The North Face 100 - Never Stop Exploring

The North Face 100km race was something I discovered while pre-paring for the Kokoda Trek, I had been buying my entire Kokoda Kit and found the North Face store in Melbourne, not really being an active person and knowing nothing about packs, jackets, thermals, light pants, shirts, hiking gear the guy who helped me out Russell in the Melbourne store was sensational, getting me into the most comfortable gear I could hope for, although I had already bought a lot of other stuff by the time I found out about the North Face I think I finished off the shopping exercise here.

Russell started talking about the North Face 100, and had my mind ticking away to enter once I left the store.

About a week later I went on line to enter, sadly it was SOLD OUT! – so I put myself onto an unofficial waiting list in one of the forums, and a couple of days after returning from Kokoda I got that magic email..... My number had come up and now had an entry to the race.

Now with only 2.5 weeks until race day, my body was run down from kokoda – but I had an overwhelming confidence and optimism from my conquest over kokoda.
I averaged out my marathon time, added some extra time for toughness of the course and come up with a target time of 17 hrs
Now HOW WRONG WAS I, this course was and is the toughest thing I’ve ever attempted, set into he Rugged Blue Mountains national park – this is seriously tough! Did I say that twice? Three times? hmm maybe 100...........

In the lead up I decided to use most of the gear that I had around the house, but the requirements dawned and off I went buying flash lights, space blankets, a new race pack (yes, last minute decision on the Friday before the race) dropped into the North Face store Sydney, gloves, beanies, compass, jumpers, the list goes on.

During the Week my grandmother passed away, my mother was headed out on her Canadian and Alaskan adventure on the Saturday and the Funeral of my late grandmother on Friday, I resigned from my job with no certain future, and I also was in the last week of wrapping up with one of my favourite clients in North Sydney and I was turning 32 on the Sunday.

This was a jammed packed and very emotional week for a lot of reasons, The Friday appeared, no food supplies, my backpacks not finished being packed, and the new pack I bought had a defect, Crap!
Friday:
Early 5am start for North Sydney, Drop Past the North Face store to replace the bag, onto the funeral, lunch in celebration of my grandmother, back to my Mother’s house to pack up my gear, into the car with the gear that looks like I was headed out on a major expedition, I managed to get on the road, making good time, until I hit the accident up in the mountains – hours of sitting and waiting for it to clear, and panic kicks in only 2 hours left until registration closes, still haven’t got my food for the race and I am tired tired tired, lest than 12 hours till race start.

I ended up arriving at the race headquarters, the Fairmont resort blue mountains, quickly checked in had the bell man take my bags to the room and headed straight to Coles to shop for supplies, I had literally 10 mins to shop, I bought jelly beans, protein bars, water, Gatorade, jars of strawberry jam and white bread.........
This was not the supplies I needed later finding out; back to the race check in at the resort just making it to have my gear checked, and register...... woo hoo I finally made it........
Bumped into the guy who put this crazy thing into my head Russell from Melbourne, now this guy is a positive guy full of optimism and can do attitude....

Off to bed, the room service had stopped so no dinner! A call from Cheryl to tell me how nuts I was than into bed by 11pm (this was way too late)
6am ticks around up dress and down to the briefing (where I hear the organisers say how many people won’t make the end) I’m kind of pfttt that’s not going to be me.


And before we know it off on the run we are, this is exciting the hype, air of optimism and energy at the start line was contagious, here I am headed out like a marathon, till I figured out about the uneven surfaces with an almost ankle roll, Jeff slows down, the step descents and step ascents, the courage between the 500 odd competitors was amazing, looking at the way people encouraged each other, here I am keeping a solid pace km 1 – 15 was fine. 15-30 tougher km 30+ I am now having a coming to reality session with myself, and the start of re-assessing my goals.
Checkpoint 1 – I was ok
Checkpoint 2 – I took a rest
I really started to struggle after checkpoint 2, this was when some rough mountains took every piece of mental energy to get through, I was next to one guy who decided to ditch his mate and press on, this was a war zone every man for himself and survival in the air.

