Up and up and up and up

This morning it was the Mt Tennent Australia Day trail runs. There were several events on offer but I had entered the 20.3km Mt Tennent / Bushfold Flats run. The weather was also starkly different to yesterday morning - blue skies and sunshine early on which meant there would be warm conditions for the event. There were about 19 entrants in the different events but everyone would be tackling the 6.7 km summit ascent with 700m of climb to the top. Then it was back down and for some, back to the start /finish line. For others, including me, it was out to Bushfold Flats and then back to the start / finish line.

The run up to the summit started reasonably well - I was running, albeit slowly, and was determined not to walk. However, my calves begged to differ and eventually I had to walk due to the cramping. From then on it was a mixture of slow running and walking to get to the top of Mt Tennent in 57.55min. While most of the route was in shade there were places where the sun beat down with some intensity. Most of the field was heading back downwards as I neared the summit, with softshoeshuffle just ahead of me - but every time I got close to him he managed to run/walk away from me. Twofruits was well ahead - just over 6 mins faster than me to the top.

The run out to Bushfold Flats should, in theory, be a pleasant run given that we had just made our way to the top of Mt Tennent. The Bushfold Flats course could be described as relatively flat with some undulations yet I always struggle with this stretch - it's uneven underfoot, seems to go on forever and is just a hard slog - fugly running is how I would describe this stretch. There is less shade, and with no breeze to speak of, it was getting very warm. At this point Little Red was playing on my ipod and the song was Coca Cola (#47 on the Triple J Hottest 100):

Opening Lyrics:
My one and only advice
is cold Coca Cola and ice

Main Lyrics:
I know you like it too
My one and only advice is
Coke, Coca Cola and ice

Now I don't normally drink Coca Cola and ice but boy, it was starting to sound really good at this stage in the run!

I passed softshoeshuffle just before the turnaround and then I was finally heading back to the finish line - up a bloody hill! Announcements of results followed with the prizes being a choice between t-shirts, wine and Toblerone chocolate. I'll let you guess what I decided to take home! Anyway everyone gets a prize - its very democratic.

We stopped at Pine Island on the way home to cool off in the water - a great way to finish what was a very challenging event.

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I also listened to Triple J's Hottest 100 on and off today. The top 10 songs were:

#1 - Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire
#2 - MGMT - Electric Feel
#3 - Kings of Leon - Use Somebody
#4 - Empire of the Sun - Walking On A Dream
#5 - MGMT - Kids
#6 - The Presets - Talk Like That
#7 - Pez - The Festival Song(feat. 360 and Hailey Cramer)
#8 - The Presets - This Boy's In Love
#9 - The Ting Tings - That's Not My Name
#10 - Drapht - Jimmy Recard

I have 5 of these on my ipod (1 - 3, 5 - 6)

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Jen: I'm sorry we missed you on Sunday - that was one of the reasons we headed down there after our run. We were hoping we might see you somewhere at the triathlon but then as I said, we were in a coffee queue for quite a while. Next time!

Strewth - it was a great morning. We must do it more often!

Ewen - I had a pretty damn fine coffee this afternoon! How come we never saw you at Mt Tennent this morning?!
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"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more,"
you are a leader"
--John Quincy Adams - 6th U.S President