Blackmore’s Half-Marathon 2011 Race Report
Remember how last year I said that the half-marathon distance was CURSED for me? The streak continues. This past Sunday was the 2011 Sydney Running Festival, where the two of us were toeing the line for my fifth Half-Marathon and the Snook’s first. Our training plan had went pretty well, with the exception of me spraining my ankle twice and missing a couple long runs. I felt pretty good on the day though, and we soon found ourselves at Milson’s Point getting ready for the start. (I took a quick photo just to prove that this year I didn’t lose my iPhone.) We started at the back of C group and we planned to do 2:30/45s intervals from the start. I didn’t want to aim too high given the state of my ankle, but I had hopes that a PR (around 2:30) was possible. From the start, we were flying. We were going under my PR pace, but I didn’t feel like we were going too fast. It was great.

Here’s the cursed part: It was an unseasonably HOT spring day. We were wearing sunscreen and hats, but there’s only so much you can do. I wore my water belt, but I could tell we were hitting it hard. When I had my first Hammer Gel at 45 minutes I felt briefly light-headed, almost like I might faint. (Thankfully the feeling passed.) We hit 8K at the one hour mark, and that’s when it all started to fall apart. My lower legs started to cramp. We extended a few walk breaks, thinking I could shake it out. I had already been taking Endurolytes, so I also started hitting the Powerade at each aid station. It didn’t help. I ended up battling cramps for the entire second half of the race. Every 5-10 minutes they were back, first one leg and then the other depending on the camber of the road. Sometimes my shins, sometimes my calves. It SUCKED. Snookums tried to keep my spirits high, but I was in a lot of pain. My dreams of a PR slipped away. It was just about surviving to the end. My face was gritty with salt and my shirt had white patches on it. It was so hard. Eventually I limped my way across the finish line, a full 20 minutes slower than I’d hoped to run. I was so glad to be done. I wasn’t the only one having problems; we’d seen the medics treating a LOT of people out on the course. And the poor marathoners! I was glad I hadn’t picked this one for my first 42K. Anyway, we collected our bag and met up with the fabulous Knitabulous, who ran her first half-marathon as well. And hey, that’s the important thing! Rodd and Ailsa ran their first HM, and that’s AWESOME. I’m just glad I got to come along for it!

We actually got some pretty good race photos this year. Have a look…

Weeks 35-37
I’ve been a bit slack about updating my distance numbers lately, mostly because they’ve been so disappointing. I ended August with a week’s vacation, and while I got a lot done, I didn’t do much running. Then on August 4th, we went for our last long run of HM training: 20km. And 10km into it, I rolled my left ankle AGAIN. This was the third time in two months, and it hurt a lot. I managed to finish the run, but I ended up resting it the whole next week. I’ve only done two runs since then: an 8km with the Snook, and a 5km on my own today. I’ve been making an effort to get in some walking though, which was helped with the stiffness. I really have no idea how Sunday’s Half-Marathon is going to go…

Aug. 31: 6.02km
Sep. 4: 20.52km
Sep. 11: 8.16km
Sep. 16: 5.10km
Total for these three weeks: 39.8km (24.8mi)
Total in 2011: 825.27km (515.8mi)

My goal of running 1200km in 2011 looks like it’s slipping away from me. I should be at 854km right now, so I’m officially behind the pace. Going to be a challenging Spring, I can tell!

Does anybody have experience returning defective shoes to Amazon? I ordered another pair of Mizuno Wave Rider 14s back in July and they got here in August. I haven’t worn them much due to injuries and illness in the past weeks. I noticed recently though that the right shoe makes a loud squeaking noise whenever I land on the heel (more noticeable when walking). It’s like some air pocket is being compressed and popping/squeaking. The left shoe doesn’t do it, and the older pair I bought back in March don’t do it either. I can’t actually say for sure whether they’ve done it from the start or whether it developed in the past few weeks. I haven’t actually worn them that much; I’d estimate less than 30km. So what to do?

Looking at Amazon’s Return Policy, I think I’m out of luck as I’m outside the 30-day return window and I don’t have the original packaging anymore. I’ve just emailed both Amazon and Mizuno Australia to see if they can help. Right now I’m reluctant to train or race in those shoes if there’s a chance there’s something wrong with them. (Also, the squeaking noise is kind of annoying and embarrassing.) Any other ideas? I can’t see anything that’s making the noise, so I don’t think fixing it is possible. I really don’t want to chuck these if I can avoid it…

Update: Holy crap, that was fast! Amazon just replied to tell me to go ahead and send them back and they’ll refund them. That’s fantastic service right there.