People encouraging one and other to continue, it really embodied the Australian spirit of mateship.

I started to walk about half way through checkpoint 2, the saying came to mind “Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must just never give up!” coming into check point 3 the darkness was upon me and I needed to break open the flash light, and safety vest, making it in to check point 3 with no warn cloths, and a small flash light, my headlamp crapped itself.
I spent about 1 hour at checkpoint 3, this was tough but I still had energy, without a support crew I plopped myself down next to the pizza van and a margarita pizza was on its way, the owner seeing me in need of help he started encouraging me with words or positive reinforcement, look how far you have come already, than calling out to his staff to bring me bottles of Gatorade, this guy just started looking after me like I am a support crew, this gave me the energy to press on! Thanks Pizza GUY!
Fighting with my mind, finally heading out in search of check point 3, this is crazy stuff, still not having all my warm cloths, awaiting me at the next check point. The field was out and I was on my own for the next 15kms, I am not used to running in the dark let alone by myself and in the blue mountains with little glow ribbons stuck on trees to guide you.
The adrenaline kicked in and my mind wandered, now starting to think of how easy it would be to get lost out here, I ran, I walked, I ran, I crawled. My flash light started to break down, and this was the back up, I now had the added challenge of being ever so delicate with the flash light.
Along the way, a guy I bumped into giving me magnesium tablets from his little zip lock bag, I had no idea what I was getting but there was a trust between competitors.
I ran into another guy on this leg from Canberra, he was in need of water – so I am now sharing my camel pack of water with people.......


This leg was just not going to finish, now with temperatures well and truly at zero or below, I was struggling – I made it into check point ¾ at around 70km, now I slumped straight into a chair, around a heater and a -30degree sleeping bag chucked over me, I was struggling to raise my core body temperature, an hour and I get every piece of clothing I have and layer up, new socks, but I’m still cold, muscles aching the crew at this check point getting me Milo, lollies anything I wanted, encouraging again and again, 5 people dropped out......... am, I next, Up I got to go and started but my body was not moving – in the end my mind got me, and the final decider was me sitting at the bottom of the blue mountains space blanket wrapped around me and being helicopter out at first light..... I was not going to let this happen, but in hind sight it would have made for a much better story, I headed back to the pull out table and de-registered, the face book folks following the jou8rney were sensational, words of encouragement, and a couple of the girls from the North Face gave me a lift back to the hotel, I limped back to the hotel lobby, crawled to my room and couldn’t even get undressed by head hit the pillow at 11.59pm I than seen the clock tick over midnight and I was 32.
I was so disappointed but very happy to have myself in a warm room.
Waking up I went down past the finish line, and this was a gutting experience to see people crossing the finish line.

I suddenly realised I had taken away a very valuable lesson from this life, this day I set three new core values: 1 NEVER EVER GIVE UP, 2. ALWAYS TRY, 3. SOME TIMES YOU JUST NEED TO TRY ONE MORE TIME.

Getting back to Sydney, I was very ill and slept for 10 hours, went to the office Monday and was greeted with you look terrible, than all of a sudden I had people bringing me coffee Thank Naomi.

I am lining up again for this challenge in 2011, this time round I am getting a support team, I need Food People, Positive Motivational People, A massage guy, and anyone who wants to hold up a sign and cheer me on, and I will host one massive party are the finish!



If it is to be, it is up to me!

Cheers
Jeff

Kokoda Trek - Apr 6th to April 16th 2010

Hi all,

On the 6th April 2010 to 16th April 2010 I set out from Melbourne bound for the shores of Papua New Guinea north of Australia. (This is just my random thoughts, im writing up a brief journal of each day)



What can I say this trip was an experience that I set out to complete as a physical challenge in my quest to regain my Body, Mind and Spirit – in the process I gained so much more, more than I could have ever expected.

