Sunday, September 17, 2006

Sunshine, Flowers, Great Friends and a PB!

What more could one want? We do live in a beautiful world. Today was an example of that. It started just a little misty but turned into a stunning Spring day of 23deg. The Canberra Times Fun Run started in the south of Canberra at Phillip and ended in Commonwealth Park in the city. As yesterday was the start of Canberra's Spring Flower Festival - Floriade - just a short walk from the finish line was a haven of sweet smelling gorgeous flowers. There was not a breath of wind and conditions for the 10km run were really perfect even running over Commonwealth Bridge which other years has been a struggle against the wind. As a consequence I think a number of us achieved a PB.

I saw so many people I knew out there on the run and at the finish. This event brings all sorts of people out of the woodwork and I kept bumping into people I hadn't seen for months, some since last year's event. It was great fun catching up with everyone. There were also a number of CRs out there and TD, speedygeoff and his team, PRB, FD, Aki, CJ and a lot of our running friends from our triathlon group and a large contingency of vetrunners were there too.

The start of the run was a bit difficult as there were crowds of people and I was not near the front so it was a matter of trying to aim for a spot between people and was a bit reminiscent of the start of C2S in Sydney though obviously Canberra can't quite manage that many people!

However I had a really good run, I felt comfortable and just aimed to keep people I knew in sight and aimed to pass one at a time. It was such fun. There was even a band near the start to provide some entertainment and lots of people were dressed in interesting costumes such as a whole family of pirates! I really enjoyed myself. I pushed as hard as I could and feel confident that one day I will make this run under 50mins. That is now my goal!

Today's stats:

Distance: 10:09km (so says Gandalf)
Time taken: 51:27
Average pace per km: 5:06
Calories burned: 595

Lap 1: 5:20
Lap 2: 4:42
Lap 3: 4:58
Lap 4: 5:23
Lap 5: 5:29
Lap 6: 5:09
Lap 7: 4:36
Lap 8: 5:04
Lap 9: 5:05
Lap 10: 5:13

Very happy with those splits. I think the faster ones must have been on the downhills!!

After the race and all the barrel draws Aki, Barb, Marg, Mr B and I headed for The Deck for an excellent coffee and a light lunch after which we walked back to our cars through Floriade smelling the flowers. It was such a lovely day!

7 comments:

  1. Great time Strewth and it sounds like you had a very good day. I'm sure you'll run under 50 mins in the very near future.

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  2. Fantastic Strewth. You'll be a 40-something 10k runner soon.

    I notice you've taught Gandalf the bad habit of adding .09k to his runs. Tsk tsk.

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  3. A fantastic run, Strewth, and I'm in awe. I saw you in the finishing stages of the race and you looked great. It was then nice, as always, to catch up after the race.

    Your post told the story of the day as well as anyone possibly could putting it in the context of Floriade and all the other special things we love about Canberra. There's a lot of national icons in Canberra and you're one of them!

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  4. Sensational Strewth - congrats on the PB. Sounds like a wonderful day down there !

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  5. Great stuff Strewth!

    IO'm sorry that I couldn't join you . .. . hope to catch up soon!

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  6. Maybe next run have a "light" breakfast and then you can "shine" during the run.

    (What an awful Pun, but I couldn't resist.)

    Reminds me of one of my earliest jokes as a youngster.

    Q. What should a person do that has been working as a tyre fitter for 20 years.

    A. Retire, of course.

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  7. Great run, Strewth! Disappointing it was on the same day as Blackmores runs. Your PB makes for an even more exciting day...PBs are such lovely things!

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