Sayonara 2016

And there it went. 2016 served up, thrashed out and sent packing as the bridge lit up, Jaden bolted around the house party we were at till after midnight and the traffic banked back up New South Head Rd as we inched our way home in the first hour of 2017.

I have achieved a full year of one of my 2016 New Year's resolutions - start a Blog. The other two were epic fails (less drinking and Yoga). Not one yoga class to speak of and as far as the drinking side of things - well I can only try again. I suggested to Jac and Craig at yesterday's long run that my goal was to go 2 to 1 running days to drinking days in 2017. Somewhat achievable perhaps.

2016 on the running front was on one hand - if comparing it to past times, performances and the other guys around me (Tom, Barts etc) then it wasn't that memorable. On the other hand I have aged a year, I am still running reasonably competitively and obviously still enjoying the bug - so notch that down as a win. The banter, friendly rivalry, running trips added to the growth of Rejoov Runners has kept the motivation alive.

Rejoov Runners has now affiliated with ANSW so that we can try and form teams for the summer and winter seasons. It will take a while to get to a stage where we are competing strongly but even now, we are starting to see a few faster guys joining the fun group we have built. The overwhelming feedback and observation everyone identifies with Rejoov is the camaraderie, the spirit and friendly banter void of ego and the personalised approach Greta displays to every single member. So if I am to be proud of any running achievement of 2016 - it's Greta's determination to provide a running group for everyone.

Personally, 2016 consisted of the following races amongst many other smaller ones.

* 6ft track - failed on Black range again and struggled to finish it off on a hot day, fading to 10th.
* State road 10km - 32:46 which was my fastest 10km of the year.
* Canberra Half - leading for 15km before slowing too much but scraped into 3rd place overall
* Phuket Half - probably my most fun and rewarding race this year. 2nd overall and some great prizes
* Gold Coast Half - not a bad performance 71:25. Just against Bart's time it seemed slow that's all
* City to Surf - After spending 8 weeks battling head colds and infections, a good result - 28th place
* Melbourne Marathon - Horrible horrible conditions and my legs buckled. Faded badly 2:47hr
* JP Morgan - Could actually be one of my better races this year. I ran it smarter, was in the mix for a lot of it and still finished strong (not strong enough for a fast finishing Toby H)

My last two weeks of 2016 looked like this:

Mon 19th Dec: AM: 9km easy PM: 7km (16km)
Tue 20th: 14km HuRTs session 3 x 10mins in the heat. managed 3km just each time.
Wed 21st: 19km very slow (2 clients)
Thur 22nd: 13km Monna Fartlek. Robin turned up and kept me honest. It's a session I feel very confident with having run it countless times. We took off with Tom taking it easy early on and keeping Enda company. Robin and I traded places several times as the energy and speed ebbed and flowed for us both. Running through 5km in 16:15 it was going to be a solid session in this heat again. Good to run a whole sesh with Robin who I have been coaching for a while now. Finished with 6.11km for the 20mins.
Fri: 23rd: 7km easy
Sat 24th: 21km long run with Hurts and Rejoov in the park
Sun 25th: No run. Santa was too giving today and the champagne flowed early.

90km total. Not bad considering it was Christmas week.


Mon 26th: 10km with a 19min 5km thrown in just to get it done quickly before a BBQ
Tue 27th: 13km Rejoov Session - 6km fartlek on grass around Willow Pond in CP. It's a 850m square loop and we alternated sides to surge. Ran quite strongly for a 3:19 / sub 20min result.
Wed 28th: No run - camping at Coolendel (Shoalhaven river) and it was too hot and too easy to sit around and do nothing. Swam 500m in the river though - can I count that?
Thur 29th: 10km slow after returning from camping.  Bit stiff and sore from the bed/tent setup.
Fri 30th: 12.5km - tried to run 5 x 1km in under 3:05's and managed just two. Well one really. 3:02 and 3:05. In the 3rd one, my legs immediately blew up and I ended up doing 2 x 500m and even then they were slower. Good to know exactly where I am at with regards to the raw speed aspect of my fitness. Or more to the point, where I am not.
Sat 31st: Last day of the year and my last run was with the Hurts/Rejoov guys and girls in the park. Nice and leisurely 20km.
Sun 1st Jan: 8km recovery run.

73.5km total which with the 500m swim I'll just go ahead and call 74km.

Not sure how many kms for the year in total but with the start of 2017 upon us, it's good to know I have run everyday this year so far. Tom - are we on again this year?

Here's some pics of what's been happening away from running lately. Happy new Year everyone. Thanks for reading. In 2017 I plan to up the quality of content on this blog. Not sure with what right at this minute. I'm sure it'll come to me on my next run.

See you out there.
CT