Scaredy cat

Posted on January 19, 2018 by laurenhailey

Yesterday I rode my bike to work for the first time, ever. In the past I had always been too scared of inconsiderate drivers, but I had a plan.

I’ve been reading a book about a lady who loves bike riding and has completed some epic international races including a race across Alaska, that’s right Alaska! Her training included riding to work through snow and ice each day in freezing temperatures, and it got me thinking maybe I could ride to work too.

Being unable to run last year got me into cross trining, and for Christmas I managed to score the best present ever, my own mountain bike. I had not ridden for years and it brought back happy memories of when I was a kid and my brother and I would ride around the streets together. My father used to take us out on longer bike rides too and I remember enjoying that time together as my father was a pretty quiet man (aside from the Dad jokes).

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve become more confident again on the bike abut I’ve only take it on wide fire trails, nothing too narrow or technical. I struggled to keep up with why friends lightweight Cyclocross bike but I was determined to not let that stop me.

I sat ands thought about the best route to take for my journey to work and mapped it out in my head, I guessed it would be a little more than 10km. Sydney drivers are not very ‘cycle-friendly’ so I was feeling a bit nervous and scared. I decided to ride on the footpath as much as possible but there was one section on the Highway where I could not avoid the road, so my plan was to wear a hi-vis vest to make ensure I could be seen at all times.

Thursday morning came around and I got up, had my usual smoothie breakfast and headed out the door. All I could think about where the horrible bike crashes that I’d seen on the news and heard about through friends. I kept telling myself to “Stay positive” and be on the look out for car in driveways and turning cars, so my pace was constant but cautious. After the first 2km I relaxed a little and started to feel really good, my legs felt strong and the weather was still cool. I even managed to overtake a tractor as it slowly rolled along President Avenue.

I got to work in just over 35 minutes for 13km. I thought that was pretty good. When I looked at my Strava information for the ride I realised that most of the journey had been downhill, no wonder it felt easy!! That also meant my ride home would be mostly uphill and not so easy….

After work I donned the helmet, gloves, backpack and vest then headed out into the heat. The sun was blazing down on my face and arms and I wished I had packed some sunscreen. The first section was pretty flat and then it was not. On the hills I alternated between low gears with a high leg turnover, to low gears and standing up to pedal and keep my momentum going. The weight of the bike would stop me in my tracks as soon as it sensed a hill was close-by and the worst of the hills was yet to come.

I made it home in just over 55 minutes. I was sweating like a pig but I felt great. I had survived and had a deep feeling of accomplishment for getting myself to and from work under my own steam. This was definitely going to become a regular habit. Maybe I should sign up for a bike race…..

Happy riding 🙂

BOOK MENTIONED: Becoming Frozen – Jill Homer

Woronora Dam 10km

Posted on September 20, 2015 by laurenhailey

I was having lunch with my friend Amanda a few weeks back and she mentioned the upcoming Woronora Dam run, a local trail run organised by JORG. She was entered in the half marathon and there was also a 10km option that she suggested I should enter too, so I signed up.

The weather on the day was not ideal and I was prepared for a muddy trail as it had rained the few days prior and also on the morning of the race, but that never gets me down. I actually like playing in the mud. The course was unknown to me, I hadn’t looked up the elevation chart but I was assured it was one hilly bugger.

I chatted to Amanda and some other friends at the race HQ and after hearing more about the course I decided that my goal would be to run the entire trail to use it as hill training, I didn’t set myself and goal time and wanted to just go out and enjoy it.

The half marathoners set off first and Amanda looked strong and ready, she was coming back from injury and I hoped she would do well. After a short break it was our turn to start the race, I was nervous but feeling good.

The gun went off and we ran up the first hilly road section towards the trail. It was a tough slog at first running up the wet road and having to dodge other runners, and my right knee didn’t like the concrete too much either.

Eventually we hit the trail and it got hillier, great (ha ha). This was an out and back course and there were mostly downs on the way out, which meant only one thing….. lots of ups on the way back! So I slowed a little and made sure that I reserved some energy for the way back. There were some nasty steep declines at the moment and I knew it was going to take a lot to run them all on the way back up, it sure would be challenging.

It was great to be able to see the front runners smashing it back up the hill as we came down, they looked pretty puffed which only confirmed my fears of how hard it was going to be to run all the way back up!

