My last post to this was in 2007, and since then, well music is still important to me, but also now is running. and motorbikes. Both relatively unexpected developments to be honest.
Anyway, I decided to get fit at the start of 2008, did my first half marathon that year (Mount Isa Mine to Mine, 1:55:30 or something) , a second half marathon a year later (Gold Coast Half Marathon, 1:57:09). Then in 2010 after a third half marathon (NQ Games Half Marathon, 1:59:06) I tackled the big one at the Gold Coast, finishing in 4:24:34. And with that I was done for. I got more involved in a local running club, discovered the joys of trail running, and well and truly overdid it.
2011 included the:
- 34km Black Snake Trail Race, with >900m of elevation, along with the recce run a few weeks previous which I started intending to do only 20km, with no water and no food, and got a bit lost for a while. The recce took 6 hours. The race was way better at 4 and a half.
- 45km Mt Haig Trail Marathon, with 1200m of elevation gain (yet somehow easier than the Black Snake)
- 2011 Gold Coast Marathon, in 4:11:34. I wanted sub 4 but over-reached, so this run featured my fastest half-marathon so far at 1:50:30, and my slowest at 2:11:04.
- 64km Kuranda to Port Douglas, in about 8:55. My garmin ran out of battery at 61.5km and 8:44.
Awesome right, except it was way too much way too soon, and when I moved to Brisbane later that year, I soon discovered after a bout of sciatica (I hope never again), that lower back pain would be my good mate for a while to come.
Fast forward through 6 years of physio, chiro, pilates, the gain and loss of 15kg, and multiple false starts, I made it to the finish line of the 2017 Gold Coast Half Marathon in the unexpectedly good time of 1:46:04, and it's time to reflect, and decide on the future.
Coz I'm back, baby.