Nearly there - 5 days to go and I'm travelling OK. A 10km run t' other day and an 8km hilly run this evening see me in OK form. Slow, but solid is how I'd describe it.
This evenings run was a bit of a brute: 1km uphill, 5km slow descent that seems flat, then 2km tough uphill to the finish. Brutish because you only ever seem to go uphill; never any downhill. And little chance of negative splits as the killer climb is at the end. As it turnbed out however, I was only 50 seconds slower on the return leg, so I was well pleased.
The half way point of the run also happens to be right outside the hospital where I found myself in the cardiac ICU for a few days back in 2004, so it's always nice to run past the place with the ticker doing its job as it should.
As I say, I'm running solidly enough but really quite slowly, so I'm not really anticipating a PB next Sunday, but we'll see what the day brings. Either way I'll just be happy to be back in a race again - it's been too long!
Good luck for the weekend MLCM and enjoy yourself. Sounds like all is going well for you. Plus you've always got one eye on the big picture. Which I like.
Aye, good luck Cobber. I'm heading for a windy field near Cambridge for the next ten days (Helitech 2009) - I'll be lucky to find a functioning dunny never mind high speed wifi access - so an early 'break a leg' from me.
Good to see you getting into the fray.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
The alarm woke us at 5:45a.m. to a cool, dewy day: ideal running conditions possibly, but with the promise of summer just around the corner, it seemed too cold to be getting out of bed before dawn. However we did just that as this was to be the first time Mrs MLCM and I had entered a race together. We wouldn’t be running it together as such, as she was following a run/walk routine and I was feeling sassy enough to contemplate a good showing if the conditions suited. But it was the first time we had both entered the same race, and so was a special day, especially as it was just 12 days after celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary.
A quick breakfast of cereal and a banana was had and we duly hit the road. We didn’t have to travel far however: just up the road to Mrs MLCM’s women-only gym who were laying on a bus to and from the event - an excellent option, as parking is a nightmare at both ends of the race.
We arrived in good time and tried to keep warm. The sun was only just up and it was still quite cool, but old Sol promised to shine on us soon enough and it looked like it would be a corker of a run: visions of a possible PB began forming in MLCM's brain.
The City to Bay runs 12km from the centre of Adelaide to the beach-side suburb of Glenelg, and is one of Australia’s largest running events. This year saw a record 29,720 entrants, and the start line crowd began to swell alarmingly as the scheduled kick off drew closer. We stripped off our outer layers, took our bags to the gear truck and lined up at what we thought was the back of the starting group. However several thousand more starters duly arrived, and so we probably started about 2/3rds of the way through the pack. It took us 19 minutes to cross the starting line after the gun, despite a pretty impressive corralling procedure by the organisers. Interestingly, whilst invite-only elite runners had their own corral at the head of the queue, the race caller invited anyone who professed to expect to finish the race under 50 minutes to join the elite group! Declining the invitation to join the serious athletes, Mrs MLCM and I duly shuffled patiently forward, then approaching the start line we wished each other luck and took off at our own respective pace - not very chivalrous of me perhaps, but we were happy enough just to be in the same race together.
The first 2km involved a lot of ducking and weaving as the crowd slowly sorted itself out, and I completely missed the first kilometre marker, but was mildly surprised to hit the 2km point in a quickish 11:39. My race plan was simple: take it nice and steady and aim for even kilometre splits. If at the 10km mark a PB was in the offing, then go for it, otherwise just relax and enjoy the race.
From the 2km mark the running was much easier. The route follows the main road out of the city centre and then joins the six-lane highway to the coast at about the 2.5km point. Bands and assorted entertainers line the route, and folk who live along the highway set up tables and chairs to watch the seething mass who, for the only morning of the year, close their otherwise busy highway and gave them a rare morning free from traffic noise.
There were a lot more costumed and thematic runners than I remember from my previous running of this event: I was sure I passed the same superhero four times in the space of only two or so kilometres and was thinking perhaps he’d been using his super powers to leap ahead of the runners, but in the end had to conclude it was four different people wearing identical superhero outfits. Why do superheros seem to prefer to work alone?