There was a drink station at the turn around point so I grabbed a water and turned to head back up the steep hill we had just come down. This was it, time to hit the run button and just keep running no matter what.

I don’t remember looking up much on those hills. I had my head down concentrating on finding a rhythm with my breathing, to keep swinging my arms and lifting my legs. I managed to pass quite a few people as I ran up the hills, most of them were surprised I was able to run them and they encouraged me along. This gave me even more determination to not stop and to finish strong. They were some steep bloody hills! I had my coach Damon’s voice in my head the whole time, pushing me and telling me that it was possible, to just keep running, and that’s exactly what i did. He would have been proud if he saw my run that day.

During the last few kms I had the pleasure of running with a young girl called Sian, she was running her first trail 10km and doing really well. We chatted a lot about running and life and it made the time fly past. We were making good speed and I was surprised to note that we might possibly finish in under 60mins, i’d be VERY happy with that considering the hills!

We flew down the last hill both pushing ourselves to try and make attainder the hour. We overtook a lady as we neared the finish line and crossed in 58:37 – wow! I hugged Sian and we celebrated our fortunate race result, it was a great way to end a run!

After some food & drink I went for a short walk after the run to check out the pipeline and the views, it’s a great spot and i will definitely be back for some training runs.

I waited for Amanda to come into the finish line and chatted to the race director Jim as I hadn’t seen him for a while. Eventually Amanda came flying home to finish in under 2 hours, a very great time!! Go Amanda!!

It really was a great event and you should all come down and run it with me next year!

Happy Running 🙂

2014 Oxfam Trailwalker 100km

Posted on August 25, 2014 by laurenhailey

We pulled up at the drop off area at the Oxfam Trailwalker Sydney last Friday and were greeted with rain and a very grey looking sky. Thankfully we were all in high spirits and the mood at the registration tent was excitement plus!!

Our team bibs were given out and the nerves were starting to show more and more. This was it, we were here at the start line and there was no turning back now. We donned our temporary ponchos and made a quick trip to the toilet before taking our place on the starting line. Everyone was chatty and positive and I could feel it was going to be a great day (and night!). Roger had even organised some team shirts for us and they looked (and felt) fantastic. Thanks Roger!

We talked over some last minute race plans and tried to make sure we were in front of any walkers who might slow us down on the single track later on the trail. And the countdown began, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1….. we were off!

We waved to Pip our lovely chauffeur to the start line and support crew extraordinaire and made our way along the road to the first (bloody steep) fire trail hill. Emma and Dominic were just ahead of Roger and myself and we chatted all the way as we walked up the hill, everyone was friendly and wishing each other well.

Our first section was 15.6km from Parsley Bay to Muogamarra RFS which we estimated to take 2 hrs 35mins, it was very technical and very hilly and on this day very, very wet! We ended up completing the section in 2hrs 23 mins (9:23am) and spent less than 10 minutes in the checkpoint getting some food and having a toilet stop.

The second section from Muogamarra RFS to Berowra was 11.9 km which we estimated to take 2hrs 25mins and this was the roughest, most difficult section we would encounter. It ended up taking us 2hrs 15 mins (11:48am) but we took the whole 10 mins at this checkpoint as it was the firs time we saw our crew. I changed my shirt which was very wet from sweat and rain, and Pip refilled my bladder and flasks. I also had a nutella sandwich, so gooood!

The third section was 15km from Berowra to Bobbin Head which we estimated would take 2hrs 50min, and rated the same difficulty as the first section. The rain had been on and off in a light flutter all morning but it was starting to clear by this point. However my feet were completely soaked and the trails were so slippery and muddy it was much tougher under foot than our usual training runs.

We got to Bobbin Head in 2hrs 53mins (2:45pm) which was pretty much right on plan. It was great to see the crew again and they made everything so easy and were so reliable. We got out of there in 10 minutes again, thank to Kerry our fabulous timekeeper, and headed for St Ives Showground. It was going to get dark before the end of this section so we had not only changed our shirts but also picked up our head torches.

