Then I bid her farewell, to speed up a little (and hope I wouldn’t regret this pace and see that Australia singlet pass me later on).

The support across the course was fantastic. It’s usually slightly demoralising to go out, and come back to the same start line. The Beirut race day though was arranged so as we returned from the first section, the half marathoners had just started.  It was a spectacular sight to see a seemingly endless sea of runners freshly embarking on their own race. There were high fives, and lots of cheering between the full and half crowds.

All along the course, there were clusters of supportive people cheering for everyone to succeed. There were school groups, tiny white-haired ladies in their nighties hanging out of apartments yelling out “Yalla”, and every 100 metres someone from the Red Crescent.

I thoroughly enjoyed the city, and being part of the event.

I did a more complete running autopsy, on the runplan blog, for anyone that’s interested (http://blog.runplan.training/2017/11/17/still-learning-10-marathons-in-10-years/).

For the purposes of this post, it’s enough to say the run was tough-going. The hills took their toll, and perhaps in the lovely cool breezy weather I should have run slower than my body thought was fine.  The final 5 kms were brutal.  Even the sign saying 800 metres remaining was little relief to my cramping legs.  I just kept moving forward, as I have each time.

Crossing the line was an unfathomable relief.  Volunteers gave out aluminium sheets for people to keep warm, which wasn’t my problem.  However, I’ve never dressed as a baked potato like the New York Marathon finishers, so I wore it proudly.

I finished my (#10) Beirut Marathon 2017, 4:09:14.

I limped to the stadium seating and cheered on the other runners finishing.  I didn’t need to know them. I just knew something of what they had been through.  And I appreciate them.

The next day I wore my medal for all to see (#MedalMonday). Driving into the airport the taxi passed a checkpoint with big army guys carrying big guns. One of the officers looked into the backseat and stared in at me.  I immediately froze, worrying if I needed to show my passport or flight details, then he just pointed at my medal and gave me a hearty thumbs up. 🙂

I’ve been on such a journey since running that first marathon in 2007.

10 years on, it’s every bit as special.

And it’s nice to appreciate what has got me here.

Another RAK half marathon – 2017

1 Reply

Yesterday the RAK half marathon impressively lived up to being the world’s fastest half marathon. Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya set a new world record for the women’s half marathon, in 65:06. I heard she was hunched over after the finish looking like she was about to vomit. No history books will mention that.

The weather conditions were absolutely perfect for running. Even before the race the announcer said there are no excuses for not running a personal best time today. I objected to the people around me, “This guy clearly doesn’t know me!”

I started the day with a thought that 1:40 would be a decent finish time, given the training I’ve done. In the end, I finished in a fair 1:39:59 .. And this time was with one toilet stop. If it wasn’t for that huge wee, I may have also finished the run in around 1hr and 5 minutes.

Soon after the start I was alongside one of Dubai Creek Striders’s most charismatic characters, and wellness gurus.  A lot of his recent social media posts have been relating the ill-effects of sugar on us. I facetiously told him to “Leave my sugar alone” .. then nervously overtook him – with an immediate worry that he’s probably right, and my diet will be my demise in this race and he and the rest of the group would overtake me with much cheer.

A single glimpse of something can lead me to think about it for huge stretches of time. Along the way I passed a guy wearing an Iron Man body suit. I pondered, at what point in a race would I deploy the jets. I don’t know how many kilometres I had completed at that point, but I was pretty sure I’d put on the jets right there and then.

That was a more enjoyable thought than when I passed a shirt slogan, “There is no finish line”.  I know their marketing folks are inspiring an ongoing lifestyle, and promoting a continuing journey of fitness. I know that now. At the time, I just muttered “Bugger”.

One distance milestone I do remember was passing the 12km marker. I remember this because the lady next to me said out loud “Single figures”. She didn’t seem to be running with anybody else. So maybe she was talking to us. I thought about it, then thought about it some more. It could have been 5 seconds later I figured it out, and apologetically verified back to her “Ah, [single figures] kilometres remaining!”

I wore the race shirt they provided us. Lots do. Why not, it’s the newest in my wardrobe. At one point I noticed a guy to my right was wearing not only the shirt, but also the same Nike “look-at-me” running shorts I had. He may have seen me looking him up and down, so I shared that we could be twins. He thankfully laughed. Then we both decided to split up before the camera people just ahead could take a cute picture of us together.

It was funny to hear Kat, the default voice of the Runkeeper app, coming from someone else’s smart phone. The guy was getting a comprehensive update on his time, distance, average pace, and I was curious if bladder levels would one day become part of the story. I told the guy I thought the Runkeeper lady only talked to me. But he was quick to explain. That app is important company he has during his away-time running.  It gets him through the many times he’s in the bad books for being anti-social, having to go to bed early & run in the mornings. Then he put up his hands and shrugged, “What else can we do when we love such a crazy pastime as running?” I agreed and wished him a lovely run.