Other interesting characters included Darth Vader (fresh from his triumph in the Aldebaran Half Marathon, apparently), a giant chicken (who only spoke Squawk), several ninjas who didn’t speak at all, a trio of clowns on stilts who only spoke greetings, a whole company (platoon? 30 or 40 anyhow) of army grunts with full packs and weapons who also didn’t speak, and incredibly, a bloke playing a piano – he was installed upon a modified trailer hauled by 6 compatriots and he played the entire way and mortified a lot of people who had to confess later to being overtaken in the race by an upright piano playing melodramatic film music.
Kilometres 3 to 6 went surprisingly smoothly and in what was for me really good time. I reached the 6km half way point in 34:36 and was travelling really well. This put me bang on target for a PB, but I was trying not to think about that just yet - what did occupy my mind was once again the strange truth that running a race is so utterly different from training for one. I was maintaining a pace that I would find very difficult in training, and yet here I was plodding along in apparent head-shaking ease. My splits were also remarkably even: the first 6 kms all went by in just a few seconds either side of 5:45… a pace I would normally struggle with, especially of late.
After the half way point it did get a little tougher, but still my pace was around 5:53 - 5:55 (and not once over 6 minutes!), and I hit the 10km point in 58:10 – this meant I was still in with a slight chance of a PB, so I determined to pick the pace up a bit for the 11th km and see how I felt. I hit 11km in 1h03:54 – which meant I could just make it, but I would have to sprint much of the last kilometre. But as I felt good I had to have a crack so I ramped up the pace and just put my head down. Rounding the last corner, and with the finish line in sight 200m away it was touch and go – I could probably do it but the crowd was pretty big and there seemed to be a log jam at the finish.
Luck was on my side however – the crowd parted like the Red Sea and I dashed through a gap to hit the line in 1h 9m 9s; just 6 seconds inside my previous (and best) time, 5 years before, and I did it in negative splits – 34:36 / 34:33! The last kilometre took 5:15 – and if you had suggested that was going to happen before the start of the race I would have just laughed at you.
The relative comfort in which I ran this now bodes well for a possible sub-2hr half marathon, which I’d still like to achieve and which feels readily attainable.
Mrs MLCM came in a while later, having suffered cramps but finishing well and helping to celebrate our silver anniversary in a slightly different way. Actually I find the whole 25th wedding anniversary thing a bit weird: when I was growing up it seemed like it was elderly grandparents who celebrated such things; holding horrendous tea parties or tedious knees-ups with nothing stronger than a glass of port or sherry to mark the occasion before returning to their nursing homes to wait for God. It’s great that instead today we’re able to run a race together and half-truthfully pretend we’re still young. Gotta love this running!
Looking back over my running record of recent weeks and months, I see that it has been a very long time since I last ran a race – so this was a pretty good way of getting myself motivated again. As usual, thanks to all you RCers for your continued support and inspiration! And I’m pretty sure I’m right in saying that among the other 29,700 runners today I didn’t see a single T-shirt or singlet that was half as attention-grabbing as that big old purple foot!
Great run MLCM, and excellent report. Classic race strategy, but unusually, it seems to have come off. It's the sort of thing I aim to do, but can't usually sustain it. Good point about the need to have a clear run at the finish. This can sometimes work against you in these crowded fields. We had our own biggest-race-of-the-year today, the Great North Run with somewhere over 40,000 people taking part. I have mixed feelings about these mega-events but they do encourage people to start running and get involved in races.
On the subject of which -- Well done to Mrs MLCM both for finishing the race and putting up with your 'sense of humour' for 25 years .
The piano player is a new one on me though the other characters seem to be part of this international army of runner-types.
Hope you're taking advantage of this most perfect of excuses, and opening a bottle of something decent. I'm on the wagon at the moment () but am raising my cup of lemon tea in honour of a great performance.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
Congratulations on both achievements, your PB and your silver anniversary, MLCM. Congratulations to Mrs MLCM for finishing the race in spite of the cramps and for the silver anniversary of both of you.
Ha! My own 25-year parole is due next month ... these poor suffering ladies!
