Sawtell Fun Run Course Description

Somebody reached this site looking for the Sawtell Fun Run Path.

The Race starts at 9:00am outside the Sawtell RSL in First Avenue. Then it heads South along First Avenue past the shops. It goes along to the interestion of First Avenue with  the Intersection with Second Avenue.

The course loops back to the other side of First Avenue and heads north. At about one kilometre it goes up a nasty hill for a couple of hundred metres. At the crest the course continues slightly down hill until it turns left into 18th Avenue.

The course is now pretty much flat and easy, although if you’ve gone too fast up that first hill you might be puffing hard. The next turn is into 16th Avenue there is a long stretch here, almost to the end of 16th Avenue. The n turn left into Boronia Street.  Then left again into May Street.

The course then turns right along Eleventh Avenue. There are a few undulations at this point that seem bigger than they are on tired legs. When the road turns back into First Avenue and head South, you have covered about three kilometres. The course goes all the way back along First Avenue, past the shops, then over the bridge, then right into Bayldon Road.

This is a tough part of the course with the morning sun starting to beat down and the humidity really taking its toll. The really nasty part is the hill at the end of Bayldon Road. Many who have run the Sawtell Fun Run will tell you it is a killer.

You get to the top of the hill, wonder why you are doing this painful thing to yourself called a fun run, cross Lyons Road, which is closed to traffic and head down the road that leads to the Caravan Park. This part of the course should be marked out with a white arrow and stationed with helpfull race volunteers showing the way to finish the misery.

The good news is that this section is mostly downhill and is sheltered by trees. You might even hear a Whipbird or Lewins Honeyeater calling. Not that you give a tinkers cuss about nature at this point, with your lungs wheezing, your ears blocked and a stitch grabbing at your side.

The course turns right towards an open gate that goes into the caravan park. There should be a course marshall to help here. It goes past Cabins and tents. Follow the white arrow on the path.

Inside the Caravan Park it is second right then downhill towards the reserve. Turn right and you will see the finish line await. Well done, you have finished, the pain is over, now you can collapse on the grass under a shady tree and enjoy the runner’s high.

Someone also searched for Gymea Lily Kings Park. Gymea Lily is endemic to Sydney sandstone and a disjunct area of sandstone  near Glenreagh on the NSW north coast. The Gymea Lily does not occur in Kings Park. Agave americana might be the only plant that could confused with the Gymea Lily

Humidity

Yesterday I ran 8km along the cycle path on Hogbin Drive. It was meant to be an easy run. However the heat and humidty (27 degrees celsius and 74% humidty at 9:30 am) turned it into a harder run. At the finish I was sweating so much that it was dribbling into my eyes and stinging them. This made it hard to keep my eyes wide open while driving. I wiped my eyes with my shirt. Horrible. Compared to the weather conditions in Perth it was horrible.

I had hoped to run on the grass athletics track at Toormina, but the lane marking were completely gone. So I ran along the cycle track instead. I started easily and got quicker the first 3 km, then I slowed for ks 4 and 5, as the heat took its toll. Back off I told myself for the last 2 kilometres, save yourself for the Sawtell fun run.

5 miles (8 kilometres)

5:00, 4:48, 4:39, 4:51, 4:52, 4:48, 5:10, 4:58 (39:06)

Today I did a 40 minute easy pool run.

You know what is really great about running? All day yesterday I was thinking about the Sawtell Fun Run. Thinking about running takes my mind off everything else. I hardly thought about work at all.

Back from Perth

I have been back from my holiday for two days now. Now I am gearing up for the Sawtell Fun Run on New Year’s morning. Getting rather nervous at the prospect of red lining it in a 5.5km run. It will hurt,  and I haven’t done a fast race since last years.

I have run 23:31 and 23:48 in moderate intensity training runs. So I am quite fit, and should go much better then the 24:41 I did three years ago in the Sawtell Fun Run on very little training and with a knee cap that was just starting to sublux and really go off track.

My holiday in Perth was a happy sad one. I ran one day and went for a bushwalk the next, having fun with my new digital SLR camera taking macro photos of wildflowers.

Guinea Flower with tiny spider.

On the running side of things I did

4 x10km

5:25, 5:03, 5:16, 5:06, 5:27, 4:43, 4:53, 5:27, 5:23, 6:04 (53:24)

5:21, 5:13, 5:20, 5:10, 5:20, 4:41, 5:03, 5:24, 5:18, 5:16 (51:59)

5:15, 5:05, 5:02, 5:05, 5:34, 4:40, 4:56, 5:25, 5:27, 5:12 (51:42). The garmin made me run 70 metres further for 5km on this run.

