With all that has happened in Colorado in the past week and around the world over the past few years, don't we need the Olympics right now? Isn't sport a welcome respite from the problems and difficulties of our world, war, economic depression, famine, atrocity committed against one another...isn't teamwork and sportsmanship a breath of clean air. To some sport may not matter, to me it does....
Ok, so Australia has always been a dream destination. I think it started with crocodile Dundee, i just envisioned the whole country being like Walkabout Creek, or whatever the name of his little town was. Although the dream was Australia, Sydney is not Walkabout Creek, it is a big, thriving city, that seems to take health a wellness seriously, as evidenced by the number of runners and joggers we saw at around lunch time, near the botanical gardens and the opera house, yeah I could live there. Newcastle is a beautiful seafront town, with an equally active lifestyle, could live there too.(Brenna especially liked the shopping in Sydney, it had a Target).
So our trip started with a bit of a stumble, we checked in at our gate for our trip from Penang to Singapore, and luckily we arrived early. We needed visas for Australia, something both Roxanne and i found unusual. it seems the only country that Australia does not require a visa for is New Zealand...So our Australian adventure almost ended before it began, the folks at the Singapore airlines desk, were very helpful and in 15 minuets they had taken our passports "upstairs" and gotten the visa approval we needed. I will be sending a very nice note to Singapore airlines on their behalf. Crisis averted we began our journey. after a stay in Changi Airport, Singapore, we took off for Sydney, and 8 hours later we were in Australia, tired, but no worse for wear. we decided to rent a car and since Roxanne has been driving on the right side of the car and the left side of he road for over a year now, and in Penang no less, we figured Australia would be easy. It was pretty easy with a GPS and the Holden Commodore was a very nice car (GM owned). So it was off to Newcastle, and other than a stumble finding the hotel, which had gone from being the "Sebel Newcastle Beach" to being the Novatel...we found it and got settled in. The next morning we decided to go out, pick up my race kit and check out the gardens, despite the chilly and windy conditions (it was about 62F), the gardens were very nice and we could only imagine how beautiful they would be when it was not winter. We also saw Kangaroos in the fields by the side of the road...it was awesome!
We headed back to Newcastle and decided to get in a bit of walkabout along the ocean, then had dinner and retired for the night, as we all had to get up early the next morning.
Race day! an early morning drive to Hunter Valley reveled even more Kangaroos at the roadside! The day broke cold, windy and cloudy, with some early morning rain and the threat of more, it looked to be a very cold and wet race. The running gods were kind though and the weather held with only some light rain at the race start and the wind calmed a bit, it was still in the high 50's low 60's at race time. Perfect weather for a race.
Gun time 7:30AM and we were off, the course was a beautiful out and back with some hilly sections, trail sections, some of it through the vineyards. The was a huge, and i mean HUGE hill at about the 10k mark. It was a very tough course with the hilly sections and the changes in terrain. Finished in 1:48:22 chip time and 1:49:17 gun time.
| OFFICIAL TIME |
OFFICIAL PLACE |
|
|
   
of 520 TOTAL finishers. |
70.77% |
 |
of 260 MALE finishers. |
56.15% |
 |
of 73 M40-49 finishers. |
52.05% |
 |
|
| NET TIME |
NET PLACE |
|
|
of 520 TOTAL finishers. |
71.73% |
|
of 260 MALE finishers. |
56.92% |
|
of 73 M40-49 finishers. |
52.05% |
|
|
I was astounded at my pacing and my time, especially since a year ago I was still in a hospital bed recovering from two surgeries. The cool weather helped and the endless training did what it should. Thanks to Brooks Hanson Distance Project, I did not hit the time I wanted but I am happy with my result. I also tried out the Brooks Pure Grit for this race and I had not used them before, they were perfect for a mixed terrain race! Thanks to my wife and daughter who have not seen me run a race in some time, it was so nice to have them both their and i think at the finish line both Rox and i shed a tear...its been a long and at times difficult journey back to recovered. I think I can safely say that I am RECOVERED. The rest of our trip will be covered in our other blog, be sure to check it out, Rox got some great pics, and we had a great time. This is a race I hope that I can do next year, might be the last before we leave Asia! Loyal reader thanks for keeping up with me, I Ran Happy, and I hope you do too!
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