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

Circus Oz - Jeff decides to fly the Trapeze

Ok its not a running experience, Half or full marathon BUT it most definently counts as a challenge.

Earlier in the week, my friend Angela needed a substitute for her husband who had to travel for work at last minuite so she asked me along.... I think I replied almost instantly ABSOLUTLY.

This is a experience that must be tried, your hanging from 10 meters or so in the air, taking that first leap off of the platform will get the adreneline pumping and before you know it your abilities are tested.

Quiet simply this was a tone of fun!

Check out the Video and Photos.




Ill be back for more, more and more, until the next adventure stay tuned.

Cheers
Jeff

Race 7: Sydney Half Marathon

This past Sunday I made the journey to Sydney for the Sydney Harbour Half Marathon.

Stepping off of a plane from the United States on Friday at 6.15am I was feeling the effects on my body of the long journey and I had 48 hours until start line.

After a day and a half of resting, I landed at Star City at Pyrmont on Saturday afternoon, and had a lazy afternoon before heading to bed around 6.30pm Yes, I really needed the sleep.

With an early rise on Sunday morning, I headed out just before 5am, walking down through the Casino - Woman & Men still in party mode, down past the Pyrmont Bridge Hotel the place was still pumping at 5am.....

As I walked over the Pyrmont Bridge, no less than 10 people wished me good luck for the Marathon - some in worse shape than others at 5am, but it is a great reminder for what a truly great country we live in.

Making it across to North Sydney, Milsons Point, I was in time to watch the amazing Sunrise over Sydney with the Opera House and Harbour Bridge in the background - this really is the best start I have ever had to a day at 5am.

Before I knew it 6.20am had come around and it was time to run, I started out with a couple of decent pace, the run up to and over the Sydney Harbour Bridge is nothing less than a amazing event, I was feeling relatively confident, I set my new Garmin GPS watch to a 7:35 pace and by mile 2 I was 1m 30s ahead of target, by about mile 4/5 things started to go wrong, my right ITB was feeling the heat, possibly the couple of hills that I ran up and down in the first couple of mile, in any case I pushed through and had a quick stop for some voltarin (hmmm Ive been waiting for this to come back).

Slowed a little (well okay a lot) I just kept on pushing, thinking about how many people in life push through the daily challenges that they have been placed in with circumstances completely out of there control, weather that be an illness, disability or "other" forces - the inspiration was how people pull through in such adversity.

Coming past drink stations I still haven't mastered an ability to drink and run, so at this point knowing any reasonable time was less likely to be achieved I stopped at a couple of stations and consumed the fluids on offer.


I had bursts of inspiration that seen my heart rate chart and pace chart, go up and down, mostly thinking about the above...... (Check out the Garmin Map Link from my GPS watch plotting the stats and route along Sydney Harbour)

The lesson this week is, when we are faced with a minor setback, a little pain or a lot, we should never give up, Steve made a really good point to me yesterday over a coffee, Looking at the heart rate chart and the pace chart, I had the ability to give more a fact, I allowed the circumstances and my mind to take control, next time I run, I must be prepared to push through consistently - it will be hard work but most things in life are, very rarely are we prepared for when someone or circumstance will surprise us.

This week, I look to firm up a new training plan, almost like cramming for an Exam at last minute, with 5 weeks out from Washington DC, I will be hitting it hard daily, perhaps not the things I like (swimming, cycling etc) but I will do what is necessary and more to be successful on 25th October 2009.

I will be running next at the Melbourne Half Marathon on Oct. 11 2009 and am keen to see if the work I put in over the next two and a bit weeks will show results.

I am also very happy to give the finish line donation to the Starlight Foundation this week, I have added it to the Fundraising website for Washington.


Cheers
Jeff

Race 6: Chicago Half Marathon

Sunday Sept. 13th was shaping up to be one of the weekends that I would make my most significant gain, aiming for a target between 1hr 30 and 1hr 35 I was to achieve a new personal best, and was reasonably sure that I would get within 5 mins of this time at least, however this weekend it was not to be....

This weekend I learnt a difficult lesson: that the race doesn’t always need to be run in first place (or in my case beating my personal best) to be successful, it’s taken me a few days to figure this out hence the delay in the Blog.

I looked at the definition of Challenge: "A test of one's abilities or resources in a demanding but stimulating undertaking"

Than I looked at the definition of Successful: "Having a favourable outcome", "Having obtained something desired or intended"

I have met both of these this weekend, when this challenge started I had no aspirations of anything more than finishing the 21km and my main "desired" goal for running and in life is to: never give up!.

This weekend I finished and I never gave up, a successful weekend of some sorts, but perhaps not the one I set out to achieve, the icing and celebration factor for me is to beat the PB, so after only running 5 half marathons in roughly 2 and a half months ever in my life, I think I’m doing pretty well.

The time this week was my slowest ever compared to the other 5 Half’s I’ve run, 1hr 53m 54s, placing Div. 363, Overall, 2553 out of 20,000 runners.

I started out in the qualified group B, so basically I was up the front amongst the starting 100 odd people, and no one to get in my way as I set out hard, this should have been a significant advantage.

The Journey started with many good wishes, and people eager for me to smash my targets on this challenge.

I met a couple of really nice other runners early morning in the Hotel Lobby and we shared a cab down to the start line..... it was great to connect with like minded people.

I set out relatively confident, achieved a 6m 45s first mile and on the iPod started with the song "from a land down under", than things started to go wrong, just after mile 1, nature called and I had to make a b-line for the woods and outta view to help the local trees grow, now I've read about others having to do this but never thought I'd actually be one doing it.... I even went before the start so a good 30-45s wasted here..... I started out again, the 2nd mile clicked in at about 7m 30s, and I was already feeling something, the heat around 26 degrees or the fact that I simply wasn’t keeping a sub - 7min mile might have done it, in any case by mile 5 I was 38:56 or 7.8m miles, the next 5 seen me blow out to 8.9m miles (what tha!) and I finished with an overall avg of 8.4m miles :(

After being extremely sore and feeling beat I headed back to the hotel and managed to shower and sleep for a bit, in the afternoon caught up with a friend for a few hours which was great, My mother who made the trip with me on this occasion couldn’t make it down to the finish line, but was a very welcoming on my return even with my bad mood.



Monday night after getting out and enjoying the city, I caught up with another good Friend, David: Who knew that David enjoyed running??? and I think a lot better at it than he shared with me on this night after my battered time Sunday, but we managed to have a similar passion for running, and after a while I seen how little I know about the preparation, science and thought that needs to go into it, I think I’ve just been lucky (run a heap of miles and go run a half marathon: hope for the best) in any case - I have to get a couple of David’s prep. plans, and I’ve bought one of those neat GPS watch things by Garmin that let you track your speed, miles, targets, and download the whole thing to Google maps after the event and see what the heck your doing right and wrong....

David’s a wealth of information and a great guy, I am keen to follow his 2009 Chicago Full Bank of America Marathon Attempt (I wouldn’t be surprised if he qualifies for Boston!)

In any case I’m going to be back in Chicago in 2010 for the Bank of America Full Marathon and will be sure to gain back some of the time that I lost this weekend.

I am now pearing for the Sydney Harbour Half Marathon coming up this weekend, I dont have high expectations considering this weekends times, BUT I will 1. Never Give Up, and 2. Finish!

What I am really proud of this weekend is that I commited that my next challenge would go to a cause called LArche and as such the finish line donation goes to them:

Every L’Arche community offers people with an intellectual disability a family-style living environment that encourages them to create a home, to develop their talents, to build friendships and quite simply, to make the most of life!

Watch for the next Run....




Cheers
Jeff