Sunday, October 30, 2005

Tiptoeing through the cow pats

Well I wasn't exactly tiptoeing, but there were plenty of cow pats to avoid.

Session: monthly vets' run @ Bluett's Pines
Distance - 7km
Time - 34.31min
Av pace - 4.51min/km
AHR - 172; MHR - 192
Calories - 398


Km splits:
1 - 4.35
2 - 4.59
3 - 4.06 (obviously downhill)
4 - 4.26
5 - 5.18 (hill)
6 - 5.42 (hill)
7 - 4.41

Woke several times during the night to rain falling, and it was still raining when I got up this morning. However, it managed to clear up before the actual run but it was quite muggy while running. The event was held not far from where I live, in what used to be a pine plantation, hence the name. However, the pine plantation has long since gone, one of many casualties of the 2003 bushfires, so its quite desolate and exposed out there now. Cows graze in there and in today's event it was a case of 'dodge the cow pats'. Unfortunately, the presence of cow pats also means the presence of lots of little sticky black bush flies, which wasn't a problem when running but was oh so annoying when standing around afterwards.

The surface was quite muddy in parts, with puddles scattered throughout, and cow pats to round out the obstacle course so at times it was a challenge just to stay upright and out of trouble. My legs, having only just recovered from last week's downhill run, weren't entirely happy with the undulations today but didn't really complain until we hit the long gradual incline at the 4.6km mark which didn't level out until about 5.8km (1.2km of gradual uphill - not pretty). Many people were walking and I was soooo tempted to but gave myself a stern talking to about not wimping out and plodded on relentlessly. Passed Strewth at this point. In the final 100m I somehow managed to slip into a hole (I do have a reputation for finding holes, ditches, etc) and how I didn't go over I don't know, but I managed to catch myself and continue on. Which is probably a good thing because I don't think it would've been a pretty sight falling face first onto the muddy, cow pat dotted surface just before the finish line!

The best part of the morning: the post-run cappuccino with friends at Black Pepper cafe ;-)

6 comments:

Tesso said...

I've been away and so haven't been able to read blogs all week. So much has happened, not the least your new banner. Luv it!!!

Katie said...

Great run CJ!!! Especially given the beating you gave your legs last week!! Nothing like cow pats on a rainy sunday morning... love it!!!

Wobbly man said...

Ah, the smell of fresh cow pats on wet grass - sounds positively rural. Lucky there was good capaccino joint nearby to save the morning - nice running BTW!

Hilda said...

Interesting run, and congratulations for not falling down!! That should had made your heart jump to 199, and helped to increase the speed over the end.

Jen said...

The best part of running is always the post-run coffee with great friends!

J.

Rae said...

Sounds like a lot of fun - except for the cow pat part!! So glad you didn't fall in one and end up stinking the rest of the run!! Happy Halloween!