Sunday 24th May 2009

Greetings all,

Resting...

Well done to SD and DD looking forwards to the reports
Well done too Michael G at Wokingham

Take care

Hilly - nice to see you.

Gobi - take care.

Tipp Top - looking good.

Stickless - well done to your Mum - hope you didn't hurt yourself too much - great post.

Mava - sounds like you are having a wonderful running holiday.

Michael G - congrats on 2nd V45 & 1.20 - great run.

Sharkie - fab - love it - can feel how happy you were.

Dubai Dave and Slow Duck - great stuff boys, look forward to your reports.

Clink - pretty good 5k considering all your injuries - think I might have to have a go at this water running.

Trini - great pics.

RFJ - another good 5k.

What: Saturday - Pakuranga xcountry - 6497m - now that's pretty precise isn't it! You'd think they'd just call it 6.5 ks.  Haven't been able to do much training as my heel has been so sore, but thought because it was on the grass, thought I'd give it a go.

Three laps - fine for the first one - really hanging on for the last one. First W55+ not in sight!! I finish second W55+ and win another sports shop voucher - I've now got $45 worth.

Now with our club it is all about the home-made baking and bringing a thermos along for the tea or coffee. Got up early, made some scones - didn't turn out very well. Went to see gdaughter play netball, back to put some jam and cream on scones - arrive at the venue, enter, help put up the tent, do a little warm up, think why am I doing this?

Sunday - very easy run/walk 6 miles flat with husband - heel still sore.

By the way, could those of you who race regularly give me some idea of how much it is actually supposed to hurt? I am thinking back to my only previous adult race (some years ago), and on cold nights I can still feel the pain!

On the one hand, I wonder if I overdid it because I felt tired for a couple of days afterwards and my legs were sore for a good couple of days (not used to racing probably).  On the other hand, it was a 5k road race that finished with a lap of the track , and even though I felt like I was pretty much going to die for most of the 2nd half of the race, I actually managed to sprint most the track lap and pass a couple of people.

My other memory is that it hurt so much that for the most of the race I was fairly confident I was going come in at world record pace. Imagine my suprise when I was clocked at a very average 18:46.  Perhaps the fact that there were so many people in front of me should have given me some clue that I wasn't going to break 13 minutes!! Ha ha.

Still, I hear stories about Paula Radcliffe deliberately rolling her eyeballs back into her head to try and block out the pain, so perhaps it really is supposed to hurt that much! Otherwise I guess it means you could have gone faster.!