The distance to St Ives Showground was 15.6kms and we estimated it would take 3hrs 10mins. Some very hilly sections through here and very, very wet under foot. I had not changed my shoes socks yet but planned to at the next checkpoint. The day was going really well and my legs were feeling great, the team were really coming together and we were having lots of fun…… until poor Roger got the dizzies and started feeling sick.

Dom & Em had been running ahead of myself and Roger, when I thought Roger had slowed behind me to go to the toilet. However I slowed down (even walked a bit) and he wasn’t catching up. I got a bit worried and when I caught up to Em and Dom we decided to turn back and look for him. Another runner told us he was lying down and didn’t feel well, ooh no! We rushed over to see him and he looked pale as a ghost. We eventually got some water & food into him and when he felt he could walk we folioed at his pace.

He started to get better and even ran some more of this section, however when we got to just before the sphinx track he started vomiting. Funnily enough he felt better after he had been sick, however it was to be short lived and he ended up dry reaching a few times and you could see that no matter what he tried he wasn’t able to keep anything down. Poor roger was fading, and it wasn’t looking good.

We got into St Ives in 4hrs 20mins (7:05pm) and decided to take a longer stop to help let Roger recover, re-asses and for us to all have some warm pumpkin soup (thanks so much Helen, it was delicious!), get changed and prepare for the night sections that clay ahead. I had some soup, some noodles and changed into some long pants. For the last couple of ams before this checkpoint I had felt like there was a rock in my shoe under foot, however it turned out that my feet were so prune-like (after all the water) that they had shrivelled up and there was a crease in my underfoot that didn’t look pretty. I aired my feet for as long as I could and decided to tape the underneath section to try and avoid blisters and the pain I had been feeling. I also put on some new socks and changed into my Hoka trail shoes, previously I had been wearing my Brooks Adrenaline ASR trail shoes for the extra support.

It was about this point that Roger declared he would have to retire, he didn’t think he could go on and he did not want to slow us down. What a tough call, but one that only he could make. We wishes Roger well and hoped that he would be feeling better soon, and we finally got moving again and got out of the checkpoint. I think we were there for about 15-20mins, which meant that we were very much behind our original schedule.

As we ran out of St Ives towards Macfarlane Reserve, which was 12.5km, we said we would work together and try and make up some time (if possible) and re-asses our goal at the next checkpoint. Our plan had allowed 2hrs 5mins for this section and we ended up completing it in 1hr 50mins (8:53pm) so we were stoked to be making up some time and felt confident we could keep up the pace.

We didn’t spent too much time at Macfarlane Reserve as we were still trying to make up some time, so before you knew it we were out the gates again. We kept checking in on each other, how we were feeling and alerting each other of tricky sections that came up. Which meant that mostly Em & Dom were alerting me as I’m the slower runner and sat at the back for the rest of the run. Ok, so it wasn’t just because I was slow…. there was another reason you would not have wanted to run behind me at some points…. (wink, wink, ha ha) and we made some great jokes about that too.

The trail was so slippery, and some of the cliff sections had all but washed away so it made manoeuvring very slow and you had to be so careful. Throughout the day we had crossed many creeks that were overflowing, large trees and branches also blocked the way and we detoured in certain spots. I remember going through one creek that was above our ankles and it felt like rapids, like we might get washed away! Crazy!

Towards the end of this section my stomach had started to feel queazy and even Dom and Em said they had felt it too, so we had some ginger pieces thrown at us and i’m so glad we had that. It really made me feel so much better!

Earlier in the day we had decided that when we got to 80km we would have a mini-celebration, as this meant it was the furthest we had all run. It was such a great milestone to reach here and we cheered and high fives and carried on being clowns.

We headed for Davidson Park and our estimated time was 2hrs, however we managed to make it in 1hr 50mins (11:14pm) which meant we had again made up some time and our goal to hit 20 hours did not seem that far out of reach. I ran into a friend at this checkpoint and got a little sidetracked as I was changing my socks again, however after scoffing down some noodles (while being yelled at to hurry up, ha ha) we only spent 8 minutes at this checkpoint and were soon on our way to Ararat reserve, the last checkpoint which was only 7.5kms away.