The Kokoda trek dating back to the battles of 1942 between the Australians (Supported by the Americans in the Air force) and Japanese primarily is one of the toughest treks in the world, it allows you to reflect on what the soldiers went through to protect our boarders, way of life, and allow us to lead the lives we live today and afford us all the rights we take for granted such as freedom, justice and fairness for all, from time to time we wonder if we really do live in a fair society, but looking back at the history I can undoubtedly say we do....... we have the judicial fairness and process that allows us to fight just as the soldiers did in the days of 1942, it’s a matter of what you believe in, what is right and what is wrong, it comes down to Courage, Endurance, Mateship and Sacrifice some very Australian characteristics of which I firmly believe in.



The Trek took 8 days, and was some of the toughest terrain that you could imagine......... here’s the run down.......

21 Porters
19 Trekkers
2 Charter flights
10 tents
Food, Packs and medical supplies
And a lot of toys, cloths and gifts for the villagers along the way.

5 younger adults 15-19
14 adults (9 women)

The youngest of all Millie at 15 years old followed by the Holroyd boys and Jake Blood – an extreme amount of respect goes to these young folks for getting in and giving it a go!!!



And 90Km of terrain to cover with a little bit of down and little bit of up, NO REALLY a lot of up and a lot of down!!!!!

I had my first ever experience living in a tent, come face to face with a enormous spider on night one!, walked through the jungle, knee deep in mud, crossed swamps, tree man made bridges, swam and bathed in creeks and rivers, wore the same shirt more than once (washing it out in a creek), fell over in excess of 150 times and came out injury free!!!!!!!!!, was always one step from falling to my death climbing cliff faces, ridges and muddy slopes, broke my walking pole, walked through storms........... the list goes on and many stories to tell, when we catch up for dinner, drinks or all! A real test of endurance.









Here are the photo links for those interested, be warned far too many but check them out if you are interested, ill have summery DVD soon !!!!! (if your not on Face Book if you are add me if you like, jeffohara@bigpond.com )



Album 1


Album 2


My Next Challenge is now set, the Australian North Face 100 – which is a 100km run through the NSW National Park in the Blue Mountains, last year attempted by Dean Karnses, you have 24 hours to climbs the slops, run crawl and leap over the Blue Mountains and finish triumphantly...... (May 15th and 16th 2010)

I’m still working on the Iron Man thing but I am unable to Swim the distance yet !!!!!!! wish me luck as I chip away at this one.

But before year end Mt Kilimanjaro or Everest Base camp hits the list any one who wants to join me let me know!!!!!

This Kokoda Trek benefited a couple of charities a Children’s Orphanage in Guatemala ($2550) and RPA Life House ($500) I have a link if you would like to donate to the Life House @ RPA Cancer Centre in Sydney NSW a worthy Cause Indeed! – I’ll also donate a small amount to the same fund if I cross the finish line at the North Face 100! (Email me for the link)

I dedicate the Kokoda Trek experience to my Father who passed away from a long and tough battle with Cancer in 2008, he demonstrated the characteristics of the trek throughout his life COURAGE, ENDURANCE, MATESHIP and SACRIFICE!!!!! Thankyou John Joseph O’Hara (1944 – 2008)



Cheers
Jeff

Race 10 - Napa Valley Marathon March 7th 2010

Hey Guys,

Well its been a while since I've blogged on here about my latest adventure, I headed over to the USA on March 7th 2010 with two reasons, 1. Pick up my new Cannondale CAAD9-4 and also run the Napa Valley Marathon through some of the most spectacular country side in California.

Overall I knock right on 10 minutes off of my best every Marathon time, coming in at 3hr 46m.

The event was a quick one, arriving Friday Night into San Francisco and Departing in time to be back in Melbourne the next week on the Monday, literally 3 and a bit days on my mission.

BUT 100% worth it.

