When I made my first visit to Perth in 2011 for football, I didn’t have any idea that the morning of the match was the HBF Run For A Reason event held around the Perth CBD. Not that I woke up early enough to be caught out by the traffic, I actually only realised this the day after the event. Since then I thought it may have been a decent idea to get involved one day, but I didn’t expect this to come to fruition.
That moment will come this May 26, as I’ve decided to take a weekend off football duties on the East Coast to travel across the continent just to take park. Originally the appeal of a challenging 14km run was the lure to bring me across, with the 10km event on the Gold Coast in early May being an ideal training run. However on release of this year’s course and details the distance had been shortened by 2km. There is also a 4km event for those who don’t feel they can make the long distance but I was always going to take the longer journey to get more value for the trip
Am I disappointed? Part of me says yes given the challenge seemed to be diminished a little, but another part of me is glad that the distance has been shortened. After all it now provides a better stepping stone to the 14km City2South event in Brisbane a few weeks later. There may be a few that are confused that I’m treating events like this as training, but the final goal as everyone knows this year is the City2Surf in Sydney in August. And by nominating myself in the B start group (where the finish times are anticipated to be between 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 25 minutes) I feel I’m giving myself scope to get a better finishing time and position rather than by being just another face buried towards the back of a pack.
Fundraising for this event is taking place, and I have decided to raise some funds for the Western Australian branch of the Cancer Council (there’s a branch for every state). There is no set limit or goals to how much I want to actually raise (even though the page has a default value of $500), as every dollar does help and there’s no chance of failing. The page where there are links to donate can be found at http://hbfrunfundraising.com.au/mick_jeffrey
The event is called Run For A Reason, and every entrant is asked for their reason to run. Many are doing it for themselves, others are doing it as a tribute for those who are struggling health wise. Personally, my reason actually has nothing to do with healthy living, but has more to do with the human spirit. My reason is “To bring the spirit of the Flood affected communities in Queensland across to the west.” I’m sure the Sydney and even the Brisbane centric media would have scoffed at this suggestion, but I feel as though something like this is a perfect opportunity to represent Bundaberg (where several people I have known reside) and the remainder of Central Queensland (which are about to reach the peak as I post this).
Training for this event will begin in earnest in March, for I am fearful of over training myself for these runs (Gold Coast and Brisbane included) by starting too early. That’s not to say I’m going to be lazy, there is football training to take part in and running requirements for that to pass. But the run centric training will take precedence in March. Watch this space for some details of my training regime, which again is my own and not a facsimile of an expert.
It costs $42 to enter the 12km run, plus another $6 to get the race package posted by entering before ANZAC Day, and the 4km event will cost $33 (there are discounts if you are a HBF member in WA, who sponsor the event amongst many others in the state). The website for Run For A Reason is http://www.hbfrun.com.au/
Welcome to 2013, a year which some nut jobs (I’m calling you out Mayans!) believed would not exist. I’m sure some of you readers out there would have resolved to get fitter this year, much like every other year in which your resolution didn’t involve tobacco or alcohol products. Personally I don’t make such resolutions, instead the main aim for me is to gradually return to a training regime that will allow me to fulfil the schedule that I am going to undertake (found on this blog under the PLANNED EVENTS Tab).
To that end I have entered into the Gold Coast Bulletin Fun Run on May 5. It was originally going to be held on April 28th, however the Gold Coast Titans had booked the Robina Stadium in which this event is being based for their home game (where as many spectators will attend that game as there would be runners in this event) forcing a postponement of seven days. It would work better for me with my football (Australian Rules) commitments for no game is scheduled that weekend. This is just the second year this event is taking place, with the event looking for more than the 3000 inaugural entrants.
For those considering entering, there are a number of events that will challenge anyone, so there’s no excuse not to get involved. I have entered the 10km event for a couple of reasons. Being the first attempt over the distance in a semi competitive event, I see this as a challenge to build upon the couple of events I participated in last year. Plus with a trio of 14km events to follow this event, including the Brisbane event I entered last year, I see this as a perfect training exercise to prepare. After all, running 10km training sets like I did a couple of times to conclude 2012 is nothing compared to doing it in a race type situation. As for a goal time, it would be good to finish between 55 and 60 minutes, but given this will be treated like a training event I won’t be too disappointed to stretch beyond an hour. For the record I was completing 10km training circuits last year in just over 55 minutes.
