New goals…Happy New year!

Hello 2010! Do I have high hopes for you or what! So, adios 2009, thanks and ciou! I am planning to run 2500 kilometers this year. I plan to kick my previous marathon time in the butt and qualify for Boston…to do this I need a 4 hour and (i think) 29sec marathon..so of course I will aim for a sub 4 marathon. Even sub by 10 seconds will be fantastic. I am optimistic as all hell regarding this. My first…and err only marathon time is 4.29.6…how hard could it be to knock of 30 minutes huh!?

The word ‘planning’ is the key of course. In order to run 2500k and kick a sub-4 marathon, there needs to be a big, focused plan. Effort and hard work. I need to get to bed before 10.30pm and I need to wake at 5..or earlier. I need to be nutrionally sound. I need to do yoga and look after my mind and soul. I need to plan for all of it..I mean a hard copy, pinned on wall-plan. I will do this. I need to do this and look after my family, my career and my relationships.

But right now, I need a coffee.

Thanks for reading.

goat pics plus….running shoes on-running goals…..

a face is worth a thousand words

happiness-the end of a nearly 5 hour goat run

reuben, pleased after waiting for over one hour...hugs for warmth...

At the very least, I slunk out the door-with running shoes on. The very best thing about it was the time of day, 5.30am, which meant there was no-one else about. It also was a perfect overcast windy morning-my favourite time of day. I am hatching a goal for the new year, which should be out, all warm a fuzzy , by late December. The rough outline is, apart from loosing 5k (which will speed me up), I will aim to cover 1000k running distance over the year, that may be not enough, I just have to work it out. Also, I want to do aim for 100 push ups by July (I think). I want to work on my core strength, again for speed.

This year was a good year. I completed eight major races. Well, I consider any race I do to be major. I have to say the highlight for me was my first marathon. The training for it was fabulous, taught me things about long distance’s…and I completed it within my goal time. The low point race would have to be the goat, all though I loved the terrain, and the crap weather-I was energy deficient nearly the entire run. It was a mud run on all levels…physically, pyschologically and emotionally.

Thanks for reading.

fug fug fug….

My running life feels like it is going down the toilet. I have not been for a run for nine days. I feel like shite. I am drinking too much coffee and eating badly. I can feel the fat crawling, finding nooks and cranny’s on my body to nest in. My head is wired…I’m not handling  ‘Mother life’ as well as I should…(i.e harder to be patient).

I need to get out for a run. I was going to go this morning at 5. It was a beautiful morning. I, however had such a non-sleep last night, my head was in such a fug..all i could do was admire the day and fell asleep till 6…too busy tonight..

somebody kick my arse…

How I run myself ugly….

mt lowry 008

ten seconds after finishing auckland marathon

capital half

goat 2009

after the tussock traverse….After the c2c run….

goat 007

These are images of me after big races…it’s never a pretty sight. I truly run myself ugly….the older I get, the more ‘interesting’ it looks!    love it! I have not started training yet, in fact I have not been for a run since last weekend. I am beginning to creak. I woke up with a sore shoulder and back a few days ago…I know it is because I have not been running.  After I rid myself of the ‘weight on my shoulders’, (the concert where I am singing solo) on Monday night, I will begin running again.

Thanks for reading.

The goat laughed at me and the kid whipped me…

blue lipped waiting on the homeward bus..

view from the bus after finishing...

after half way, the view of the 'waterfall rock'...

The beginning-about ten minutes till the start..

