Running back to D-Mac

When you’re growing up through your teenage years it’s rare if you come across anyone who has completely got it all together. I reckon even the coolest kids in school have fears and anxieties, and basically worry about fitting in and doing or saying the right things. As a teacher I see awkward kids walking on peer group eggshells every single day. You just want to grab them and assure them that it will all work out. Although even if you did......., well, I know if anyone had said that to me, I would’ve thought they have no idea what they’re talking about.

It’s hard enough fitting in with kids in your own level. However I clearly remember thinking that the guys in the year ahead of us were by far smarter, better at sport, better with the ladies and if ever there was a punch on behind the grandstand or down at Spring Rd after school, they would beat the living bejeezus out of you. Luckily, even though I had a mouth on me, I never found out about that one.

In the photo above, seven out of the eight other blokes pictured with me are from the year level above at school. These were the blokes who I was a bit in awe of, a little bit envious of and definitely a bit scared of. Well to be honest, I wasn’t scared of Scotty (in the yellow shorts) but the bloke next to him, look out. 23 years after school and these are the same blokes that I run around Duncan McKinnon Reserve with each week. On a cold Tuesday night when it had bucketed rain throughout the day, here they all were standing around a massive banner that a couple of them had made to welcome my return from 3 months of injury. I was speechless, overwhelmed and very, very grateful.

It was when I was looking at the photo that it all dawned upon me. I started up this blog so that my own kids will be able to have a look back on what I was getting up to with all of this running. I hope they don’t have too many awkward moments growing up through their teenage years. I hope they have great friends. But if there are moments when they don’t feel quite right then they might read this. There’s great people all around you. It may be that you just don’t hang with them ‘yet’.

Thanks D-Mac crew. Quality!

North Face 100 - May 14, 2011

“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.”

Yesterday was a great day. It was the North Face 100km event in the Blue Mountains. My training partners Seb Mannix and John Gullifer toed the start line at 7am with their toughest challenge ahead of them. I sat at the laptop following their progress on the live results website.

Over the last 18 months the three of us had trained hard and long for this one event. My campaign ended officially three weeks ago but in reality it finished on February 20^th after suffering a stress fracture during the Maroondah Dam Ultra. I’ll have a crack next year. I was a little disappointed but it’s far from a tragedy.

Gully started thinking about doing the event a bit later than Seb and myself and his training has been spot on. His attitude has been the real key though. He doesn’t put much emphasis on how quick he can finish an ultra. He’s just out there doing his best and enjoying the trails. That’s not to say he’s slow, far from it, he’s run a sub 3 hour marathon. On the trails he’s taught me alot about pacing to finish strong and in the process being able to enjoy yourself more which is tough when your in agony. Gully did it really tough in the latter part of the race but drew on all the courage and strength within to keep moving forward. The Lance Armstrong quote above is something he had in his head and there was no way he was going to quit. I spoke to him minutes after he finished and the excitement was huge. What a super effort. He was out there for just under 16 hours. Try doing anything for 16 hours, it’s a really long time.

Seb has had a meteoric rise in trail running. We started running ultras together, the first of which was the Percy Cerutty, Portsea to Frankston 55km, then we tackled the Moonwalk 45km in the Dandenongs at night as a group. Running in these events and training with him I was well aware of the fact that he is a great runner. It was only when we entered a few events with the intention of ‘having a crack’ that I saw how good he is. The first one was Two Bays 56km which Seb won in a new race record, then he placed third at Maroondah Dam 50km and then he ran 76km at the Coburg 6 hour ultra, further than all but one other runner.

So the facts were plain and simple, he’s a bloody good runner. However what happened on Saturday in the Blue Mountains was something else. In a field of 800, Seb came in 13^th place in 11 hours 23 minutes. The people who beat him home were world class ultra trail runners from Spain, France, South Africa, New Zealand and a few Australians. Several of them sponsored by Saloman Racing Team to compete all over the world. That is obviously impressive but so is the long list of quality athletes that came in behind him, including the race winner from 2010 and 2009 who admittedly had ‘one of those days’ but hey these are the facts.

Seb will hate all of this being highlighted. On his Facebook page I wrote:

'I am really looking forward to the battle between your humility and the facts'

Harry backed me up by saying, 'Yeah Seb, you're screwed!'

We love his success and we can’t help but tell more people about it than him. It’s not hard, he tells no one. So many people are running because of him. I am one of those. Every time he does well it’s a reminder and a celebration for me that this commitment, discipline and love of running is what inspired me to get off the couch and change my life. I ain’t the only one. Just ask Harry, Benno, Porty, Houiexy, Big T, Rosey, Wighty, Eddie, Bolty,Philthy, Macka, Boxy, Mick Watt, Gully, Leah, Raf, Clare............you get the point Sebby Boy...well done and THANKS.