The Curtain Call

Okay, GiddyUp Jen is making a curtain call.  I am reprising this blog in the name of motivation.  After vowing never to run another marathon, I've decided to pull just one more tiny one out of the bag.  That said, I've signed up for the Blackmore's Sydney Marathon on Sunday 22 September - which happens to coincide with my 50th birthday.  Yes, yes, yes.... If it hadn't been for that, I could easily justify not doing a marathon ever again but really, ON my actual birthday?  I can't really say "no" can I?  And I have the thought of a fabulous post-run lunch to help drive me on!  

This time I will be running on my own and pretty well training "on my own", or at least, off the InTraining Running Centre program as they are all targeting the Gold Coast Airport Marathon, which is on in four weeks.  However, a few of my run buds are targeting the Brisbane Running Festival which is in early August while others are doing the Melbourne Marathon, so if I can slot in somewhere between to do my long runs with them, that will help a whole lot.  Like this morning for instance, when I ran with Natalie who is doing her first marathon at Brisbane....  Running with her and Tiffany really helped me get those 23kms done.  I've never struggled with my head but this year, my head is doing its own thing and I am trying to reign it in! 

In the meantime, I am feeling very motivated by Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon in 1967, where she was kind of attacked by a race official, trying to remove her from the course.  Here's her story: http://kathrineswitzer.com/about-kathrine/1967-boston-marathon-the-real-story/

So, of course, with girls like THAT to inspire me, I should be set!  I think writing my blog and writing how I feel about my training will also help me, which is why I've reprised it.  I've added some new photos, changed the template a bit and am ready to log the "trials and tribulations" of the next four months of training.  At the same time, I have my other blog, Life As Inzy AND Twitter AND my master's thesis AND work...  In fact, speaking of marathons, last year I documented the Gold Coast Airport Marathon weekend for ABC News and, if you wish, you can read about it here.  It was my first ever published "news" article and I learned a Whole Lot that weekend.  It was also the weekend I ran my fastest ever 10km (48:37) and won the Nu Pure Media Challenge!!!!!!  My first ever trophy - a coffee cup, which I've never used because it is Too Precious! Okay, enough for now.  Time to do some uni work.  Cheerio!

Making like Black Caviar

So yesterday was the Doomben 10,000.  Nope!  Not a horse race but a human running race, held at Doomben.  Nevertheless, this did not stop me from trying out my best "Black Caviar" impersonation.  Okay, so I have only two legs, rather than four. Okay, so I do not have a glossy chestnut coat or a little guy in silks on my back but I damn near FELT like Black Caviar as I came through the finish chute and out on to Doomben Racecourse for my final 200 metres!  I ended up finishing in 52:34, which is my second ever best time and I actually think, in retrospect, I could have possibly pushed myself harder.  Oh well... next time. I need to remember I have not been training for speed this year, but for endurance.  However, next year is my big year to crack that elusive 50 mins, dadgum!

My fabulous "Run 10" legends were there too, some doing their very first ten kilometre event & some doing their second.  They all had a great time (I'm pretty sure!) and were very pleased with their medals and the booty in their race packs, which included such strange treasures as stubby holders and Cherry Ripe bars. The bummer of the whole deal really was that today, when I clicked on the link for "2011 Results", the page opened up last year's results so I found myself leaping about and squealing in delight - for all the wrong reasons.  The third place I thought I'd repeated was actually LAST year's result, due to a "technical hiccup".  Booooo!!  Talk about a Major Downer. I am still traumatised, eight hours later.  What an evil trick!

This is the post-run, wild-hair, coffee-guzzling shot, taken with Michelle, both of us sporting our trophies of Sporting Prowess.  Shame I had no idea really how FERAL my hair was looking.  It was just before I spotted the famous Roxie Fraser (nee Schmidt), multi-winning, champion, super incredible runner and fellow InTraining member.  Luckily she is so friendly and approachable and she didn't seem to mind this gigantic, sweaty woman asking for a photo, in the hope of picking up some Roxie Magic by osmosis.  We're quite similar in physique, don't you agree? 

Kia Kaha

KIA KAHA - I heard this expression last night from my Kiwi friend Peter.  It is a Maori expression, much used in New Zealand by Maori and pakeha alike meaning, "forever strong" and I am now considering writing it in BIG letters and keeping it in my sight every day.  I like it!  And I am a tiny bit Kiwi so maybe that justifies my using it?  It pretty well sums up my current running life.  This week I have felt a little bit "not strong" and in fact, spent yesterday having shiatsu massage by one of my fellow runners, Greg at his practice called, "Access Natural Health".  It was an amazing experience and I do feel better for it.  I spent the afternoon at the physio, learning some stretches and just double-checking I am not making my back worse with all this running.  The physio, a lovely young man called Simon, actually ran the Marathon last year and his only advice was a promise from  me that this would be my ONLY marathon…?  Currently, I felt pretty happy and confident to give him a resounding YES, YES, YES!!  As of now, Saturday evening, I have clocked up 56kms of running this week plus 2km of swimming.  I have pulled my bike out and dusted it off and will try to find some time to do some cycling too, to give myself some variety.  

These are some photos I took this morning while running with my beginner group.  We ran from the shop, over the Go Between Bridge, through South Bank and back over the Goodwill Bridge and home - a total of about 7.5kms.  I had my core group of five regular runners and it gives me such a buzz to see them improving every week.  I can't explain the sensational feeling I have knowing that they are enjoying themselves and feeling so positive about their running.  It was a gorgeous morning too, finished off with coffee and some chat across the road at the coffee shop, surrounded by lycra-clad cyclists.   Speaking of beginners, my partner Spud went in to InTraining today and bought himself some running shoes and then, in a fit of cerebral hypoxia, joined InTraining!!!  So, he will hopefully be joining us on Saturday mornings some time soon.  He is aiming to do the 10km Mullumbimby to Brunswick Heads run this year - not sure yet when it will be though! 

Okay, time to go hydrate and carb load etc etc as tomorrow's training run is 28kms. I am not so apprehensive this week as now I know I can do it (& I WILL do it!) so will write more soon!  Happy training!

The realisation..

Last night I counted the days until the Gold Coast Airport Marathon.  The number of days until I am going to run further than I ever have even ever walked in one day.  It is fourteen weeks.  To be more precise, it is 98 days, 16 hours and 10 minutes from Right Now.  I wonder if there is a widget for that?  A countdown widget…  Anyway, I decided that "fourteen weeks" sounded like a good name for a new blog.  I think I need to keep my writing about my running separate from my writing about other stuff.  It is a metaphor for my life really.  Otherwise, running will completely consume me and I will possibly Lose the Plot in my Quest to finish my first marathon.  So, a new blog.  Besides, it seems that ever since I decided to follow my dream and start my journalism degree, I can't seem to stop writing!  I have written seven letters to friends this week, I have a journal I keep in my handbag and I now have two blogs.  It's like the floodgates have opened and I am making up for the past 30 years or so.

So, in an attempt to keep me disciplined and to share my feelings about training for this event (in case anyone is interested) I am going to try to blog a couple of times a week.  I will try to photograph something from my sessions each time too, to make it more interesting.  Like, today I am going to start with a photo of my watch, which I still am not yet sure how to use, despite having owned it for about two months.  This morning, for example, I forgot to press the "start" button.  Other times I press the wrong button in the wrong mode.  It was my present to myself for running last year's Gold Coast 1/2 Marathon in under two hours (1:53!!).