Fires rule the trails

The news came through on Saturday that there was a fire close to the Overland track down Cradle Mountain way in Tasmania. I just could not believe it. This is the summer where every trail run seems to have been affected by fires in some way or another. Apparently the track has been reopened and the 40 hikers that were waiting are now on their way. The fire has not been contained yet and is 10km from the track. Lets hope the race still goes ahead on Saturday the 3rd of February.

After reading some of the race reports on the AURA Cradle site I made the decision to wear my trail shoes. I am currently having a love/hate relationship with my Montrail Continental Divides. I hate them because the soles did not handle the Brindabella run and wore down badly in the space of 55km. They are quite stiff and make my soles sore and they aren't that light. I was reading that the same fellow won the race two years in a row and his time was 1hr 20min different from the previous year. Basically when the track is good it's good. When it's wet ie. most of the time, it's crap. So I'll wear my Montrails.

Training is going well. Weight isn't. I jumped on the scales this morning and tipped them at 93kg. This is a joke, I must slow down my insatiable desire to eat at every opportunity. From now on every post on this blog will have my weight recorded for all to see.

So far as training is concerned. On Friday 19/1 I was scheduled for an easy day. I had fully intended to go for a lunchtime jaunt but I didn't manage to get out there. We had a dinner to go to on Friday night and returned home at 11pm. I was feeling so guilty that I decided to pull the shoes on and run for 40min. I arrived home just before midnight feeling much better for the run. The BBQ meal had settled and wasn't so uncomfortable in my gut.

Yesterday Sat 20/1, I had another easy day on the schedule so just ran to Bondi Junction to do some shopping and back home with a backpack full of goodies.

Today Sunday 21/1, I went to the Striders STaR at Drummoyne. I arrived 4min after the 6:10am had departed and decided to chase rather than wait for the 6:20 group. The 6:10am group were taking it easy so I caught them about at about the 3.5km mark. It was good seeing Spud and Hamburglar in the group. Must admit I felt a bit out of place running on a flat street course with Spud. I'm more at home on the trails.

The pace from the 9km to the 21km mark was fast and apparently we had quite a few 4:30min/km efforts in there. managed to hang on until the 22km mark and yelled out to spud to drop his map so that I could find my way back. Spud decided that it was too hot to keep up that pace and ran with me for a while. The main group slowed and we caught them at a drink stop. But decided to jog the last few km in at a relaxed pace. The 29km took around 2hrs 30min if you take into account the late start. I wonder if this type of running will help me at Cradle Mountain, I doubt it. Strong hit out all the same.

Just checking the schedule, I was supposed to do 3hrs today and only managed 2hrs 30min. Considering pulling on the shoes and heading out for 30min and listening to the Cricket. Things just got interesting in the one day match against NZ. Australia 3 for 17.