Inspiration galore at Qld Half and Doomben 10,000

14k's @ 5:00 mins/km

Started the day with R4YL duties at Doomben in perfect running conditions that had me aching to pound the bitumen at full speed. As you can tell from the pic, I was nicely rugged up though! With three races starting within 20 minutes of each other it was impossible to catch them all at once but I managed to keep and eye on the key sections of the Half and 10k. As always it was inspirational to jump on my bike and ride with the lead bikes ahead of some elite runners, today it was Brian Livingston, comfortably pulling clear of his rivals in the Half.

Moving on to the PCRG, there was inspiration galore out there today with plenty of team mates cashing in on their hard training for sensational PB's. My good mate Langy comes to mind with a well deserved 36:59 or 37:00 in the 10k - well done mate. Jodie(2nd in F 10k),Jess, Daniel, Andy C, Chelle, Jan, Nic, the Stevo's - the list goes on. There was an abundance of wide grins out there this morning!! But for mine, the most inspirational run of the day goes to Glenda! Not only did Glenda run a mighty race for victory in the 10k and dip under 36 mins, but she made me cast my mind back to the October of 2004. At that time, I had three months of speedwork with Pat under my belt and ran a 38:22PB in the Nike 10k with what we now know to be a bad running stride. I was also wearing heavy shoes and had only moderate mileage under my belt. Glenda loomed up alongside me around the 8k mark and we ran togehter for some time before I pulled away in the last k. Twenty months of consistent training later, Glenda has improved two and a half minutes whilst I have battled shins splints and ill health. But Glenda has really shown me what consistent training and application can do and I know that if I can emulate that, then sub 35 beckons for me. Bring on the hard training!

14k's on the tready this arvo trying not to be too conspicious with my fist pumps as the Broncos got on top of the Warriors in the last 10 minutes. I felt the fittest and strongest I have for almost a month and only some brief Plantar Fascitis discomfort interrrupted my momentum. A quick self massage rectified that rare problem. I was talking to our resident former PF sufferer Ally for a while after the races this morning and we actually touched on the subject of her PF - I hope her PF is not contagious :-)

Km's this week - 41
Km's this month - 33
Km's this year - 491