I did some shopping on the Friday, grabbed a car Saturday Morning and drove up to the Napa, over the Golden Gate bridge and along the highway a little over an hour and thirty minutes and I had hit wine country Wooo Hooo.... very happy

I checking in for the Marathon, circled the stalls, checked into my diggs for the night and than hit the vineyards, yup only sips but did buy a few bottles, Robert Modavi was a great vineyard, nice buildings grounds and wine.

headed back for the Pasta Dinner.

Rising at 4.30am to hit the Bus for a 5am departure from the hotel for the drive to the top of the Napa, than waiting around in the FREEZING COLD DARK... for the race start at 7am - but I did it and off I went, with sun breaking and the start of the race I wound my way through the lovely country side with spectators at all of the cross roads but not much in between due to access, in any account I was very happy with my time.

As always I slowed in the last few miles, endurance needs to improve or is it my mind?????? as always the If it is to be, its up to me! came to mind, and giving it everything was my motto!

I got to the finish line, had a quick massage, back to the hotel, packed up checked out and drove back to San Francisco city.

I was wrecked, now they say that American's have huge servings at restaurants well that night I went to a diner down by my hotel in the city, ordered the Home Style roast chicken, It came out quickly, and it was huge almost an entire chicken, mash potato and steamed vegetables, I demolished it in around 5 minutes the server walked past and went WOW!!!!!! - and I had to reply "actually I don't normally eat this much I just did a marathon" he than said well desert is a must than, so I followed it on with the biggest home style apple pie I have ever seen, alas only got through around 60% of this pie till my body was satisfied.

The stats'

Time: 3hr 46m
Overall Place: 466
Gender Place: 336
Division Place: 49

Monday was off to the airport and shopping, Abercrombie and Fitch, The North Face, GAP etc all the stores not is Aus.

Till the next adventure happy running.

Cheers
Jeff

Against my better judgement.....

Sitting in a meeting this week, someone was describing an almost impossible challenge, he said I don't know how it will be achieved, what will be the final scope, but it will be achieved and everyone will take it seriously.

How true these words are, commitment to the cause comes to mind.

Now back in late November I told everyone of my grand plans to compete in the NZ coast to coast, the Port Macquarie Iron man and Kokoda.

I'm am 100% committed to achieving these outcomes, no matter what but a few adjustments as I refine the plan.

1. NZ is ditched, the logistics of Kayak, Bike, Run, Mountain in several stages, a necessary support crew, mini van is all too difficult for an event that is not the main event.

2. It was replaced by the Geelong Iron Man (Half) on Feb 7th

3. This week, I ditched the Geelong Iron Man as impossible, tonight I reaffirm my commitment to making this date but I do it with the following caveats:

a) I may not finish the entire event
b) I may not finish the Swim (I may even sink)
c) I may not finish the cycle (I could crash)
d) The run is my event so I will own it with all I have
e) IF i don't finish I will do it in style, and will compete again and again until I finish a half Iron Man
f) I will try and give it all I've got

So that being said I am confirming my entrance in the Feb 7th 2010 Geelong Half Iron Man.

4. I have to come to the reality that the Port Macquarie Iron Man may not be possible due to the possibility that I wont complete Geelong and qualify.

5. Ill head to states for my First Iron Man competition by May 2010....

6. Ill Replace the NZ commitment with Climbing Mt Kilimanjaro later in the year

7. And Ill trek Kokoda when I get a spare week after Feb.

Hows the training been going, Ok, the Christmas period gives me an excuse but I need to do more, raise the bar on my own personal challenge and achieve.

I have been hitting the pool more often than anything, the Cycle hasn't started yet but that's not my main concern, It will start this weekend.

A few issues have come up in the last couple of months which have challenged and distracted me on a personal level, of which I hope that will come to a close in February but like an Iron Man competition and everything that I tackle or some how lands on me, I never ever give up!! and take strengh from others who inspire me, and grow from every challenge no matter what it is :)

Wish me luck for February, wait for the update from Geelong, I will give it all I have and no matter what be happy with my attempt.

