Re Almeria, I will take the heat off Seafront Plodder and inform you now of my regrettable absence from the 2008 event. Unfortunately it's just completely the wrong time of year for Mrs MLCM and I for a number of reasons and isn't going to happen.
I will however still rise to the challenge and commit to running a sub-2 half that same weekend, even at the same time as yourselves if I can. So I'll be there in spirit and with the same goal.
As for other PBs, well these have been in mind for some time. My 5 and 10km PBs are going to take some getting, as these were set ages ago when I was running much faster than present. But I am feeling a little more confident that it's possible. As for a full marathon, well I'm not even going to think about it until next year.
My main race goal therefore is still the Point to Pinnacle mountain race in November. It's six months away yet but is going to require all that and more of speed and hill training to put in a decent performance. So that's my focus for the rest of the year. There's much to do between now and then, and I begin my serious hill training manana (rest day today).
It´s a pity that you can´t come, MLCM. Besides, your Spanish seems to be improving. It would have been a good chance to practise it. Anyway, We´ll miss you a lot. Perhaps in a different date you can come to this part of the world and we could meet you in the UK or in Spain and take part in a race or run all together.
A diet of beer and cashews conspired with an ear infection to curtail my running for a couple of days, but I threw on the running shorts and hammered out a 5km hill climb this evening, and hard work it was too. Still, it sweated a lot of the crap out of my system, so I feel much better for it. And the time wasn't too bad for a hill climb either - 30:19. This is just the first step in my hill training though, with a lot of ascending required between now and November.
Gack.
Just the thought of it makes my knees hurt.
On the racing front, there's been something of a compromise made between the City to Casino race organisers and the Motoring World Armed Tactical Response Group. The race is being run on the roads after all (rather than the concrete cycle path mentioned earlier), so I have entered the race (this coming Sunday). The bad news is that once the elite group have passed through, they are going to stop the runners at one of the major city intersections every two minutes to "relieve traffic congestion". This is the 35th year they have run this race, so this really is a major nail in the coffin I think. But anyway I figured I would just use this major affront to the sport of running as a scheduled walk break (might have to walk around in circles!) so no big deal for me really. Not aiming to set a specific time, I'm running this to honour my Dad, who won his age group in this race some 15 years ago, and also to get some road miles under my legs.
Groovy.
Oooh, nearly forgot to mention the track du jour: Makes No Difference by Sum 41. This came along just as I was thinking that it was all getting a bit tricky. But as the song suggested, a bit of pain and exhaustion was going to make no difference to the outcome - I would finish the sodding run, and I did. Strongly. Way cool.
Hi!
I am very busy this wkend, so I just want to wish you a good race on this Sunday. You can go slowly, like me, your father and us will be proud of you anyway.
be careful with your knees and take care of the cayanos
Good news on the run MLCMan, I know pulling out was a big blow.
Yes, the enforced rest stops may prove beneficial, especially as you've been a bit off in the last week.
Speaking of being a bit off, I appear to have fallen off life's treadmill rather heavily this week. Lunch at Langhans featuring two pints of Guinness and three bottles of most agreeable Aussie Pinot with a customer on Thursday followed by a Mayfield Golf Society committee meeting fuelled by a monster curry, gargantuan G&Ts and several bottles of vino last night. Rounding the week off nicely today with my bro's FA Cup Final BBQ.
Not so much as a dog-walk in sight and a fully race-fuelled Moyleman waiting to drag my bloated carcass over the sweaty Sussex hillscape tomorrow morning
Good luck tomorrow, enjoy the day and the memories.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Planet Rock are broadcasting a complete history of Pink Floyd in five parts. Part three airs on Sunday at 6pm BST. Here's a link to the PR PF mini-site. Thought you might enjoy this.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Wow, what a brilliant race this turned out to be. I am so glad I made the effort to run this one, as it was heaps of fun and I ran a surprisingly brilliant race. Until the day of the race, I had some misgivings about this event: with all the political shenanigans about road closures and so on, it looked as if this wouldn't be all that much fun to run at all. Particularly disappointing was the race information we were handed after we had paid our money informing us that we would have to run on the footpath after the 3km mark, and that runners would be stopped to ease traffic congestion at the major city intersection. To be honest I only entered to honour my Dad, who passed away last year, and had won his age category (70-74) in this race back in 1991.
But run it I did. There were three events: 11km, 5.8km and 2.7km, all starting at the same time but from different parts of the city, and all finishing together at the local casino. Most people seemed to enter the 5.8km run, but there were several hundred of us there for a rather low-key start in the 11km under a grey sky with a rainbow backdrop and the threat of rain, which didn't eventuate. I wore my Dad's winner's medal and my only race plan was to start out nice and easy and to simply enjoy it.
Although it was labelled as a fun run, I still thought the organisers could have put out some kilometre markers. There being none, it was hard to guage my pace, but I started at the back of the pack and just went at a pace that seemed extremely relaxed and comfortable ... and slow. I didn't wear my heart rate monitor, but I'm sure my heart was barely ticking over for the first 3km, and that included the first of two hills, about a 1km slight climb that despite its relative ease saw me passing large numbers of people, and also despite the slow pace I was setting. When I got to a point which I knew was 3km from the start I saw my pace was around 5:40/km, and I was in cruise mode. Travelling very easy and feeling very comfortable. And I was enjoying it immensely!
At that point we started the longer hill climb of around 2km, and my training came to the fore and I passed a lot of people and still felt comfortable. Feeling strong at the 5km mark I cranked up the pace and began flying (for me that is, I was still well down in the pack of course).
I have to say the police were doing a fantastic job of managing the traffic and despite the warnings from organisers, they kept a lane open for our exclusive use for all but about one 400m stretch through the centre of the city, where we did have to run on the footpath, but otherwise no problems at all, and I had a non-stop run to the finish.
