I flew to Melbourne last week and ran in the 2006 Great Train Race (that's me in the white singlet on the left). The weather was terrible (pouring rain, cold and windy) but I wore the magic 'ruby slippers' and they made all the difference. They seemed to run up the hills by themselves ! I managed a little over 61 minutes ( over 13.2 kilometres ), which is about a minute over my PB but still better than I expected. The train 'ran' 54 minutes, which is a lot quicker than usual. I think it must have been 'race tuned' during the off season. I didn't even get close to beating it, though about 260 runners did ( out of a field of 3,000 ).
Sydney Marathon, Sunday 17/09/06 . Anyone interested ? I've already entered online. Have a look at ;
http://www.sydneymarathon.org/If we had the numbers, it would be a great time of year to subsequently charter a yacht in the Whitsunday Islands ;
http://www.rentayacht.com.au/au/H
ave we got any sailors out there ?
Paris 06 Was Fun!
4 weeks on and I still haven’t quite recovered! The memory of the event is growing rosier by the minute, and I’d recommend the Winston approach to training to any serious marahasher – surpassed my own expectations by finishing and much quicker than I would have imagined. Highlights for me were; setting off with Julia and Cecile plus crowd (great atmosphere and beautiful sites), losing any sense of decorum at the half way point and bearing my bum in the Bois de Vincent (every French bloke on the course seemed to get his willy out at some point, so it didn’t seem that bad), the weirdness of running through Paris to the Pink Panther tune, the man with the loudhailer shouting ‘Gateaux’ by the Seine (Runner’s Cake!), Marathon de Medoc’s kind gift of red wine at mile 24 and lastly the male cheerleaders just near the finish who gave me a big laugh at a point when I imagined it to be impossible. Miraculously no injury or niggles, so I compensated by dropping a book on my toe in the bathroom when I got back – think I broke it, it hasn’t been quite the same since! So thoughts have been turning to next year, and I’ll hope to be there. This week-end I’ve been laying the ground for the training plan - Big Hands has been to visit – he’s still holding out on the booty but I’m hopeful that with 11 months in hand, I may be able to persuade him to crack the abstinence factor in time for Paris ‘07!
Thanks to the supporters club (I counted 16 in total - pretty good huh!). On on to the pub marahashers!
Sydney Marathon, Sunday 17/09/06 . Anyone interested ? I've already entered online. Have a look at ; http://www.sydneymarathon.org/