Cheers
Jeff

The next challenge is now set - Port Macquarie Iron Man 28th March 2010

Hi Everyone,

Well what can I say, in order to keep this body in motion, I have decided to pick a bigger and simply the hardest challnge for me yet to acheive.


3.8km Swim, 180km bike ride and finish off with a 42.2km run......

This will be the toughest event ever, I have just started planning, and with approx 4 months to acheive this one, the training schedule will ramp up NOW!!!!

I hope a few people will be able to join me in Port Macquarie during this amazing event, but follow me as I prepare.......

This simply doing exactly what I thrive on, picking an impossible target than simply acheiving in through dogged determination and a never say die attitude, Anything in Life is possible if we only try!!!!.

As my fitness gets back to its peak form, I have also decided to have a few fun event's along the way schedule permitting:

1. Trek Kokoda Trail (Jan) 9 day trek through PNG :)
2. New Zealand Adventure - Speight's Coast to Coast (this is the real iron man test)(Feb) cycle 140 kms (three stages of 55km, 15 km and 70 km), run 36 km (including a 33 km mountain stage that crosses the Southern Alps) and kayak 67kms of the grade two Waimakariri River through the Grand Canyon of New Zealand, the Waimakariri Gorge.




3. The Main Event - Port Macquarie Iron Man (Mar)

Here we go again, this is going to be a tone of fun :) :) :) , stay tuned as I firm up the details.


Cheers
Jeff

Race 9: Marine Corps Marathon Washington DC............What does it take to run a marathon?

What does it take to run a marathon? read on……

The Journey to Washington has been an interesting one, too much to write about, but here is a little insight.

Running in the lead up to Washington had become a yard stick of sorts for how I measured my new success, Gold Coast, San Francisco, Noosa, Sandy Point, City to Surf, Chicago, Sydney Harbour, Melbourne finishing at the “G”, and I have to say some measuring up better than others.

I decided in late August that I would take on the challenge of running my First Ever FULL Marathon, 26.2 Miles, 42km – now most people like to give themselves a good 8 or 9 months of training, I on the other hand gave myself roughly two months to get ready, in between I would do the Chicago Half Marathon – no worries Jeff said to himself.

About four weeks out I had given my worst performances in the half marathon, getting a worst ever time and a close second the following week.

At this point I said Oh Crap (Well a lot worse) I had roughly two weeks from this point to get my Personal Best time back, so I set about this challenge and got within 7 seconds of it in Melbourne two weeks prior to Washington, Whoo hoo I was high fiving myself for this one, marathon man was back, and I knew that I had more energy left in the tank after it, so now I was confident I could get it down.

With the flu and challenges presenting the next week, presumably from the previous gruelling training schedule I was now downing antibiotics, right up until two days before the “Amazing Race” well I’m calling it that!

The week before I hit the Boxing Class, Steve a Few times and I even encouraged him to hit me hard with a circuit training session and said if I didn’t break my time I would do it a second time, now trust me this particular circuit is something you DO NOT want to do twice in one day – I smashed it by 30 Seconds WHOOO HOOO I was now sure that I could finish on Sunday, on Thursday morning I headed to do a spin session with Sharon, now this was tough and maybe even made me doubt myself for a second, but only a second, I spent the next 4 days mentally preparing for this event than Jumped in a taxi to the airport, Lunch with a few good friends in Sydney and than only LAX.

30+ Hours and 15,000 Miles later I landed in DC, straight to the hotel, so afraid of stuffing this one up, I rested, rested and rested, was careful with my diet, and didn’t leave anything to chance.

Not even a drop red on the plane ride over….

I picked up my Bib and Race stuff from the expo, these are becoming very second nature these days, and I don’t seem to get as much of a kick out of them as I once did, but the uniqueness of this one was it was being run by the Marine Corps. Now this is one very effective group of people and I dare not argue with any of them.

