Last weekend was the Bridges 10k where I managed to win my age group with a respectable finishing time of 35:55, albeit a minute slower than last year. The field was loaded this year , where as last year I was 8th , this year I was 33rd and well and truly beaten by two women. In my defence the two women that beat me are on the cusp of Commonwealth or even Olympic call up’s so I’m ok with it . Anyhow as you can see in the photo I was certainly enjoying the first 100 metres , sharing jokes with my fellow competitors and looking forward to what lay ahead. Not my normal scalded cat start (please note the correct spelling of scalded  after many “scoulded cats” in previous posts …..) , can you teach an old runner new tricks ?

Of course it was a different picture a kilometre or two later as I moved backwards down the field at a rapid rate of knots. Initially it was nice to run in a pack of runners but I spat out the back pretty quickly and it was time to open the pain box, jump in, lock the door behind me and assume the foetal position ! Got to love racing ! I managed to hold position from about 4k onwards and even pegged a few back in the second half so all in all a great day racing. Of course it was painful and of course you ask yourself why you do it but as soon as you finish and you have that medal in your hand all is forgotten.

This weekend I get to enjoy the experience again as I’m racing the Joondalup half marathon. I actually prefer a half to a 10k as you can ease into the race and it’s not all at threshold, there may even be a small amount of fun involved in a half, maybe ? I’ve raced Joondalup many times and always enjoyed the run as it’s a lap of the lake with a small loop to start to make the distance. No hills , bar a nasty rise at the finish, so it’s pretty quick. Predicted time would be around the 80 minutes which would be my slowest time but I’m still recovering from injury and it just takes time. The most important thing is I’m actually looking forward to the race with the pressure of a finishing time not as prevalent as normal. That’s not to say I’ll be giving it my all, if there’s a bib on my chest then it’s on for young and old… (I may have said that a few times ….)

So how can you stay motivated as you ease into back into the pack , assuming you are on the wrong side of forty. The answer of course is age groups. For the bridges in the 50-59 age group there was nearly 100 runners and it was my number one goal to be the first 50-59 runner over that finish line. This would then give me another medal and a voucher for another bag (to add to the 10 or more I already have?) Of course it’s not the medal or bag that’s really important , it’s the bragging rights as the 2nd and 3rd place runners were my good friends, a force competitors, Steve ‘Twinkle Toes’ McKean and Stephen ‘ the Surge’ Stockwell. In their defence I think both are either recovering from injury or nursing an injury but I’ll take the win.

Another way to level the racing playing field as we get older is to add distance to the mix. Anything less than a marathon and I’m starting to move back to the pack but I still reckon I got a few years in the ultra world closer to the front. To this end I’ve entered the Lighthouse Ultra 12 hour race http://lighthorseultra.com.au (my first) , the Wild Goose three days trail ultra  http://wildgoosechaseultra.com.au (my first) and of course the 200 mile Delirious West Ultra http://deliriouswest200miler.com.au (my first) . These three events will certainly test my theory. The only fly in the ointment of course is my infamous lack of navigational trail running skills. As my mate Zac Jeps once famously said “You know you’re lost when Kevin Matthews says ‘I know where we are”…?” I’m hoping the GPX files that are available are accurate otherwise my blogging days may be over!

There is also the small issue with elevation. Apparently these trail runners like their elevation, something us concrete hugging show ponies normally avoid. Lets face it there’s a reason that the Boston Marathon is so popular anD  of the big 6 marathons most , if not all, are virtually flat. Marathon runners don’t like elevation, trail runners are the complete opposite, they crave elevation.! I’m pretty confident I can survive in both worlds due to basic cardio fitness and the stubbornness of a long time runner who hates nothing more than the thought of slowing,  or worse, walking!  Of course I expect to do some walking over the three events I’ve entered but I steadfastly refuse to take poles along, sorry people but I’m a runner who may be forced to walk (quickly) because of distance , but I ain’t a skier and there will be no poles unless there is snow . Why do I get the sense I’m going to regret that last statement ? Maybe I’ll make my partner in crime , Jon ‘Tinder’ Pendse,  bring along some poles and if we need them I can just ‘borrow them from him‘ (when he’s not looking?)

All joking aside I do need to start to think seriously about the Wild Goose in June as it’s a three day event starting with a 18k hill run on Friday (see, elevation!), a 106k hilly 2 lap loop Saturday and then a 53k version Sunday, 1 lap. That’s a lot of distance plus a lot of hills and some serious navigation. Just writing that I’m starting to get nervous !

Other news last weekend was Jon running another sub three at Bunbury for a 5th place finish , I think that was 11th Bunbury marathon in a row , and the T-train getting derailed with 800m’s to go to the finish of the Bunbury 50k while leading the race. ( https://www.tonysmithruncoaching.com ) Another Northern Suburbs Coach , Ray Orchison ( https://runetics.com.au  ) ran over the top of the T-train after giving him over 9 minutes earlier in the race.  Tone was going for his third victory in this event but even trains get derailed once in a while. In his defence Tony had gone out chasing a huge time and went though the marathon distance less than a minute slower than his PB time, a time that would have got him a podium finish in the main event. After that unfortunately it all went horribly wrong and that just serves to show us mortals even the greats of running can have a bad day at the office.  Steve Prefontaine sums it up beautifully ….