Australia Day - Training Run

I think it was a first for me to get up at 5.30am on Australia Day to drive for an hour to get to the start of a 6 hour race at the foot of the Blue Mountains....Knapsack Lap Race of 5 km

It was quite a nice morning weather wise to start but the longer it went the warmer and humid it got...I decided to run without a watch or iPod and enjoyed the sound of the forest (and the distant highway) on my circles of 5 km.

 It was kind of hilly course and after about 3 hours and 5 laps I started to slow down a bit....the check-point was well stocked with food and drinks and the cool coke kept me going for another 3 slower rounds however with the sun almost straight on top certain section of the course got quite hot and after 5 1/2 hours and 8 rounds I called it quit. Good 40 km training run for Coastrek 2013.....Sam did a great 6 rounds in 3 hours and Denis, well he is still somewhere on holiday probably with a Guinness in his hands...  I am sure Mel is doing her running between the tennis down in Melbourne.

For once I was quite glad to have a car as it took me about 10 minutes on full AirCon to cool down to be in a state to drive back to Sydney.

Next week we planned a night training run to check out the tricker parts of the course.

Happy Feet and Happy Australia Day

2013 - here we come

Only 18 days into the new year but started right into it. Signed up my buddy Ben into a running group with Sean William's SWEAT - that hopefully will give both of us some more strength on hills and speed. Ben suffered quite a lot the first week realising that at the moment we are the slowest of the over 100 runners showing up for the training. Already in the second week however we showed improvement and I am sure over the month to come Ben will catch up with the others. For Ben it will be good

Training for Coastrek 2013 is on track - done 175 km in the last 15 days and very happy that we finally found our 4th member! Team Run 4 Vision is complete - Denis and I are challenged with two Ironwomen - Sam and Melanie and I am sure they two wild women will keep us on track for another great run along the coast in March.

We also have booked our Trivia Evening at the Randwick Labor Club on Friday, 22nd February.
You can book your seat using above link. We hope to see as many as possible of you joining us for a night of fun and fundraising for a worthy cause.

Next preparation race is on Australia Day - the Knapsack Lap Race will be great benchmark to see if my preparation for Coastrek are on track. Signed up for the 6 hours solo run. 5 km loops in the National Park near Glenbrook looks like fun.

After the heat of Friday - this weekend was great for training and I am looking forward to Australia Day for some racing.

Happy Feet
Markus

2012

A short review of last year on the road shows me that I spent almost 300 hours on the road training and racing and covered 2,750km doing it.

Winners are Grinners

Highlight was of course the training and racing of the Sydney Coastrek 2012 from Palm Beach to Coogee Beach. Together with Jo, Sam and Denis we won the 100 km trail walk in 14hrs28min and in the process we also raised over $15,000 for The Fred Hollows Foundation.

Training for Coastrek

I also like to mention that Ben organised a team of 4 visually impaired walkers and they together with 4 guides covered the 50 km from Palm Beach to Balmoral Beach in 18 hours. Like we, Ben not only raised much needed funds for The Fred Hollows Foundation but was liking the run so much that he will be attempting to cover the entire 100km in March this year. Denis, Sam and myself plus a still missing 2nd female team member will be racing the 50km night run from Balmoral to Coogee.  Again our goal is to give it the best on the trail and of course match our fundraising efforts from last year.

Bondi Beach Aug 2012

On the way to the finish

The rest of 2012 was spent with training and guiding Ben on the Sydney 1/2 marathon in May and the City to Surf in August. I also went with Denis to Wagga Wagga and raced a full marathon....was quite a different feeling again running alone (without guiding Ben and talking the whole time) and interesting to have to deal with my own pain and issues during the 42km. Whilst guiding Ben it is actually quite easy for me to forget my pain on the run as I have to talk to Ben all the time. Ben also ran for 12 hours and covered 75km in the Centennial Park Ultra in September together with guide Elis. I did enjoy a couple of weeks in Tonga on the beach whilst they were running in circles for a day.

Thank you all for supporting us raising money for a great cause in 2012.  I look forward to be in touch again this year with many exciting stories of running, guiding and fundraising in 2013

Happy Feet, Happy New Year and save training