The next section was short and our estimated time was 1hr 40mins, so we kept the pace up and ran all the flats and down hills. I think it was about this point that my body went into auto-drive. I had been going through all this technical trail, with stop/start running and the legs were feeling more and more tired, but they just kept going and we kept up a very consistent, steady pace though it started raining again at this point and the ground was very soft and sloshy. I’m not sure if it was this section (I think it might have been earlier), but we came across a “puddle” that we could not go around and it ended up being past my knees. It went for a good 10 metres too so we got drenched through our shoes again.

I cannot stress how slippery, muddy, wet and rugged the conditions were which also added to the difficulty in staying on your feet. It really was quite dangerous out there and we had heard from other groups about twisted knees and ankles so we had to be super careful, especially now that we were all exhausted and the only light we had was from our torches.

We had been playing leap frog with many teams through out the day and at this point we actually knew we were in about the top 20, how cool was that!! And section seven ended up taking us 1hr 38mins (1:00am) and when we got into Ararat Reserve it was pouring with rain. I ran into Margaret from Striders here at the check-in tent and she was heading towards Seafoth oval to direct runners from there, it was so lovely to see a familiar face. Em ran for the toilet for a quick stop as we had decided to keep warm, keep moving and not stop at this checkpoint, as we had only 11.2kms to go till the finish.

The transition was quick and we were back on our feet and onto the trail in lightening speed, we had 2 hours to complete the last section and hit our goal of 20 hours – very doable, we just had to keep running as there were some tough hills in the last section (especially on tired legs). We were all in high sir its and feeling pretty good considering, our goal was so close we could almost feel it.

When we got to the road sections Dom kept checking to see if other teams were catching up behind us, but we had not seen another team for a long while now. Things were looking great!

We managed to run all of the flat and downhill sections and I felt like running was all I knew. It was like my body just subconsciously knew it had to run and I didn’t even have to think about it anymore. We ran through the streets and over the Spit Bridge and headed through a park and hit the sand section. It was here that I heard another team behind me, catching up! Dom and Em got worried we would lose a place but all I wanted to do was finish strong.

The 2 guys caught up to me and they actually wanted to chat and run with me, which was fantastic. We actually walked the beach section together as Dom and Em ran ahead. The guys were great company, they’d lost 1 team mate to vomiting and 1 mate to a twisted ankle, so they asked if they could check-in at the finish with our team (Sure! As long as we got to go through first! ha ha). They actually mentioned that they had been trying to catch us for hours and were very impressed with how well we were doing, I was chuffed.

The last set of stairs were in sight and we swung around to the last hill up towards the finish area. I decided to hit the gas and lose the boys on the hill, taking aim at Em and Dom walking in front of me. They saw me speed up and started running too, we got to the top of the hill and we held hands as we sprinted across the finish line in 19hrs 43mins – we had done it, we had reached our goal. We had overcome all the obstacles and life could not get any better!!

We all hugged and laughed and I cried, it was such an emotional time for me and i’m even crying now as I read this. After having to DNF at 80km in Northface100 due to injury, I had been questioning and doubting myself for months. I wanted this 100km so badly and I had been training so hard for this race. It really was a dream come true!

And Roger even made it to the finish line which was fantastic, he had eaten, slept and was feeling much better which was great!!

We have managed to raise just over $4,700 and to make things even better we came ended up coming 15th out of all the teams entered, 3rd in the Mixed Teams category. Amazing!! Truly amazing!!

And now I must say thank you to everyone who has supported me/us and helped us achieve this massive goal, as we honestly could not have done it without there support.

To my wonderful team: Roger, Emma, Dominic – I have had so much fun training with you and working with you towards this goal. I could not have picked a better team and i’m so lucky to have shared this journey with you. 2015..? (ha ha)

To our wonderful support crew: Pip – you were an angel, you had everything ready and packed as planned and you did not falter. Your smiley, encouraging face was such a pleasure to be greeted with and I promise to return the favour one day if you’ll have me! And everyone else: Helen, Norm, Sam, Kerry, Nick, Fraser (I hope I haven’t missed anyone, if I have I’m sorry!!) – you guys all played a wonderful role in keeping us on track and ready to go. It was so good hearing your encouragement and seeing everything ready for us when we got to each checkpoint, it could not have been any better! And thanks for the lift home Norm!!

