October (2016) Running Challenge

The Bloody Long Walk Bloody Long Recap!

On the day of the BLW I was very excited about my Friday and Saturday running achievements, and was awake on Sunday at 2:15 am. After lying there with my brain running 100 miles an hour I got up at 4 am. Our wave was due to start leaving at 6:20 am. I was doing the walk with an old friend, Roz, who I used to live with in St Kilda in 1988, and we hadn’t met since 1991, although we’d reconnected a few years ago on Facebook. Roz met me on Sunday at my sister Marcia’s house, then Marcia dropped us off at the walk start line. We had The Bloody Long WAIT due to course change requirements as a result of flooding. We finally set off at about 7 am I think.

Roz and I ran in spurts at the start to overtake the crowds and make up some time, but the plan was to just walk fast the whole way (though we’re both runners) so we could enjoy the scenery and company better. It was just awesome to talk to Roz and walk along Melbourne’s iconic Yarra, which was flowing very fast in some places. Roz and I had so many laughs as we shared our life stories for the past 28 years. It was awesome that we both could match each other for pace. We were doing 9-minute something kilometres the whole way.

At a checkpoint at Southbank we got talking to one of the volunteers, Rebecca, whose 6 year old son has mitochondrial disease, the disease we were walking to raise funds to research. Her son had a litany of health problems due to the disease, which must be such a worry. She had a torn calf muscle, it was cold and rainy, but she was out there giving back to the Australian Mitochondrial Disease Foundation whose support had just been fantastic for her son and her. She was amazed at how much has been discovered in the past ten years, and very hopeful as to what might get discovered due to future research. I get chills just thinking about her bravery and spirit.

We set off again after talking to Rebecca for about 10 minutes. The conversation put new vigour in our steps and counteracted any tiredness we may have been feeling. It had been drizzling on and off all morning, but during the walk along the rail trail from Southbank to Port Melbourne the sun started shining. It didn’t last, or we didn’t notice it once we got to the coast, because the wind was strong there till the end at the St Kilda sea baths. We only started feeling tired about 5 km from the finish. The conversation turned to our aches and pains! We did some stretches then put on a burst to the finish, then we were over the line!

Big hugs, then photos, then water and a luxury sit-down in plastic chairs. Now Roz and I are planning the next one! She wants to do the Serra Terror with me next year in June (2 day hiking endurance walk I did this year) but hopefully we can arrange another event earlier.

Feeling awesome!

@ddmom0811 Congrats on the Horse Farm Hundred. It sounds interesting, just based on the name.

@BeeerRunner I also have a cat who tries to only drink from the faucet. He just plays with the water in his bowl, unless it's fresh. He's also fond of taking showers - yes, really! Silly kitties.

@MNLittleFinn I use both runningahead.com and smashrun.com to log race info. Runningahead is very simple and will track shoe mileage. Smashrun has some great analytical graphs and stats, even on the free version. I also have a paper planner that I use for all things and will be writing my training plan on the calendar in that.

@9voice9 Congrats on the sub-30 5k. That's one of my long-term goals, but will have to wait until late next year before I start working toward it again.

@7lenny7 High five to your son for bagging his first deer! Mine wasn't able to get one last year, so he's hoping to get one this year (he's 12). I was also considering doing one of the Securian Winter Run events, but haven't taken the time to look into how that fits into my training plan.

@RunRachelleRun Congrats on your half marathon!! It sounds odd, but if you're able to, I highly recommend running if you can. By that I mean just a few minutes; enough to warm up your muscles so you can do some great stretching and foam rolling. Whenever I'm super sore and stiff following a long run, it's exactly what I need to do to feel better. The only reason I discovered this worked is because I was in pain the day after a 10 mile run, but my kiddo was dying for me to chase him around the playground. I couldn't tell him no, so I chased him, then stretched and found I felt 80% better!

Last night my Girls on the Run team did their practice 5k. I was impressed that ALL of the girls (3-5 graders) finished their 5k in 48 minutes or less! They were tired, but it proved to them they can go the distance at the year-end 5k in a few weeks. So proud of them!

Unfortunately, no mileage for me last night, since I was tending the finish line at the 5k. Totally worth it, though.