I recall sitting through a talk by one of the presenters on preparation for the marathon, when the guy went around the group and asked the most amount of mile s prepped for the marathon I wasn’t game to say only 13.1m so I said 18miles, one guy did say the 13.1 miles and the horror on peoples faces was extraordinary, almost as if Good Luck Buddy, better luck next year!

So now a little worried but not deterred I just said now what do these people think they know the body is an amazing thing, and it can do what ever we put our mind to.

I managed to meet Bart Yasso, an amazing Global runner, this guy is inspirational, a guy who has run world over multiple times, it’s his Job believe it or not…..

Before I could know it it was race day and I had prepared all was up to me…..

Now here is the funny thing look at my inventory of race day items I left the hotel with:

1. 15 Roctane Energy GU Gels (Seriously what did I think I was going to do with 15?????, I used 7)
2. A bottle of water
3. White bread and Jam Sandwiches
4. A litre of Gatorade
5. My chuck away sweater
6. iPod (Now I don’t care what people think about iPod runners I am not running without mine just yet!!!!)
7. My American Express Card (Never Leave home without it!!! But silly me what did I think I was going to do with this order a meal, check into a hotel, request a massage ???? %$%&*)
8. $40 US dollars
9. Metro Ticket

Arriving and getting off of the metro at Arlington was spookey, pitch black, walking onto a closed down freeway beside a cemetery, being searched by military, ooooohhhhh this is like I was getting ready for some sort of battle.

Lining up in the 3:50 – 4:00 mark, I downed my Gatorade, Sandwiches and Litre of water.

A precession of ceremonies commenced, the National Anthem, Firing of the Military Guns, a Military Fly over, WOW!!!! A very cool way to start a marathon, standing shoulder to shoulder with Marines, Civilians from all walks of life in excess of 20,000 was an awesome experience before I even started running.

Running the event was the US Marine Corps… they took care of every logistic, as you run the start line, a row of Marines in uniform formed a guard of honour and the course was not one point missing a marine…..

The streets were lined by enthusiastic Washington DC residents, cheering, encouragement, It was hard not to take off to early, especially with the first 5 miles having some significant hills, in fact more than I had anticipated, but like many things in life you can never be prepared for everything.

I managed to take the first few miles with relative ease, but knew I had 20+ left, we hit a lovely town called George Town, now this is one awesome place and I promise If I ever move to the US this jumps the list over San Francisco Bay Area and Chicago Down town….. it’s a city I could very easily call home in an instant….

Before I knew it I was coming down through Washington to the Half Way Mark – and the crowds were huge (well I thought) and I was running well, on track to hit a 3hr 35m time….. even at the 13.1 mile mark I hit 1hr 46ish which was pretty cool, a few more miles a woman in the crowd must have seen me starting to waver a little – here goes, she looks at me and shouts “Come on your looking good, relax your shoulders, core in and keep on going your right on Target” now that was like having your trainer on point at mile 15…….

Round the corner to Capital Hill, WOW never seen the building up from the Washington monument, the White house, row of museums’ the Smithsonian building this is awesome… the adrenaline is pumping…..

Coming down to mile 20 I really started doing it tough, how did I know ? well I started singing and most people who know me know I should never Sing or Dance…… it was kind of fate…….. the songs on my iPod – “were going to have a good time tonight, were ganna dance tonight” , “From a Land Down Under” , Come on Aussie Com on” hehehe it was just one after another the fellow runners and spectators must have thought who the hell and where is this person from……. I started high fiving the kids along the way!!!!! A little while later I was back in focus with my “Eye on the Prize” I settle into a finishing last few miles….. Passing the Pentagon I knew I wasn’t far away, One marine looked at me and shouted at me to Keep on running and don’t give up, now with such authority and conviction in his voice I wasn’t one to argue.


