With the good we take the bad, and the last 8 weeks have been filled with a lot of good but some bad, which is too much bad for my liking.
After some busy weeks gearing up for The Age Run Melbourne, I was well prepared and it was drawing closer. Though for various reasons, I had to unfortunately and regretfully withdrawal.
The main reason being I pulled a muscle in my back the morning before and could hardly walk.
This whole situation still burns me and annoys me quite a lot. Being the first event I haven't committed to since starting and letting down myself and my sponsors behind the Heart Foundation cause.
Very frustrating and embarrassing! This led to a few sessions of physiotherapy and a couple of weeks of soul searching.
What resulted was the ideal of me trying to harness this frustration into focus and motivation for the next 6-12 months. I asked a lot of questions of myself and had to look at it positively.
Once I began training again, I quietly went about my sessions at the pool and on the track. Something unusual was happening though. I was dropping time everywhere. Short runs, long runs and long swims. I was shaving minutes of PB's. It felt good and I felt I was taking it pretty easy. Cant complain, but I was definitely feeling a lot fresher from another break.
So there was 5 weeks from The Age half marathon until the Sandy Point Half Marathon.
I was intent on making amends.
Event day came around and it was a very fresh morning down on the Brighton foreshore. I was there and ready to happily cruise through the course. It appeared flat but has quite a few gently sloping hills.
As usual I waited and got off with the last third of the pack. I wasn't going to win but always enjoy doing a negative 10km split and passing hundreds of people that have gone out too hard. It was around 10 km down to Beaumaris then 11 km back to the finish.
I eased into the run at a good pace and generally sat in with others. Once the turn around came I felt great and decided to take it up a notch. The crowd had significantly spread, so some were looking for faster runners to pace them back up to the groups ahead. I took advantage of this and got some fast heels to sit on. Didn't feel an ounce of pain or worry throughout the whole run until the last 2 km. Only because it seemed like 6 km not 2 km. But eventually the line was crossed.
Last years Age Run half Marathon recorded a 2:05 for me. I'm still unsure on the accuracy of this?
However going into this I was happy to go sub 2 hrs with the pace I was going to sit on. I cruised over the line in a comfortable 1:53 so was delighted with the result and hopefully can keep pushing to the 1:45 mark.
Loved this course and smaller crowd and will keep going back for this each year.
Now to continue on with fresh body and mind. Next stop is the Melbourne Marathon in 8 weeks. Triathlon calendar is also out and just putting together some more races to take me through until next march. Hopefully smooth sailing ahead. However challenges and setbacks are not always a hindrance. They can provide more motivation to achieving your goals. :)
Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records.
~William Arthur Ward~
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