2013 Point To Pinnacle Race Report

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Cheers folks; it's now seven days since the P2P. Sweder and Suzie have left us and a long week of work lies ahead. Today was therefore my last chance to get another long run in before long days of work force any runs to be necessarily short.

I took off early at about 06:15 to beat the heat and chose my regular Lane Cove National Park route. I was feeling surprisingly fatigued, and regular swarms of lycra-clad laughing cyclists on their humming machines, whilst not exactly annoying, were a distraction from the peace of the park. Arriving at the far end of the park I saw the source of this unusually high level of cycling activity - a large group had gathered, clearly suggesting this was a major club meeting and they were gathered there in their dozens like some velocipedic form of Leigh-Mallory's Big Wing.

Instead of the usual retracing of my steps, I crossed the weir and ran up the eastern side of Lane Cove River, where cyclists fear to um, treadle. Here the road becomes a muddy, undulating, root-strewn bush track with far fewer pedestrians and no cyclists. I ran about half its length before turning off and climbing three kilometres back to the Pacific Highway and thence to home, although not before tripping on something and nearly straining my right plantar and something in my back. After a few moments of cautious walking I started running again and it came good. I need to do more of this off-road work to get my confidence and "trail legs" in good order.

I returned home in a lousy time, feeling knackered and sore. But it was a good 17km covered and went some way to maintaining some P2P fitness. What for, I'm not sure yet, but I'll be disappointed if I don't cover at least one marathon and perhaps a half or two next year. And if nothing else, I do want to maintain a decent level of running fitness.

17.0km, 1h56m
YTD: 1,039 km

And some P2P photos...


1. At the runners' start: Sweder, Suzie, MLCMM


2. Leaving Hobart, with the mountain in front of us, and surrounded by a bevy of attractive young female runners ... who said this race was hard??


3. About to cross the finish line. Not feeling as good as the smile suggests.


4. Happy finishers: MLCMM, Stephen, Suzie, Sweder, with extra race number 247 for absent friends Antonio and Andy.


5. True colours - Guinness-clad finishers with their medals.


6. Post-race recovery run with Suzie, Seven Mile Beach.