Yes..well…it was brutal…and to boot; bloody 24year old men are stronger and fitter than me. Yes…I was whipped by Reuben’s (step son) skinny arse. I just can’t stand it….especially after spending 3 weeks prior telling him that I was gonna leave him in my dust..
Speaking of dust, there was none. It had all turned to MUD. The conditions were atrocious. I loved it. It made me cry.
The day began with me waking every hour from midnight…it’s ‘my thing’. I goat got up at 4.45am…(yes I realize thats taking it way way over the top…)and began my day with strong coffee, a cup of disgusting porridge followed by a half hour of yoga and meditation..and victory prayers and mantra’s,(please buddah..let me beat the step-son…) .
I started worrying that Reubs would not get out of bed in time and was about to rap on his door, waking him and girlfriend, but realised just in time that it was still only 5.45am. I swallowed another coffee, dressed, double checked my gear and swallowed a ‘up and go’, by which time I was pretty full. burp.
Reuben emerged from his cave, and after laughing at me (for being up so early), he was ready, I was ready, it was 7am so we were off.
We made it onto the bus which took us and however many a bus takes, to whakapapa ski village. The drive takes an hour. We then waited in the relative warmth of the village cafe. Three bus loads of competitors arrived while I supped on powerade and a banana. I talked to a few first timers and checked out the ‘competition’…(I knew it was no competition really, only the young, brave, and very fit generally enter this race..and then there is me….ummm…)
There were four waves with three minutes in between each one. Reuben and I were wave four. Obviously wave four were the elites. We ran down the road together, noticing already a victim of the run, groaning in pain and clutching her ankle. Race over for her and we weren’t even off tarseal! After veering off into the volcanic desert, Mr step son left me.
I clipped along at an okay pace(obviously in my head..) the mud and rock making the down hill sections more treacherous than usual.
I counted three injured peeps pulled over clutching limbs not yet one hour into it. I struggled on each up hill section-feeling a bit ill, with tickly weak legs. I struggled for breath, which folks, is unusual for me. I was wondering why it felt so hard…I really thought I would do well..ya know..one whole hour better than last time! groan! For a while, I ran with a 52-year-old woman who was running the goat for the sixth time. She was struggling as well, she thought it may be the altitude. She was taking it carefully, having experienced a helicopter ride off the mountain in a previous goat due to jumping onto a rock that was in the wrong place. Naughty rock!
It is hard to describe the mud…I regret not taking a photo of it. I ran/crawled through it as it cascaded down the track. It tried to take my shoes quite a few times. I sunk up to my hips in it. I was covered in it, hoisting my self up slippery boggy chasms, finding foot holds on tiny precarious tree roots and bits of rock. The river, that I was in fear of, was bigger. I crossed it anyhow. The waterfall rock, (I don’t know it’s real name, thats just what I call it) was massive. Amazingly, the rock face is not slippery..I didn’t mind climbing it, it was the massive waterfall not one meter from me that freaked me. The pic above is of it, you may be able to spot people ants crawling up the side of it. There were moments in this race where I felt completely alone with the elements;I liked it. There were moments when I cried…not a huge amount, I’m not a wuss you understand. I was just overcome with the magnitude of the mountain, I think it had a lot to do with the weather.
I cannot stress enough..the MUD!!!
The course marshalls were wonderful..and frozen. I crawled to the top of a hill to find one on his back furiously doing sit ups. I asked him if he was skiting and he said…’Nah! just trying to keep warm mate!’
Another marshall was guarding a mud hole that lay between two sections of board walk. His job was to save peoples lives by guiding them around the mudpit…telling us there were bodies in it already. Hahaha. Anyway, once I had scaled the last rocky hill, I was on the last leg of the run. There was a sign that said ‘welcome to mama’a mile’. It was a hellish loooong run on the road up to the car park. A real killer. The thing is, because I took so long, cars were beginning to come down the road carrying yahooing finished competitors. They yelled out words of encouragement (I think)..which was sorta nice. The fog was so thick I could not see the finishing shute (which was a blow-up white thing), but I started running anyway. I heard music, heard my name being yelled out, heard Reubs yelling and I put my arms up and finished like the hero I was. I yelled at Reuben triumphantly that I had whipped his arse, even though it was plain to see he had been standing waiting for me for so long he was hypothermic. What goes on in the mountain stays in the mountain. I won.

Goatch’a later….

Not long now till I’m hoofing it up around Mt Ruapahu! Bring it on! I will be brave and announce that I will take an hour off the last time I ran the goat….my goal there fore is 3.15.
The forecast for Saturday (race day) is fine with rain from the afternoon and snow at 1900 feet. It will be three degrees in the morning climbing to 15. That’s all good for me.
Wish me luck.