The iPod pelted out a couple of very timely tunes - Little Lion Man Mumford and Sons with Don’t F%$* it up!, followed by from St Kilda to Kings Cross by Paul Kelly and Viva La Vida Cold Play……

As I approach the Finish Line I had one more challenge to conquer, it was a HILL now who in there right mind puts one killer of a hill at the end of 26.2 miles – I guess the US MARINE CORP does.

It was like a spin bike session with maximum resistance, x 1000 - Yes I was in pain but I DID IT!!!!!!!

And Crossed the Finish Line in 3hr 56m The Garmin Map – now I must have looked bad as I stopped I was dizzy, and looked like CRAP, the Marines at the finished asked me if I needed Help, but you know me, Nah I’m ok, I proceeded to walk ever so slowly to the Medal Collection point, by which stage any pain in my body was gone, the pride of receiving a finishers medal for such a challenge was quiet possibly one of the most rewarding moments in my entire life, and receiving it from a marine who had given up a lot of there life to serve there country was to me an honour and inspiring, this was something that I and only I alone could accomplish, it was up to me to achieve or stuff it up, and yes “If it is to be, its up to me!”.

I after getting my Photos, medals and food I crashed to the ground like a drunk monkey, I think I must have lay there for well over 30mins.

I got up and headed back to the hotel, via the metro, now silly me gets off the metro a station early and walks 3 miles to the hotel…..

Getting back to the hotel, I Face Booked the result, Thanks for the Congratulations and sent a quick email to friends not on FB.

Everyone was so excited for me, the responses overwhelming " One of the first to come in was "well done Jeff!!!! You have much to be proud of and completing a full marathon is accomplishment enough....but I am VERY impressed with your incredible time!!!!!! Fantastic effort:):):); ", Another friend from Chicago called to Congratulate me! Thanks Paul, your awesome it was really cool to get that voice mail when I switched on my cell phone later that day……. now the next 3 days were going to be hell.

I had planned Sunday Afternoon and Monday to go sight seeing, than off to Vegas and San Francisco for a few days to relax.

BUT no my body did not like one little bit what I had done to it, I changed my flights and hotels to remain in Washington for the rest of my time in the USA.

The next 24 hours my body went from being thirsty to sweating profusely, headaches, dizzy, nausea the list goes on…….

By Tuesday Afternoon I headed out for a couple of hours and walked around, body sore, bones unhappy but getting there.

Wednesday I was all go, did the some Museums and more of Washington DC – But by afternoon I had spent the rest of the day in George Town, this is my favourite suburb in DC, the shopping fantastic, restaurants are shoulder to shoulder and filled with delightful people.

Getting back to Sydney and Melbourne was a daunting task and ended up getting on the Qantas plane with some hesitation but did decide to miss the Sydney Monopoly Pub Run on Saturday – sorry Phil and Co. I was really really wrecked and disappointed I missed the 26 pubs from Kings Wharf to Kings Cross……. In the 2nd Annual Event.

I learnt many lessons this last week, from how to run a marathon, what we are really capable of if we put our mind to it, and most importantly achieving what I once considered impossible.

Some have asked me what next ??? well I am working on it, it has to be something that is sought by many but conquered by few…….. it might include a mountain, an endurance event like a du-athalon or tri - watch this space.

Thanks to the many supportive donations of friends and family we as a team have managed to raise $1,500 for the starlight foundation a very worthy cause in deed, I had the opportunity to visit with the folks a week prior to the Marathon, and you should see a story on this shortly.

Finally a Thanks to Steve for his tireless work to get my body into shape in less than a year he has helped me transform my body from Dead in the Water to a “Marathon Man”, through all of the complaining, crap and swearing at him, he has quiet simply done an outstanding job, no one else on earth could have lasted the distance and the credit deservedly goes to him.........

THANKS!!!!!!!!!! for helping me reach the impossible and being part of defining my new future healthy lifestyle, tomorrow we start work on the next big thing – bigger, better, harder, stronger……

Cheers,
Jeff

Race 8: Melbourne Half Marathon

This weekend was an outstanding event, I have managed to claw back over 13 minutes on my dismal last two attempts, and needless to say I am very happy with the way the weekend has transpired.