In the final 4-5kms I maintained a pace between slouching off and feeling like I was about to vomit. After giving High 5s to my family (who was leaning inappropriately out over the fence) with 200 metres remaining, I sprinted to cross the finish line – with one second to spare.

I look forward to doing it again next year.

2017 Dubai Marathon

2 Replies

Yesterday morning I lined up to participate (not compete) in yet another Dubai Marathon ..

This year’s event had extra interest with a confident Kenenisa Bekele declaring he was going to break the world record.  On top of the glory of owning the world record, there was a nice $250,000 reward on offer for bettering the mark of 2:02.57 ..

Bekele’s campaign had the strong support of Nike and the Sub 2hr project sport scientists.  Unfortunately it didn’t help, as he sadly tripped at the start line.  It made the near impossible task, simply impossible.

Before my start, after the obligatory toilet stop and obligatory follow-up toilet stop, I made the long distance back towards the start. There I passed a massive queue of people. I thought to myself it’s a relief to have gone to the other toilet block, as there was no waiting. I soon learned this throng of people wasn’t for the toilets. It was the queue for the bag drop, which I needed. It’s the first time I’ve seen such a massive delay to literally “drop” something.

What terrible organisation to put the bag drop so close to the start/finish area and have it single-file the whole way.

It wasn’t until after the race when I went through the recovery area, picking up drinks and a banana, that I noticed how convenient it was to have the bag collection right there as we exited. What wonderful organisation.

This was to be my ninth full 42.195km marathon event. Experience adds some comfort to know that you can complete it.  On the other hand it provides no comfort from the pain.

This year I had no real goal time.  Beating last year’s time would be nice, returning to near 3:30 form would be superb. Realistically I just wanted to finish in relatively good shape, and avoid grinding to a halt.

Along the way, I was entertained as always.

In the first 10 kilometres I saw a guy running in a Spartans shirt. He was relaxed and running quite conservatively. I imagined he was saving his energy to slay a few dozen Persian warriors at the finish line.

Another shirt that grabbed my attention was “fast food” brand McDonalds. I felt it pretty important to pass that one.

It was then quite a milestone to run past Superman at the 16km mark. He was a big hit with the many kids cheering along the side of the course.

To gain my own super advantage I resisted the urge to try some of the Sub 2 hour juice,

Instead I took some gu gels for energy. The gu were in each of my shorts pockets, and when I tried to get one out another dropped onto the ground. Bugger. Do I stop to pick it up, or forget about it? As I looked down, the packet magically slid along the road back in front of me. A runner behind me had kindly, and quite skillfully, kicked it back to me while in mid stride. Despite his efforts, I decided the energy to slow and pick it up would outweigh the benefits the gu would give.  So I just kept on running.

The weather was quite warm – the hottest Dubai Marathon yet according to some runners. I clearly remember feeling thirsty throughout the run. I drank from every water spot, multiple drinks at some. I even started availing the unofficial stations, like those of the Dubai Creek Striders, the Desert Road Runners, and Abras squads; as well as a random congregation of Chinese people – though I avoided their interesting offering for marathon runners, salty potato crisps.

Despite drinking as much water as I could, and using it to keep my body cool, I did struggle in the last stages. My pace dropped, thankfully it was a much later inevitability than last year.

I’d like to say my smile got bigger with each kilometre marker. Perhaps my grimace got no worse.

At 40kms, a helpful Arab encouraged me by telling me there were two kms to go.  “Hurry up and in three minutes you’ll be finished – yalla!”

The finish line, like all finish lines, was a blessing.  I didn’t track the run very accurately on my apple watch with some mistaken pauses. So I really had little clue about what time I’d see as I approached the line.  It was 3:51, which was a 3:49.58 net finish. Five minutes slower than last year which I can live with – and still thankfully under the four hour mark.

After I collected my stuff, I enjoyed the adidas rest area.  Some other runners enjoyed it a whole lot more.  A couple of ladies, looking fresh as daisies after their marathons, easily spent 30 minutes getting hilariously flamboyant photos next to the merchandise and posters. Then they’d get them taken again, from more and more angles.

I found watching it almost as tiring as running the final 5kms.

Before the race I took two Ibuprofen to help avoid some ongoing niggles in my hip & knee. I like to think of it as a proactive measure. Nope. Seeing other marathoners limping so painfully, the Ibuprofen was clearly cheating.  Cheating which I will do again.

