Planned Races for the First Half of 2012
It’s a brand new year and the motivation for the year ahead is at a pretty high level. A lot of that has to do with the fact that I am feeling in fairly fine fettle and the body has not started to complain about the running I’m doing at my age. Only 45 years of age but the hammies and calves are protesting more and more frequently.
So it’s time to nominate the races that I am planning on taking part in for the first half of the year. I’ve found that my training tends to drift along aimlessly and the weekend runs are non-existent if I don’t actually have a race or two to train for.
March ?? – Mini Marathon (23km)
March 18 – Port Macquarie Half Marathon
May 20 – SMH Half Marathon
Port Macquarie Half Marathon
Among these three runs there is a new entry for me. I have never run the Port Macquarie Half Marathon before. Heck, I don’t think I have ever been to Port Macquarie before. So I guess I had better do a little bit of a recce to get the lay of the land as well as an idea of the course.
The Port Macquarie Half Marathon is actually part of the Port Macquarie Running Festival with a number of shorter events lined up for those who are not quite as serious about their running. As well as the half marathon it is possible to enter either a 10km run or a 5 km run. For the walkers there is a 4km Walk and Talk event as well as two children’s fun runs, a 4km and a 2km fun run.
It is possible to enter the event online with the Port Macquarie Running Festival website quite extensive and able to answer just about any questions you might have. Check out the site here.
Looking at the map of the course I have noticed that it is a 3 lap course of 7 km each lap running hard along the waterfront virtually the whole way. This is going to take a little time to get my head around this concept given that I have never really been a fan of races with 2 loops, let alone 3.
SMH Half Marathon
This remains an annual event for me and I must admit I do enjoy running around the City of Sydney on a May Sunday morning. The only thing about this particular race is the constant changing of the course from one year to the next. I must have run this race something like 12 times and the course has probably changed around 10 times.
One year it goes in a clockwise direction, the next a counter clockwise direction. It used to start down under the Sydney Harbour Bridge, then on Hickson Rd, now in Hyde Park. I just wish the organisers would come up with a course that met all the needs: the ability to get large numbers of runners through without dangerous areas of congestion, minimal impact to traffic and few twists and turns.
Last year’s course (yes, another radically different course change) came pretty close. The single loop (it used to be two loops) worked well and extending the course to Pyrmont seemed to work pretty well.
Checking out the website and I notice on the Course details that “The course is currently under review for 2012 and updated maps and information will be posted as soon as it is available.” Surprise, surprise!
Entries to this event won’t be opening until February so there is still a little time to wait. In the past you had to be pretty quick to get your entry in or you could have risked missing out. This has changed with the new course allowing more entrants and less chance of missing out.