To my family/friends: You have always encouraged and supported me through the good times and the bad. Even when you thought I was completely crazy for taking on such a huge challenge you have never stopped believing in me. M&M – thanks for letting me crash at your place before/after the run, it made life so much easier and you spoiled me so much as always. Sydney Harbour Runners – You guys are all tops and the reason I started and continue to love running to this day. Seeing how much you have all achieved makes me want to never stop reaching for the stars! Sydney Striders – You guys have taught me so much about the trails and helped me finish other races that I never thought possible. Such good running company and I look forward to running with you all again soon. Trailblazers – We have had a short, but very sweet time together so far and I look forward to running with you more and more in the future.

And last but by no means least, thank you to everyone who sponsored us to raise funds for Oxfam. You kindness and generosity has helped to raise over $2m towards putting an end to poverty and you should be proud. Last minute donations can be done here: https://trailwalker.oxfam.org.au/team/home/17564

Happy Running 😀

4 more sleeps…

Posted on August 18, 2014 by laurenhailey

We only have 4 more sleeps until we hit this bad boy….

… and i’m so excited, scared, nervous, happy that it’s finally here!

Our team, the 4*100 Trailblazers are aiming to run 100km and finish in 20 hours, so if we start at 7.00am on Friday 22 August then we should be finished by around 3.00am on Saturday 23 August, while you’er all tucked away in your warm beds. Time to carb-load and get plenty of rest, bring it on!!

If you want to track us or make a donation you can do so via this link: https://trailwalker.oxfam.org.au/team/home/17564

2014 City 2 Surf

Posted on August 15, 2014 by laurenhailey

This year I finished my 8th City2Surf in a row and came away with my second fastest time. And I am very happy with that time considering that it was off the back of a tough 5hr trail run the day before.

We had a whole crew from the UNSW CHeBA (Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing) Team there walking/running the course, followed by a bbq get together at the end to celebrate. One of the team members has entered the race in every year of it’s history, what an honour!

My friend Jess and I had some food & drinks after the race too. I didn’t realise how red my face was until i saw this photo!!

And here I am with our wonderful CHeBA organiser Heidi Mitchell, apparently I beat her by 4 seconds, hilarious!!

Happy Running 🙂

Running on empty

Posted on June 23, 2014 by laurenhailey

Have you ever been out on a run and your legs felt like dead weights? That was me on Sunday, I was struggling with every step and it felt like I was doing more harm than good. I have actually never felt so flat, not even when I’ve been running my ultras.

Looking back I can see why I was tired as I’d given myself a kick up the butt last week and ramped up my training schedule as the physio had given me the thumbs up last Monday morning. So what had I done differently since then?

Tuesday morning I got up and ran 3km of hillyness with the dog around my local area, I had a work training day & dinner that night so couldn’t fit anything else into the agenda unfortunately.

Wednesday I got up early and took the dog for a 3km power walk around the block, then went for a 9km run at lunch out to Pyrmont wharves and back.

Thursday I got up early again and took the dog for a 3km power walk around the block, then decided that I would try a new class at the gym called ‘HIIT’ which stands for High Intensity Interval Training. HIIT was a lot of fun but it was also very high intensity, which meant that I was knackered and dripping with sweat by the end of the class. I knew right then that I would be sore for a few days.

Friday morning i got up and took the dog for another 3km power walk around the hilly block, then decided that I would skip my lunch run as I was feeling very tired from the HIIT session the day before.

Saturday morning I got up early and trained my client Amanda with a Boxing session, then headed over to a friends place to go for a run with Kristy and her hubby Nigel. We snuck in about 13km of trails through the Royal National Park near home and I felt a little sore in the muscles but generally pretty good. So we had a cheese and ham croissant for brekkie to celebrate.

Sunday I got up early and drove to St Ives to meet up with my Oxfam crew for a 1hr run and then we would meet up with the Trailblazers for an additional 1.5 hour run. This is where I came undone. I didn’t feel too bad for the first hour, but as soon as I started the session with the bigger group I knew it was going to be a struggle, and I ended up turning back early with another 2 runners who had to be back for other reasons (like work). I was getting pain in the arch of my foot & I just felt sore all over. I felt bad for slowing the other 2 runners down as they had to wait for me on several occasions when I walked, but luckily one of them was my good friend (& fellow Oxfam team member) Emma and she helped keep me going.

I got back to the cars, got warm & chatted to the runners as they were coming back then headed home for brunch & a snooze on the couch, I felt exhausted.

