A Long-Term Goal

Three years ago I was inspired by my brother-in-law Bruce, who ran the 45k 6ft Track Marathon, to start jogging. Last year we were there at the start of the race to watch the packs take off at the Explorer's Tree, Katoomba and then we saw them again as they were getting closer to the finish line, which is at Jenolan Caves. It was very emotional just cheering and encouraging them as they battled their way uphill and down dale.

Bruce ran it again on Saturday and, of course, it stirred me up to want to be able to run it myself. But, alas, you have to run a qualifying time in a "normal" marathon of 4.20.00 or faster. That immediately disqualifies me because there are no marathons in Tasmania that are run on a Saturday - they are all on a Sunday morning when I am in the pulpit leading some of God's people in worship. Therefore, I cannot even consider running a qualifying time to enter.

But Bruce has generously offered to run the course with me in the cooler months. Therefore, I am looking at trying to attempt the run next year if it fits in with Bruce and anyone else who would like to accompany us. To this end I hope to attempt to run two marathon distances this year - one to coincide with the Gold Coast Marathon in July and the other to coincide with the Ross Marathon in September. To be able to accomplish that I need to up my training just to be able to complete the distances.

So, today, I ran 2 enjoyable 10k laps of the old Devonport Triathlon Course in 2.09.15 (lap splits of 1.03.03 and 1.06.12) having just run a fast 14k on Friday at fractionally under 6min/k. Today's time is a little bit slower than the rate/k that I would need to run for a full marathon if I wanted to break 4.20.00. As you can see, I have a lot of work to put in over the next 4 months. And if I can't manage either of them in 4.20.00 or faster I won't mind at all - the joy of having completed the distance, made more difficult by the fact that it will be a solo enterprise, will be more than satisfactory.

I'm taking off the rest of the week until Friday when I will run Sunday's equivalent of the 10k Run Devonport, even though their course is basically pancake flat and I have some inclines.