Weekend Wrap

Friday:
Running: nil
Saturday:
Afternoon:  5.5 kms in 58'34" at 10' 37" per km
Night:  18.7 kms in 2 hrs 15 mins 11 secs at 7' 14" per km
Weather: clear, temp 11 degrees, humidity 70%, wind nthly 10 kmph
Sunday:
Warm up:  4.05 kms in  28'03" at 6'55" per km
Race: 10 kms in  52' 32" at 5' 15" per km
Start group: 34
Finished: 84th out of 106
Weather: nice sunny morning, temp 11 degrees, humidity 70%, wind sthly 10 kmph

Friday I didn't run due to the doctor cutting a small black spot off my right hand. Looks Ok now with a couple of stitches in, due out in a week.
Saturday afternoon, I met with the course manager to inspect the track for the monthly handicap on Sunday. Beautiful afternoon, mostly walking with a bit of jogging.
Saturday night was the Martin Fryer Midnight Madness Marathon on the fire trails & mountain bike tracks on the side of Mt Stromlo. I always intended to only run 3 laps of the 7 to make the marathon distance.
What a great event with plenty of ups, down, very technical single track in the dark.  A perfect night to run with the views from the high apart of the downhill mountain course over to the city brilliant.
This event is really for the trail running nutters, so good, so much fun, even if hard work. Fell over once, no damage. But I wasn't alone, as many as 6 others also fell, some with more skin off than others. It's all part of the adventure. I hope it's on again next year.
Sunday morning, another spectacular day, cool overnight waking to lovely sunshine. Monthly handicap at Majura Nature Park over 10 kms.
Walked / jogged the first part to mark the course. Not so easy the jog back after going out to the 2 km mark. I knew this was not a day to go hard, just survive and no damage.
Started out slowly but there was no speed in the legs, so I tried to maintain a rhythm and keep moving forward and may be catch a few so not to finish last.
The speedy back markers kept flying past me on a regular basis. Saw Mrs Muscles in front at the 5 km turn but couldn't keep up the pace to catch her as she slowly disappeared into the distance.
Later found out she had fallen early on, plenty of damage on knees, hands & elbow. That's how slowly I was going.
Lovely to finish, the 2nd 5 km was showing tiredness, combination of Coburg & last night. But, that was all totally expected. I know exactly how this pan out. Another 7-10 days and I will be back to normal running and looking to the next major event for me at end of July at Caboolture.
There may be some other shorter side line events, an off road half marathon in June will be good fun. Otherwise, it's back to training hard to improve on & build up on the kms I have done.
It's going to be a good winter of running, weather permitting.