For those that aren’t so keen on completing a full 10km, there are events for the adults over 5 and 2.5 km and the kids can also get involved with a 1km event early in the morning. Having started doing fun runs at a 5km distance last year, I can assure you this is a great way to get started, as most can finish at their own pace usually under 40 minutes. It’s also an easy event to get to, given most of the capitals fly direct to the Gold Coast, and there are plenty of places to camp (one of which I will obviously look to book in the coming months, having already secured flights to Brisbane and using the connecting train on the Saturday before the event to the Gold Coast).
It is worth noting that this event is NOT the Gold Coast Marathon which is held in July. This event at this stage is NOT on my schedule for 2013 due to work commitments, but at the very least the half-marathon would be an ideal and realistic goal for 2014. Entries for that by the way open in March…
If you want to enter this event (which costs $37 for the 10km), visit http://www.gcbfunrun.com.au/
Pleased to confirm that I am officially entered into the inaugural running of the Westac City2South in Brisbane to be held on June 16 in 2013. This event is a sister event to the major personal aim for 2013, the City2Surf in Sydney in August, so in some ways this could be the best training for that event I could undertake, in other ways it could be a challenge in its own right.
Rather than start to look for an overall time at this stage (given that this is only the 2nd time I’ll be planning to run this distance), my aim would simply be to finish. To that end, I’ve placed myself in the BLUE group for runners and joggers, rather than clog up space for the more serious runners. It’s important to have some idea of your limitations when entering organised events with start zones, it’s certainly better for the confidence to set some sort of goal time, then start in the group BEHIND.
Such events always do a great job for charities, and like the events that I was involved in for 2012 this is no exception. For this event I am aiming to raise at least $200 for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, which aims to improve the literacy of my indigenous brothers and sisters particularly in remote areas, who are neglected no matter whom the Government is (or how they are pretending to try, but enough of the political garbage).
To donate to the cause, please visit: http://www.everydayhero.com.au/MHJeffrey027running
For further information regarding the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, visit: http://www.indigenousliteracyfoundation.org.au/
There’s plenty of time to enter the event itself, but for convenience it would be wise to register before December 20 so that the race pack is mailed to you in 2013. Talking from experience it can be a challenge finding the time to travel to a pick up point or expo just to collect a pack before race start particularly when there’s no option for race day registration or collection (which to be fair is near impossible to co-ordinate for mass events such as this).
To enter and run alongside me, VISIT: http://www.city2south.com.au/
Specific training for this event will personally begin much closer to the event, but before Christmas I’ll be undertaking general training just to maintain condition, plus I’ll be doing a few pre-season sessions with my local footy (AFL) club Brothers in Rockhampton when work allows.
Welcome to my new running blog, one that hopefully keeps you updated on my new little . After years of playing local football and, lets be honest, being disappointed, I’ve decided to concentrate some of my energy on long distance running. The aim of this blog is to keep a track of the runs that I complete both in a semi-competitive sense (winning races is not a priority, merely setting goal times and beating them is enough of a challenge) as well as in training.
If you are here looking for professional advice on how to run effectively or train well for running, then sadly you may be disappointed. That’s not to say that I will not be giving my observations or advice if you feel inclined to think that way, every person is different after all. But with no professional qualifications to draw upon it would be unwise to suggest any advice I give should be taken as gospel.
The main aim changes from year to year, and even in smaller time frames. For 2013 the major aim is to complete Sydney’s famous City 2 Surf run for the first time. With a number of events I’m planning to run in as lead up events, hopefully we can all share the journey as one, and perhaps even inspire you to take up some form of running or fitness based activity.
Stay tuned throughout this year and in the future as I share with you my experiences
MHJeffrey027 Running 