Monday, March 31, 2014

Jantastic

Final week of Jantastic, 10km tempo run completed in 41 mins, 21km long run completed with a mix of linear park and Ambers Gully Trail - needless to say the trail run thrown into the middle of a half marathon was a bit of an ask. Ambers Gully is steep! It was well worth it however as at 7 in the morning it was beautiful in Black Hill Conservation Park. There were so many Kangaroos out and I was the only person around. From the top of the Long Ridge Track I had views West over the city and the ocean, and to the East, the sun rising over the Mount Lofty Ranges and quiet a spectacular looking quarry!
Jantastic has been an awesome event to participate in. As I was returning from injury this year it really helped me set achievable goals and helped me stick to them. Early in January I would not have thought it would be possible for me to run a half marathon by now, nor to almost run a 40min 10km. I started with only 3 short runs a week in January - often in the snow as we were holidaying at ski resorts in North America. This was amazing though as I saw some beautiful scenery, with some of my favourite runs being through the forest along snowshoe trails in Lake Louise. Yes it was tiring running on snow, but so beautiful and something that I will never forget. I also ran in Seattle, with another favourite run being along the sea wall as the sun rose, running with my wife Kate. It was a cold morning, clear and crisp, and we just chatted and quite quickly ran out 12 km or so. This was followed with a coffee and snack at Pike Place market.
Running in Whitefish Ski Resort was interesting to say the least....I quickly resorted to the treadmill there, but yes I did manage a 10km outdoor run there.
Then Vancouver. Some of my nicest runs were along the seawall there, making the most of my last few weeks in Vancouver, and one of the best ways is to take in the amazing views from the seawall, as well as to run all the trails in Stanley Park. Such amazing memories! Now just to add on some extra places we landed in Hong Kong and we did some runs along Victoria Harbour, once again running is such a good way to see a new place, and it just enabled us to see more of Hong Kong than we would have had we not been running.
Finally after 3 years overseas we returned to our home town, Adelaide, and having Jantastic as a motivating factor, I stuck to my wekly runs and targets and got straight back into running in Adelaide, with a mix of road and trails. Needless to say, since returning 8 weeks ago, I have run some amazing trails and seen some truly amazing parts of Adelaide, with one of the most memorable being running Chambers Gully in a lightning storm.
The 21km run drew Jantastic to an end. I achieved what I wanted and it has now put me in a great place with a good foundation for some big races this season. I'm looking forward to Jantastic 2015 for sure!

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