All the marathon podium places went to Ethiopians:

It’s always a highlight to see how well the Ethiopians perform, and to see the passion of their supporters in the crowd.  They all look so beautifully happy, wearing their distinctive colours, singing for their champions.

This completed my ninth marathon in 10 years.  It would be quite neat to complete another one this year ..

First I must let my new shoes get broken in a little more, and let my blistered feet heal:

2016 goals smashed – just. Kind of.

1 Reply

In 2016 I again tried to make continual progress over 12 months in a couple of personal areas I find important:

  • Running 1200kms, and
  • Reading 12 books.

Both of these numbers neatly ensure each and every month I keep running and reading. Or, so I hoped.

In reality, it’s never that simple for me.

My 2015 goals became a real challenge when the priority shifted from running to looking for new job opportunities.
And this past year, after beginning a new role opening an ambitious new attraction I struggled to find the time & head-space to read for pleasure.

Unable to find time is such a cop out. The obvious truth is, if you find something important enough, you make time. But we’ll get to that shortly ..

 

Run 1200 kilometres in a calendar year (supposedly 100km per month)

As it turned out, my running goal was quite straight-forward to complete this year.

In fact, I ran 1374km in all (exceeding even the cliched 110% effort).  This was mostly on account of running a second marathon in the year during my Australian holiday. It really wasn’t planned like this.
My parents coincidentally booked my boys and I into a wonderful resort on the Gold Coast on the same weekend in July as Australia’s premier road race, the Gold Coast Marathon. The marathon course passed two streets away from where we were staying on Surfer’s Paradise. And it happened to be where I ran my first marathon back in 2007. So I saw no alternative but crank up the training in the month before we left Dubai, and run the popular event.

It really boosted my kilometres. Usually my running tally flattens right out in July during Dubai’s summer.

 

Read 12 books in a calendar year (supposedly 1 book per month)

My reading goal on the other hand, it really came down to the wire.

I made almost no progress in the first half of the year. A couple of times I wasn’t sure I’d make it. November became such a stressful ascent, and December’s four books seemed almost insurmountable.

But I kept reading when I could, especially on my commute to and from work.

Right until the final afternoon of 31st of December, I was literally reading while running .. well, listening to an audio book on my final long runs.

Then after my exhausted return from 32.5kms I had to finish reading a final 40-50 pages.   But I managed.  I completed the final 12th book and my reading challenge.

S-U-C-C-E-S-S

It’s a good feeling to again complete these two resolutions, particularly after it seemed that one goal became near impossible.

Maybe it’s a strength to adapt to life and fit in such a variety of things, not focusing on a singular goal.

Perhaps my subconscious enjoys the drama of bringing things back from the seemingly impossible.

If so, perhaps I’d like to retire this part of my subconscious in 2017.

Making some regular progress each and every week would be wonderful to avoid getting into stressful situations with little time remaining.

Let’s see what 2017 brings.

But there was actually something I didn’t complete this year as planned ..

 

Publish 12 blogs in a calendar year (supposedly 1 blog per month)

When I renewed my 1200kms and 12 books challenges, I also thought to myself that I’d like to blog 12 times.  Again, at the start of the year this is a number which seems so easy.

In January an obvious blog for me is to write about the Dubai Marathon that I tend to run. And it seemed like a particularly good story this year as I had trained hard, and even employed a new training regime with an expert online coach. What an uplifting blog to write, in my 9th year of running to return to my best form. Though for a couple of reasons, I didn’t finish close to my goal time and I felt quite disappointed for many weeks.

I thought I’d get over it, and still share my thoughts from the day.  But this disappointing blot kept me from writing for a month. And it kept me from writing in the month after that when we had a nice trip to Ras Al Khaimer, a repeat of the trip we take each year – which I wrote about in 2015 (“Another RAK half weekend – 13-14 February 2015”).

Even in July when I holidayed in Australia I didn’t document my usual notes from our adventures. The fact that I had a resolution to write 12, demotivated me to recover the blog situation. I wasn’t getting back onto the horse.

Finally in December, I enjoyed the Striders half marathon too much and had to pen a few notes from the event, (“Yet another Striders half – 09 Dec 2016”).  And perhaps it was decidedly restarting the practice for the fresh running season and the coming year.

So the final score card has just one blog out of 12, for the 12 months.

Interestingly, when I was reflecting on my 2016 goals and I remembered the blog idea, it almost didn’t seem like a resolution. I gave up on it so early and so easily, I suppose wasn’t really serious about this one this past year.

2017?

I’ll take off the pressure for 2017, and blog as much as I feel – with no reference to any arbitrary numbers.

But I’ll definitely read 12 books & run 1200kms.
I’ve got two years experience that no matter how challenging it seems they are to achieve, I always have them COMPLETELY under control.

*Sigh*