Many congratulations to you both, for both feats/ feets. Only glanced at the report sadly as I'm, er, working (read: watching Spitfires, Hurricanes, P51Ds and ME109s go through their display paces whilst we lug Jellywobblers into the exhibit hall) - I shall enjoy later after a couple of pints of the most agreeable Darling Buds ale on offer at our hosterly, just before indulging in the orgy of diabolical defending that was the Manchester Derby (United squeaked it 4-3 in the 32nd minute of injury time ).
Oh yes and ...
Six One! You only won Six One!!!
(Oh thre shame ...)
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Congratulations on both a good run and your 25th wedding anniversary! Sounds to me like you're running really well - to keep your pace under a 6 minute km. is something. Way to go!
Great run and great report MLCM, particularly in such a big crowd, which undoubtedly required work to navigate. It must be very pleasing to roll back 5 years to sneak that PB. Negative splits too!
Congrats to both you and Mrs MLCM on completing such a gruelling distance together (oh yeah, and the race as well).
(20-09-2009, 11:46 AM)Mid Life Crisis Man Wrote: what did occupy my mind was once again the strange truth that running a race is so utterly different from training for one. I was maintaining a pace that I would find very difficult in training, and yet here I was plodding along in apparent head-shaking ease.
Incredible, isn't it? I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the presence of other people. There must be some wisdom in there about how much more we can achieve as a group than as individuals...
Not read the report yet but hearty congratulations on the run. Must be especially satisfying after all those niggling injuries in the last couple of years.
It certainly lays down the marker for Almeria 2011.
Now read your report MLC and frankly I'm disgusted.
Yes well done on the PB. Even weller done to Mrs MLC on completing her run whilst being shackled to you for 25 years.
But I am disgusted, that she didn't have the chance to define her moment of glory by crossing the finishing line in a Running Commentary vest because her husband didn't think to buy her one.
Did I mention I'm disgusted?
Frankly the only thing you both can do is high-tail it to Almeria in 2011 for the AGM, where your continued membership will be discussed at some length in Mollys.
(21-09-2009, 07:25 PM)Seafront Plodder Wrote: Now read your report MLC and frankly I'm disgusted.
Well also frankly, we've actually discussed Almeria on more than one occasion. The problem is the time of year: when we visit Europe we're certainly going to visit Britain & Ireland, so January is not the best time of year by a long way to be doing that. Connemara on the other hand looks a better proposition, and I think there's a much greater chance of us getting there sometime soon.
Especially as they have genuine Irish pubs.
I'd still love to run Almeria of course; but perhaps not on the first trip.
And re the RC running vest - and can we assume that Mr Sussex Champion Plodder wore his RC vest on the tennis court, and thought to buy his doubles partner one as well. Hmm?
(21-09-2009, 10:47 PM)Mid Life Crisis Man Wrote: And re the RC running vest - and can we assume that Mr Sussex Champion Plodder wore his RC vest on the tennis court, and thought to buy his doubles partner one as well. Hmm?
Ha! Well said!
I'm not sure I believe this tennis stuff anyway. It could be a racket.
Interesting hint on the Connemara front. Are you thinking.... 2010?
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
(22-09-2009, 07:17 AM)El Gordo Wrote: Interesting hint on the Connemara front. Are you thinking.... 2010?
Slim chance at best I'm afraid - by the time I'd know for sure the race would most likely be full anyhow
On a more positive note I've just returned from a midnight jaunt to blow the last remaining cobwebs out the system after Sunday's race. I repeated the hilly 8km course I did a week ago, and despite the lateness of the hour, the cold and the rain, and infernal asthmatic wheezing on my part, I managed to hack 5 minutes off last week's time, so I'm well pleased. Pleased too, at simply making the effort, as I really just wanted to go to bed but knew I'd be grumpy all day tomorrow until I ran the thing, so in all it just seemed easier to go and do it. So I did.
But now I'm dog tired, and it's 1:30 in the morning, so if you'll excuse me, I'll be off the land of zed.
City to Bay
RE: City to Bay 
City to Bay 12km Race Report 
) but am raising my cup of lemon tea in honour of a great performance.