Time to rest and recover 🙂

Buffalo Creek Reserve

Posted on February 28, 2014 by laurenhailey

A group of us organised an unofficial Striders 6Ft training run at the Buffalo Creek Reserve in North Ryde last Saturday, as there was no official run set for this weekend aside from a 14km race with the Striders on Sunday (which wasn’t quite long enough for some of us). So we rocked up to the park ready to run at sunrise which was 6.30am.

Today we had 8 victims running through the trails in the area and we were lucky to have Alex along as he knew the area well. It was such an enjoyable run and we really had a lot of fun.

The morning was quite cloudy and cool which was a nice change from some of the hot and humid runs that we have had in the past couple of months. We ran through some swamps and single tracks and boardwalks. We had a bit of everything on this run.

We even cut across a construction site that was block our path.

There were a couple of road sections that took us to the next trail, so I was very thankful that Alex led us because I never would have found this course without him.

There were a few small bridges to cross and the water was very calm in all places we stopped to look. It was a beautiful area.

We even had to rock climb around one section of the track and use some metal prongs haning out of the rock to hold ourselves up. Here’s a shot of the group about to climb across the wall. You also had to duck quite low while climbing across and unfortunately I whacked my head quite hard when I was too busy trying not to slip and fall into the water below.

We ran across part of a golf course, for about a kilometer and I think we surprised the golfers who stopped to let us pass.

There was a beautiful little running waterfall that we ran past, nothing like Wentworth falls but pretty nonetheless.

We did an extra loop section at one point and the trail was covered with a few fallen trees, but we didn’t let that stop us.

After a few final boardwalks we hit the road and ran down the last section back to our starting point. I was very thankful to be back but I had a very enjoyable run.

I had worn my new Salomon vest today which fit like a glove right from the first step, so I was very pleased with that as I planned to use it for the Northface100.

I was also trialing Tailwind Nutrition for the first time, a mixture you add to your water which replaces all other fuels. I must say my energy levels felt very consistent throughout the run and I will be testing it again on some longer runs after the 6Ft track marathon. Only 2 weeks to go!!

Happy Running 🙂

Fessing up

Posted on January 31, 2014 by laurenhailey

I”m not sure if I should be admitting this, but early on Thursday morning I got up and got dressed to go and hit the Honeymoon Trail for a stair session before work. It’s an awesome 1km staircase through the bush in the Royal National Park.

I packed my headtorch as it was still dark and set out in the car. What I failed to remember when I planned this session in my head the night before was….. spiders. I hate them. I’m scared of them and I will avoid them at all costs. So I got out of the car and proceeded towards the steps and did a few warm up exercises. I then started the ascent and went up about 4 stairs before I froze at the sight of a giant, no humongous, hairy spider that was blocking the path. Needless to say I legged it back down the stairs and quickly got back into my car. There was no way I was going up those stairs.

What a wuss!!

I know, I can hear you saying it. But i didn’t let it stop me from training as I drove to the local running track in Sylvania and punched out some intervals instead. Now that I have gotten that off my chest and it is out in open I can start from the beginning….

In preparation for the killer mountains that I am going to face during my races in March and May, I have decided to make stairs my friend. So last Tuesday a work colleague and I set out to run some stairs in Woolloomooloo, Sydney and it was not as hard as I had expected. I”m not sure if this is because we only did a short session or if I am getting stronger. I have been doing some hilly loops around home more frequently than usual so maybe it was helping. So when I got home that night I made a plan to incorporate more stairs into my training, and that’s when the Honeymoon Track came into my mind, and you know how that turned out!! ha ha

Anyway, last night while I was taking my dog for a walk around the neighborhood I decided to go a slightly different way and I’m very glad that I did because I found a large staircase that will be great for training (and won’t have any spiders). Yay!!

Happy Friday and Happy Running! 😉

Get Lost!

Posted on January 24, 2014 by laurenhailey

Last Saturday our Sydney Striders crew ran a trail in the Ku-Ring-Gai National Park which was named after one of the group’s runners who created the course, Clare’s Calamity.

We had a huge group of over 40 runners show up for this run which was great to see. And with just 7 weeks until the 6 Foot track Marathon it’s clear everyone was putting in the kms to be as prepared as possible. I can’t believe it’s only 7 weeks away, scary!!