Week 34
A bit tired and sore this week. I’m also feeling a little depressed about my lack of speed, especially when CERTAIN PEOPLE have already massively surpassed me after just a few months’ training. (*cough* Snook. *cough*) But I continue to plug away, turtle that I am. Sunday we did a 9:45 Magic Mile around Victoria Park and then jogged a bit through Newtown to hit four miles. Monday I went to Spudds after work. Tuesday I did a lunchtime run around the Botanic Gardens by myself. Wednesday I went to Spudds again. Lastly, today I did a lunchtime run with Raj.

Aug. 21: 6.68km
Aug. 23: 5.92km
Aug. 26: 5.91km
Total this week: 18.51km (11.5mi)
Total in 2011: 785.47km (490.9mi)

To meet my goal of running 1200km in 2011, I should be at 784.6km. I am ahead… but only JUST. I’m just not racking up the miles the way I was on my marathon training! Staying focused to hit my goal for the end of the year is going to be a challenge.

City2Surf 2011
Last Sunday was my fifth time running the City2Surf and the fourth for the Snook. (Previously: 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006. We only missed last year because we were overseas.) As we’re both training for next month’s Blackmore’s Half-Marathon, the C2S was merely a training run for us this time. We were actually scheduled to do 17K, and the C2S is only 14K! So we left home a bit early and jogged/walked a few kilometers through the city to the starting line. It was a cool and misty morning, but somehow we managed to miss the small rainstorm that soaked most of the waiting runners. We had finally finagled our way into the Green Group (thanks to our qualifying times in last year’s Run4Fun), but we positioned ourselves to the very back of the group. And then we were off!

With no specific time goal beyond hoping to maintain a sub-8:00/km pace, we took it nice and easy with 2:1 run/walk intervals. They spaced out the various group starts a lot more this year, and we found ourselves running on mostly empty streets for the first 4km. It was only as we neared the 5km mark in Rose Bay that the first of the Blue runners started to catch us. From then on, we were in the crush of 85,000 runners making their way to Bondi Beach. We did a great job of maintaining a constant pace and adhering to our walk breaks. Heartbreak Hill was tough, but not as tough as it was in previous years. As we ran down the last few km to Bondi, I remarked to the Snook that I didn’t feel as shattered as I did at that point in previous years. We weren’t going fast, but we were having a great time and enjoying ourselves.

We skipped the walk breaks in the last kilometer or so and tried to finish strong. As I have a history of very bad C2S finish line photos, we decided to make a plan for this one. Do you know the “Haters gonna hate” meme? Yeah, we decided to imitate that kid. The “before finish” video captures us in all our glory. (Watch for Snookums in the red shirt going from center to lower-right.) Our final time was 1:48:05, which is exactly the pace we’d planned for. Afterwards we headed over to meet up briefly with some of the Sydney Dailymile runners and snap a few photos. Then we headed to catch a bus back to the city. (The new bus system of taking everybody straight to Bondi Junction was BRILLIANT. That was the quickest we’ve ever gotten out after the C2S.) Overall a good training run and a fun day out with 85,000 other local runners!

Read on to see photos I took on the day.As we walked through Martin Place before the race, we snickered at these brightly-coloured fellow runners. They were carrying a goon bag between them and taking swigs. “I hope that’s full of water, for their sake!” the Snook laughed.

This was my view from the very back of the Green group waiting to start. (Incidentally, we saw LOTS OF CHEATERS from other groups who had snuck up to start with us. Jerks! We got in fair’n’square via a legitimate loophole!)

Here we go down William Street! This bit always reminds me of the Charge of the Rohirrim. It’s just such an amazing feeling to be part of the giant surge of humanity. (And 2/3 of the runners hadn’t even started yet!)

Here we are coming into the final stretch in Bondi, mugging for the cameras.

The Snook is looking fresh as a daisy!

Haters. Gonna. Hate.

Here we are at the Dailymile meetup afterwards.

The Sydney Dailymile crew (minus a few who started late and were still on the course).

This was the crush that awaited us as we headed towards the bus pickup area.

Lastly, a gorgeous shot of my wonderful Snookums with all of Bondi laid out behind him…

That’s all… See you next year!

Week 33
This week was an improvement! Sunday was the City2Surf, which is technically a 14km race. However, the Snook and I were scheduled for 17km on our training plan. So we actually ran a few extra km’s to the starting line just to get warmed up and make the distance. Monday I went to Spudds class after work, then did another on Wednesday at lunch time. I feel like my strength is starting to come back from being sick. Today I went for a lunchtime run (in some horrible winter Sydney weather) with my friend Raj. Good total for the week!