From the 5km mark I just opened up and ran it fast, but within myself. I kept pinching myself, but I wasn't dreaming, this was turning into a brilliant run for me, my best in nearly three years.
About 2km from the end we ran into lots of traffic, mainly hundreds of walkers from the 5.8km event. But even here it was great, with marshalls and police moving the walkers to the footpath (fortunately quite wide at that point), and keeping one lane of the road open for us runners. I was still passing other runners at this point and feeling great. Having now realised that a sub-60 minute run was not only possible, but quite likely I cut loose and sprinted the last kilometre, still feeling great and crossing the line in 56:45, an average pace of 5:09, meaning I was well under 5 minute pace for much of the distance. I can only attribute it to lots of training, being quite relaxed about the race, and going out quite slow for the first 3km.
This means that my "secondary" goals for the year of PBs at 5km and 10km aren't so impossible after all. And the sub-2 half marathon looks closer as well. I still can't believe just how well this has all come together (touch wood).
My Dad never did see me run a race, but he was always encouraging, and I hope he got as much pleasure out of this as I did. And thanks to all you forumites for your continued encouragement too. I couldn't/wouldn't have done it without you guys, so thanks!
And Ana, the Kayanos worked very well for me. I'm still very happy with these shoes. And Sweder, I didn't have an mp3-player for this run, but track du jour would be a jumbled concoction of Floyd I had running through my head for much of the race. Actually, Andy's warning about running with an ipod was almost bizarrely rammed home today, with one guy nearly run over by of all things, an ambulance. Unfortunately for him, he stopped for a walk right in the middle of the road, blissfully unaware of the ambulance right on his heels and the rest of the crowd peeling away to let it pass. Just as well the ambo driver had spotted the earpieces and hit the brakes.
Brilliant stuff - just what I needed before today's Sunday morning blast.
Congratulations on the time - a good lesson in starting easy and finishing like a train. Enjoy the rehydration
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
You ran a great race - and sounds like you felt good the whole time. Sure is something to be said for starting slow. We all know we're supposed to do that, but don't actually do it in the race. You did and it paid off!
Congratulations, MLCM! It´s going to be difficult to follow your pace in the next race we all can take part. I´m sure your dad will be very proud of your achievement.
Well done, mate. That's a great picture of MLCM Senior, who no doubt would be incredibly proud of you.
It's very strange the way that runs and races which we are blasé about, are often memorable, while the ones we 'big up' in our own minds frequently disappoint.
Knowing what you've been through, and all those pessimistic prognoses you've had to tolerate, this is a great day, and a vindication of that never-say-die Aussie spirit that teaches us so much on this forum. In some ways, I hate pointing out that last thing, but I can't deny that it exists.
Cobber, I've opened a bottle of wine in your honour. (Thank you )
[SIZE="4"]Hurrah for MLCM!![/SIZE]
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
Thank you everyone for your very kind words. You've softened an old embittered Aussie's heart. If it didn't make my beer go salty I'd probably even shed a tear or two!
Today is a rest day, so full-on rehydration strategy has kicked in (and very nice it is too), but tomorrow will see me back into hill training mode. See you then!
Mid Life Crisis Man Wrote:And Ana, the Kayanos worked very well for me. I'm still very happy with these shoes. Another great day in running land.
Oh, please, stop talking on this way
Once upon a time there was me thinking about enjoying my own pair of kayanos size 6, but then SP decided to pay his taxes for not to going to prison !
What a selfish person! :mad:
Wonderful race and report! Congratulations for your good result and your easy way, even wearing the very big daddys medal. Evidently he was running very close to you. He and we are really very proud of you. Enjoy your rest day!
A nice hilly tempo run of 5km completed last night, just to keep things in trim. I am puzzled however as to why it seems so relatively easy to run a fast race, yet when I try to match that same pace in training, it's damn hard work. There's some kind of weird race psychology happening here that I just don't understand. None of the running books or magazines seem to be much use on the subject either. What I find particularly odd is that my body seems to understand these things innately well, and conspires with my psyche to perform in a race, yet when I call on it at training, it feigns ignorance of any such thing and puts up all manner of resistance like a lazy teenager. :mad:
Still, not much point musing over such things. Like teenagers, they shall remain perpetually perplexing. Thank God I was never a teenager.
Anyway, must dash - I have important re-hydration matters to attend to.
It happens every year - the office flu shot campaign heralds a veritable avalanche of illness and sick-leave mayhem. Those of us who refuse to have flu vaccinations sit back and watch those that do invariably fall ill 2-3 weeks later. And then everyone gets sick. :mad:
So again running has been curtailed to a large extent as I fight off a veritable army of colds, coughs and assorted infectious diseases that have infested the office. I should be running a race even now as I write this, but woke up with the internal battle raging as antibodies took on bacterial armies setting up forward offensive positions inside my head. Never mind, maybe I'll try again later in the day. A good 'ot curry at lunch might shift things in my favour. Bacteria doesn't like curry - something I learned many years ago from the chief teller in the bank I worked in at the time. He was never sick, and insisted it was because of his weekly "hot curry and a sauna" which he claimed "sweats them bugs right out of you, it does". Doesn't always work for me, but I think there's an element of truth in it.
Anyway, I'd better go find some hot lemon stuff and some drugs... or maybe that curry.
Manly May
![[Image: milkmen.jpg]](http://www.sandarac.com.au/misc/milkmen.jpg)
![[Image: vulture.jpg]](http://www.sandarac.com.au/misc/vulture.jpg)
![[Image: balti.jpg]](http://www.sandarac.com.au/misc/balti.jpg)
