Archive for October, 2006

Joy and pain

Monday, October 30th, 2006
Cruising on the Harbour Bridge
On the limit at the finish

Two hours, seventeen minutes & fifty-two seconds

Sunday, October 29th, 2006
I ran over here today

The 21.09kms mix of rolling hills, flat dockside and Harbour Bridge of this morning’s Auckland Half Marathon took me 2:17 to complete. To put this in context, my new personal best time for the half marathon is a full thirteen minutes slower that it took the Kenyan Paul Tergat to run twice that distance when setting the world marathon record in 2003.

Having risen for breakfast at 3 a.m. and previously only run 10k events, the extra 11kms were new territory for me and a challenge, despite twelve week’s training. A solitary instep blister was the only ‘injury’ I experienced during training so I was surprised and annoyed when, at just the 8km mark, I picked up a nagging pain in my right knee. My post-race masseur offered the opinion that this might be associated with the iliotibial band, a common problem for runners.

After driving home gingerly, taking anti-inflammatories, soaking in a bath and icing my knee, I had a quick lunch and a long but fitful nap. Suitably refreshed and revived, I have just enjoyed one of SWMBO’s superb roast chicken dinners and am now enjoying a chilled light beer.

picture: beautifulnewzealand.com