Aug 14: 18.15km
Aug 19: 5.56km
Total this week: 23.71km (14.8mi)
Total in 2011: 766.96 (479.4mi)

To meet my goal of running 1200km in 2011, I should be at 761.5km right now. Still holding onto that 5km cushion!

Week 32
Climbing back on the horse! The Snook and I dutifully skipped last week’s 7K Bay Run (as ordered by our doctor) which meant we had more than a week off running. On Tuesday I went out in the early morning for a little jog around Newtown by myself. (The Snook ran at lunch.) I couldn’t do Spudds this week as I was at a training course from Tuesday to Thursday. I went for another run today at lunch with Raj. I feel really slow and heavy right now (the training course was all carbs and coffee) but it’s nice to be back on the right track.

Aug 9: 5.4km
Aug 12: 5.63km
Total this week: 11.03km (6.9mi)
Total in 2011: 743.25km (464.5mi)

To meet my goal of running 1200km in 2011, I should be at 738.4km right now. So yeah. The big cushion I built up in marathon training has totally been whittled down by a few weeks of injury and illness! It should start going up again though. This Sunday is the City 2 Surf, and I wouldn’t miss it for the world…

Week 31 – The Continuing Saga of the Mystery Virus
So when I last left you, the Snook and I were both laid low with some mystery malady. Symptoms: major tiredness, fever, some nausea, a bit of a sore throat, and swollen glands. We spent Friday and Saturday basically sitting on the couch resting, but we dragged ourselves out for a run on Sunday. Monday and Tuesday we were wiped out again. Tuesday night I went to my doctor to see if he had any advice, especially as we had two races scheduled over the next two weekends. He told me straight: “You’re not training this week, and you’re definitely not racing on Sunday.” WHAAAT? Well, crap. So we haven’t done any other running or exercising all week. I feel mostly recovered, but my lymph nodes are still noticeably swollen. If they don’t go down soon, Dr. Chin wants me to have a blood test to make sure we don’t have mono (i.e. glandular fever). My teammates Kunaal, Raj, and Chiefy are right now running the Bay Run without me. (The race organisers were kind enough to let us defer our entries til next year.) Hopefully we can get in a few runs this week so we’re mentally prepared for next Sunday’s City 2 Surf!

July 31: 6.57km
Total this week: 6.57km
Total in 2011: 732.22km (457.6mi)

To meet my goal of running 1200km in 2011, I should be at 715km right now. My cushion has definitely been eaten up in the last month! I need to put the ankle sprain and virus behind me so I can get back onto a regular training schedule.

Week 30
Last week’s mystery weakness hung around, making me tired and achey and pukey. On Thursday it finally manifested – I’m sick! Not sure what this virus is, but it wiped me out. I ended up taking Thursday and Friday off (from work, from running, from everything). The Snook’s got it too! Fine birthday present from me. Anyway, we did manage to get in a couple decent runs before it finally laid us low. Last Sunday was our long run of 15km, which was also the Snook’s longest ever. We did it at a comfortable 2:1 ratio and pace. On Tuesday I headed out for a run on my own to break in my new Mizunos. Wednesday I went to Spudds, but I was feeling really weak and crappy by that point. I should’ve known something was up!

July 24: 15.20km
July 26: 6.00km
Total this week: 21.2km (13.25mi)
Total in 2011: 725.65km (453.5mi)

In order to meet my goal of running 1200km in 2011, I should be at 692km. So I’ve still got a nice little cushion there…

Week 29
What a dreary, crappy week of weather we’ve had! Sunday the Snook and I went for a short run (cutback week) with a Magic Mile in the middle. I’m thrilled to report we did it in 9:24! I have definitely gained some speed in the past few months. I added an extra bit to the run to take it to 7km in total. Monday I was meant to give blood so I didn’t bring any workout gear… only to have the Red Cross stab me twice without getting a decent vein. Damn. I ran on Tuesday at lunch, then had a Spudds workout on Wednesday. I felt kinda crappy and ill during Spudds, but I’m fine now so it must not have been anything serious. Today I went for another run in the pouring rain with my friend Raj. We’re tough!

July 17: 7.09km
July 19: 5.62km
July 22: 5.52km
Total this week: 18.23km (11.4mi)
Total in 2011: 704.45km (440mi)

To meet my goal of running 1200km in 2011, I should be at 669km this week. So I’m still ahead of the pace! My ankle is still not 100%, but it’s better. I’m looking forward to our scheduled 15km long run this Sunday. It’ll be the longest run the Snook’s ever done!