Andy met us at the start and gave us all a map of the course with some directions on the other side, and it looked like we were running the shape of a butterfly. I stuck the map in my front pocket and hoped that it would stay dry. Must remember next time to bring a plastic sleeve to put the map in!

So we started off down the first section of the course which was fire trail and then hit some single-tracked rocky section down to the water. I could not believe the view with the fog over the water, it was supposed to hit over 40 degrees that day! Check it out!

We also came past a local toilet block and everybody ducked in for one last pit stop before carrying on the trail. We crossed a bridge and made our way along some beautiful trails along the side of the mountain. It was very narrow and there were a lot of fallen trees to contend with but it was a lovely place to be.

Here is a shot of my running buddies Lorena and Karen contemplating a river crossing, there were a few tricky spots but we helped each other across.

It was really heating up and the humidity meant that I was going through water quicker than normal, so I made a note to slow down a little to make sure i had enough to last the whole 30km trip. I had also put 2 Shotz tablets into my 2 litre hydration flask today, just trialing it to see if it makes a difference. I wanted to put it into a separate, smaller container but I didn’t have one so I guesstimated this measurement. Funnily enough I did notice that I felt better and more consistent for a longer period of time this week, there didn’t seem to be any peaks and troughs so maybe this had something to do with it.

I have put in an order for 500ml soft hydration flask but it hasn’t been delivered yet. I will use this to put 1 tablet with water and have it separate on my runs in future, well that’s the plan.

Leonor even decided to have a little rest on the wooden bench that had been provided, ha ha Actually she’s the fittest of us all and we thought it was hilarious that there were benches at every bend of this steep section on the course.

Leonor is running through the Sahara desert in April and is doing the equivalent of a marathon each day for 5 days, how hardcore is that! She’s an inspiration let me tell you. Such a bright, bubbly lady and I got some really good tips from her during the run too. Like the Gurney Goo, stops blisters entirely and is killer stuff.

This course had some really steep, hilly sections and most of them we walked. The view in my next photo below shows a spot that we had just run from, on the top of the other side of the valley.

And then we got lost… ha ha. In the photo below you can see a bridge that we stopped at to take photos and this is apparently where we went wrong. Ooops! We went over this bridge when apparently we should not have, and we ran quite a distance after this photo was taken.

When we eventually realised that we didn’t know where we were going, we turned back around and headed for the road section we passed a little while earlier. We knew how to get back to the start point from the road so we decided to take the less risky option as we had already been running for over 3 and a half hours.

So just before turning back we decided to have a selfie…. so here’s Karen, Leonor and myself on the right laughing and having a blast. It really was such an enjoyable run sharing the road with them and I hope I didn’t slow them down.

So we ran along the road back to the cars and gossiped the whole way. What a hoot! A most enjoyable run and it’s thanks to Karen & Leonor.

Thank you so much ladies and happy running 😀

Thank you Vic

Posted on July 24, 2013 by laurenhailey

This morning we had our last run training session with Vic Mitchell from DC Run and I was looking forward to the time trial and hopefully beating my past result.

During our third session with Vic we ran a 2 km time trial and I got a time of 8:17 which I was very happy with at the time. Most of my runs are a LOT slower than that but mainly because I have been running for distance and not time in my training runs.

Today I got a time of 7:56 which means I’ve cut a whopping 21 seconds from this distance. Needless to say I am very chuffed to have had such a positive result and I will definitely be looking to get some more technique training from Vic in the future.

My goal after the marathon is to improve my efficiency by improving my running technique and doing much shorter races to implement this. I’m sure this will be a long, slow process but it will be much better for me in the long run (no pun intended) as I want to be able to run forever!

So a big thank you to Vic for the early morning sessions and David from DC Run for organising our group. I highly recommend you contact these guys if you want to improve your running and live in the Sydney area.

Woohoo! 🙂

Hails Trails

I love to move and be outdoors, a lot.

Tag Archives: sydney

Scaredy cat

Woronora Dam 10km

2014 Oxfam Trailwalker 100km

4 more sleeps…

2014 City 2 Surf

Running on empty

Buffalo Creek Reserve

Fessing up

Get Lost!

Thank you Vic