December-here I run…

December is scaring me a tad. What with the goat (5th) and my ‘concert’ (14th) and the ’staff party’ (11th), and Harrys birthday party (11th). I know, I do seem to have a clash on the eleventh..but the plan is for all the parents to collect the boys at 7.30pm sharp. By which time the ’staff’ will begin arriving…
The training for the goat is kicking along as per plan. I don’t feel as though I’m doing enough, but I think that is all in relation to marathon training. I have a goal of losing 3k for the goat. I havn’t weighed myself yet but the masseuse yesterday told me my back is really lean! Wahoo! I have a ‘back thing’ as in; my back is a fat-back, good for back straps..ya know, the sort NZ sells to the pacific Islands…(shame on the lamb industry). Anyway, thank the gods I cant see my own back…I’m just not that good with yoga.
As for my other scary December thing, the concert!..I do singing lessons and this year, for the first time, I will be singing in front of actual people…umm… trying to follow a piano as I stumble my way through ‘is he is or is he aint my baby’…. hmmmm. Why do I agree to scary things! why? why! (wrings hands, furrows brow..)
The other big thing, but not so scary, is the ’staff’ party. This is the second year I have held one. It is for all of us mummys. We don’t get to have a staff party so I made one up for us. We have fun, eating food-(that we all have made), drinking, dancing on the bench, and doing all those things that ’staff’ do. Amongst the ‘big’ December things are the kids big things. Dance medal tests, piano and violin exams, end-of-year dance performances, drama performance, end-of-year school thingo’s and a host of other ‘little things’…that cause me to stress. This will keep me running cos running is where I get to forget about it all…
Thanks for reading…

Running the Karori Sanctuary…

Finally! After god-knows-how-long..I was back running the perimeter fence of the sanctuary. The sun was doing it’s thing, the wind..whispering, all in all-perfect. My legs feel fantastic, I feel ready for the goat..maybe that’s not a good sign..too early. Dave, rockstar-old-guy personal trainer to the errrm…‘the star’ (me..)said, even if I didnt run from now until the goat, I would be fine. I have a marathon in my legs! And it feels fabulous! I feel like I’m going to break my goat record…errrr…all though that wouldn’t take much..it is rather a pathetic record…
Anyhoo, the jaunt around the sanctuary was fun. Yes it was! I practiced with my up hill trail style…tiny little steps-I even exaggerated my ‘tiny’ steps. I felt like a machine…chugging up the rugged, mountain-bike rutted hills…nice! So, we were out for only one and a half hours. IN the past, this run entailed a camel pack full of gu, water, sports drinks , but this time, all in my bum bag was my camera and phone. (We were both a tad thirsty at the end though…nothing that a stiff freshly squeezed o.j couldn’t fix)…
Brilliant!

Here I come New York……

Well, I put my name down for the New York City marathon in…2013!! errr…that’s the earliest I could get in with a ‘marathon travel’ agent here in little ol’ NZ. He said he only has 60 places for New Zealander’s per year and they are ALL booked up till 2013.
There must be an easier way?

My training motto is:

Okay..I am officially over the guttedness…I feel sad for my man! He really wants to come with us, he needs a holiday, but he has to seg-way Sydney.
So that’s all I will say on the subject.
Now! How is the training for the goat going you may well ask! I have been slightly errrr…slack. I have looked back over my years of training, (I have little training diaries for the past three years…yep..I keep them…) and my overall training motto is: Allow thy self to be slack if slackness seems called for.. I dunno folks, this seems to work for me in that, I am still running and injury free even at my ‘advanced age’.
Anyhoo, training this week has consisted of, Monday-7k, tuesday-9k, wednesday-slackness, thursday-10k, friday-slackness and today is Saturday. I have a plan to run 18k easy. I will do thus.
As you all know, I am still attempting to lose weight…not in the ‘diet-scmiet’ sort of way, but in the..’dont freakin’ pig out so much’ way.
This week I have been doing okay. The only mistake I made was to eat a chocolate biscuit, (by accident). The ‘accident’ happened thusly; Harry was running late for athletics on Thursday night, so he grabbed a couple of biscuits from the shopping in the car. He ran up to his coach to apologize for being late and the coach told him to..” give the biscuit to your mother and go for a run around the field”..
Damn! I ended up with the biscuit and it slipped into my mouth on the way back to the car.
My goal is to lose 3 k by the time I scale the mountains of the goat……
love
Catherine