Two weeks ago, my running adventures seemed at least in my own mind to becoming to an end just as quickly as they had started, I lost well over 13 minutes of my target times, which to me is a lot - it was simple I needed to hit this hard and fast in the next four weeks to be on track for the Washington Marine Corps Marathon on 25th October 2009.

I sat down and looked at plans on how to train for a successful Marathon and Half, I spoke to many people, started stretching (still not as much as I should) but I was getting there.

I than turned to the guy who knows exactly how to get my cardiac ability in shape, Steve the trainer, pretty much 6 days a week we hit hard sessions, some days I was slower than others but within a week I started to get a little confidence back and was some what optimistic of hitting 1hr 45m. (The same time as San Francisco)

Boxing, Running, Timed Lap Challenges, and Circuits..... All with the intent to push me further than the last.

Sharon Helped me out with a session on the Spin bike (Now I must admit I was a little scared of that one) but a great effort by Sharon I think she had the ability to 1. Put up with my complaining, and 2. Show me that Spin is within my reach!

Brett got me out in the park and pushed me through a series of sprints, this was a great checkpoint on weather or not I needed to do more!

Finally I got to the weekend and being somewhat nervous about the upcoming race Sunday, I did my usual breakfast place at Port Melbourne, a lazy day round Melbourne town, followed by a early pasta dinner at Lygon street Saturday night.

I set the theme for the next day the night before:

The theme for tomorrow "Jeff won't be defeated by his failures of times gone past, instead he will use them as the motivation to succeed...." the Melbourne Half Marathon 13.1 Miles finishing with a lap of the MCG my first visit to the ground!!!!!

A couple of people replied:

Go for it mate... nothing like that lap, nothing like it in the world.

and

Remember mate don’t promise me the world and give me an atlas....Go for broke mate!!


Waking up to these two comments was a huge motivator, meaning I could not fail!

I headed out at just before 7am, walking down St Kilda Road, I met a couple of other Half Marathon runners from Adelaide: Now these guys were after a 78min time (My Response WOW!!!!!) and where did you place last year, 6th, amazing the people you run into, even more motivation to be my best today!

Wishing each other good luck, we set on our ways.

The Race Started, heading out a little crowded, down St Kilda Road, passed my apartment relatively quickly, than hit Albert Park Lake - 2 minutes a head at the half way point.

Heading back up St Kilda Rd the pacer caught me, and I pulled out my iPod and said to her don't let me fall behind you, than a surge, and another jumping ahead 50 meters, than the pacer catching up again.....

Passed home again (It's a weird feeling to pass your house on a half marathon)

Pushing through many thoughts come to mind, but most importantly I was determined to claw back that time.

In the last kilometre I kind of lost track of the time, and let my mind wander a little, this is a valuable lesson learnt, and cost me some valuable seconds.

Entering the MCG was an amazing experience, taking that last lap and crossing the finish line will be a memory that will last a lifetime.

On the walk home, I stopped and cheered on other still competing, I stood next to a few people who constantly shouted out encouragement, "Keep on going - only 500 meters left", "Go Marathon Man" what an inspiration! I was thrilled to see Paul run through in his Marathon attempt! Congratulations mate!

The running adventure continues with 2 weeks until my first 42km challenge, I cant wait to see how I do, just like this week end, I will give it everything I’ve got, I might even go for broke!!!

For this successful event a donation goes to the Starlight Foundation.

The Stats:
Time: 1hr 39m 02s (Missed my PB by 7 Seconds)
Place: 969/7272
Age Place: 179/799

Heres the Garmin Map

The next attempt i'm going to aim to knock 4 mins 2 sec off this time!

Dont forget to donate to the Starlight Foundation for my Marathon Challenge on 25th October 2009.
Cheers
Jeff