The Horrie and Belinda Show

I have decided to post 2006 in review after reading some other bloggers reviews. It is a good way to put things into perspective and look at what you have achieved in 12 months.

January

First up would be escorting Luckylegs on the Beyond the Black Stump run, which was scheduled for New Year's Day but delayed a day because of extreme temperatures and the risk of bushfires. It was a long day out for Luckylegs, Belinda and I and even after taking the road option after the ferry trip, the run still took us 7 hours 26 minutes. As I had never been on my feet longer than 6 hours, I thought it would hold me in good stead for my 12 hour debut at Gosford 5 days later. That it did and I was able to achieve my goal of running 100km, which I managed in just over 11.5 hours. I walked the last half hour and finished with 102.468km for 7th position.

February

Belinda had been training well over summer preparing for her 6 Foot Track debut and was still chasing that sub 55 minute 10km which had eluded her throughout 2005. She finally managed to break through the barrier by running 54:54 at Lane Cove in the first Striders 10km of the year.

March

Belinda was starting to feel constant pain at the top of her calf on the outside of the leg. She broke down at the Striders 10km at Homebush the week before 6 Foot Track. A few visits to the Physio did not help and she had to withdraw from the race on the day before. I then had a day to plan my own attempt on the race. My race did not go well and I finished in 5:54.

April

My mission for April was to ensure Luckylegs achieved what she should have in 2005. Become the W75-79 Australian Record Holder for 50km road race. Ewen (Wombatface) developed a brilliant race plan which incorporated regular walk breaks and we were able to carry out the plan perfectly finishing the 50km within a couple of minutes of Ewen's plan in 6:32, which was a 24 minute PB for Luckylegs.

May

This month was the Bananacoast Ultra which was run from Grafton to Coffs Harbour. The distance of this race was 83km. There were 10 starters and I managed to finish 4th out of 6 finishers in 9:43.

June

This month saw the gradual return to running from Belinda after a 3 month layoff to get over the stress fracture she ended up being diagnosed with. The big one for this month was Poor Man's Comrades, which is 96km from the Sydney Opera House to Gosford Railway Station. After a few mishaps when it went dark, I finished along with Ken Smith in 11:48 for 9th place. A week later I made sure Jen finished her first run over 16km at Woodford to Glenbrook, which she did in 2:44.

July

July saw me start training with Sean Williams and his SWEAT sessions following some encouragement from Blue Dog. The regular speedwork saw my fitness improve and a few kilos starting to fall from the frame. There was a race every weekend and this saw me start to get motivated to run fast again. I managed a win over Superflake at a Randwick Botany 6km Cross Country race. Then it was down to Nowra for the Shoalhaven King of the Mountain, which is a 32km hilly run. I managed to finish this in 2:44 and I was starting to feel confident about the Cities Marathon at the end of the month. An equal PB at the Sutherland to Surf kept me happy. Then at the end of the month, I finally got the Marathon Monkey off my back finishing in an 8 minute PB of 3:25:51 with some great pacing and company from Blue Dog and Colin.

August

August started well with a course PB at Lane Cove 10km for the first run there under 42 minutes. A week later saw us head up to Katoomba for the 12 Foot Track. Our plan was to run it in 14 hours but Blue Dog got carried away chasing Team Mellum. After a good first half where I ran 6:07, navigation problems trying to cross Cox's River in the dark saw my time blow out to 16:37 but I now knew I had what it took to finish the 100 miles at Glasshouse. I finished the month off with a surprise PB at Willy 2 Billy and was feeling good going into Glasshouse.

September

This was the big one - Glasshouse Mountains 100 Miles. I knew I had done the training. I just had to overcome the fear that I could run through the night and have enough stamina to finish the distance. I covered the first third of the race in good shape. I started to fade in the afternoon and was feeling the effect of a long, hot day. The night came and I was relieved. Unfortunately, some bad directions, no sign and some confusion caused me to take a wrong turn and I added over an hour to my journey. Lucky I realised I was heading the wrong way and headed back to the previous checkpoint and covered the next section with John Lindsay. The ITB was making itself known and I knew I had to manage it well to ensure I finished. Schultzy paced me from 100km and after a missed turn added another 40 minutes to my trip but kept me on track and pace to finish in 29:40 with 20 minutes up my sleeve.

2 weeks after, I paced Belinda to her first sub 2 hour Half Marathon, which was amazing considering she had only been back running 3 months.

October

Belinda was able to continue on with her recent good form and just to show that the massive PB in the Sydney Half was no fluke, punched out a 54 second PB at the Homebush Striders 10km to finish in 54 flat. I had a tough time after Glasshouse and the ITB was causing me a lot of grief and pain. I battled through as I promised Belinda I would run Fitzroy Falls with her. The leg behaved itself and Belinda battled through some real stomach issues and a lack of training to finish in 5:43. A week later it was down to Brindabella for 53.8km of mostly downhill mountain running. The ITB was at its worst this day but I somehow managed to finish in 5:28. Then amazingly, after continuing with the strengthening exercises and stretches given to me by the Physio, the pain just vanished.

November

With the ITB coming good and having a break from the long stuff, I was able to run a 10km PB for this running life, stopping the clock in 41:50. Then I managed to get the Ultra community offside with some constructive feedback about the GNW 100s after crewing for Bandanna.

December

After having a couple of weeks of good solid training with no ultras, I set myself for a big crack at a Half Marathon PB at Central Coast Half. I managed to take 1:55 off the old mark to finish in 93:05 but as soon as I finished, people were starting to question the accuracy of the course. This put a real dampener on my run. Belinda again proved the PB in September was no fluke by again taking nearly another minute off it to finish in 1:56:03. After pulling up with no ill effects from the CC Half and having another 2 good weeks of training, I decided to have another tilt at the PB at the last SMC Half for the year. I was able to take another 16 seconds off the PB, stopping the clock in 92:49. This time there was no talk of short courses so I knew this one was legitimate. That and the fact that this is a lot tougher course told me that I had well and truly earnt that PB.

So there it is, a great year for both of us with the exception of Belinda not running her first 6 Foot Track as planned. But that is her major goal for 2007 while mine is completing the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run.