5:03, 4:41, 4:52, 4:50, 5:09, 4:30, 4:44, 5:05, 5:20, 5:08 (49:24)       

2 X 8km

5:27, 5:03, 5:26, 5:18, 5:20, 5:32, 5:26, 5:32 (42:55)

4:57, 4:42, 4:52, 4:47, 4:34, 4:57, 5:13, 5:03 (39:02) 

The course I did in Kings Park was on concrete footpaths and along the grass of the ‘boardwalk’. There where three hills on the course that helped my fitness along nicely.  The first was a gradual incline between kilometres three to five, along the path that runs alongside Thomas Street. The next started from the bottom of the Poole Avenue and climbed up to May Drive.  And the last was the long gradual haul up the Boardwalk, across Lovekin Drive and up to the nature trail near the DNA tower. I was getting stronger on the uphills as the holiday went along, which is reflected in my times per kilometre.  One day there was a bicycle race on and I had to watch out crossing Lovekin Drive for the cyclists crossing my path.

http://www.bgpa.wa.gov.au/c/bgpa/pub/stories/community/memorial-map-large.gif

I had a good system going, walk about five minutes from the car park; stretch, then slowly roll into the run. Easy running until I felt I had warmed up. In all the runs I kept saying “roll it out” in synch with my breathing. I was not flat out on any run, but certainly was working it.

The fact that I ran as much as I did on this holiday is remarkeable given that at the same time last year I was in pain just walking around Kings Park. On Christmas Day I thought “Being able to run is the best christmas present ever.”

Pom Poms

On the sad side of my holiday was the fact that my father wasn’t well. One day he lacked the energy to put his shoes on to get out to the shops. He had a fall out of his bed one night and landed on his back, which was already badly bruised by a fall on a bus. They had to winch him back onto his bed. As I watched him on the bed sleeping I could see he was in pain lying on his back. Dad has a very bad cough, his lungs are not the best, he lost a lot of weight, he is in fact lighter than me at 76kgs. This is the first time in my life that Dad has weighed less than me.  Still he wanted to get out last minute shopping to get chocolates for the staff at the hostel where he is staying. This really knocked him around.

On the hugely positive side of my holiday was that on several occassions I walked around the city reasonably comfortably without the knee tape, just a ITB strap. Last year I could not do this. My knee is light years better. Also my achilles tendon gave me little trouble, just a few twinges in the mornings before I warmed up.

Several times my mind turned to negative thoughts about work  The most positive response to these negative thoughts was that I will work even harder.  I should also turn my thoughts to the possibility this year might bring in the area of my resurgent running career.  This is the inspirational postive side of my life. 

The fact is I AM working hard and have achieved extraordinary things with my return to running.  I have also taught myself to swim depsite a deep seated fear of water. I am inspired by this. I have beaten panic attacks; managed haemochromatosis; sought answers to the damage done to my health by clueless GPs and physiotherapists;  avoided knee surgery by patience, hard work and courage.

 I have thought I was dieing, I have though there was no future for me, I have been too scared to walk into a shopping centre in case I have another panic attack, been too fatigued and dizzy to walk around my unit, felt that my chest would explode, felt that I might collapse at any time. 

Despite all this I am alive and doing amazing things. This is only due to hard work and amazing COURAGE. I will give myself credit for that if no one else will.

  Also on the positive side was catching up with family over there. I met with their cute little dog, full of beans and personality.

Pool Interval Run

I did about 35 minutes in the pool.

Down the pool slow, back up the pool fast, trying to imagine I am doing a 4 minute kilometre. The intervals really sorted me out.

It was good in the pool today. People swimming squads in lanes in one half of the pool. I had lane 8 all to myself.

I have dropped Lenny my pet cockatiel off at the Pet resort. I’m ready to head over to Perth.

Hope Dad is OK. He had a fall on a bus a few weeks ago, and is losing a lot of weight apparently. I haven’t spoken to him for a while because his phone is currently disconnected.

Track

I ventured on down to the running track at Toormina. It had cooled down overnight and there was a dew on the grass.

I walked 400 metres as a warm up. When I hit the timer button on the Garmin I wasn’t sure if I wanted to run or not. That is the element of risk with running: are you going to have a good run or are you going to get injured? Take a deep breath, start to run and find out what cards fate will deal you.

Running is hard word. Lazy people don’t do long distance running.

So I rolled into the first kilometre. 2 minutes per lap X 20 laps that is 8km in 40 minutes. I tried to see if I could better that. I did the first kilometre and picked it up from there.

5:10, 4:47, 4:31, 4;35, 4:40, 4:39, 4:43, 4:33. =37:38

I wasn’t flat out by any means. Perhaps 60-70% effort. I was pleasantly surprised by the 4:30 kms. It was a good hit out, and I felt the good old tired buzz of runner’s high.

Saw the physio he was pleased with the progress on my achilles. He gave me some balancing exercises to do. I thanked him for getting me to the starting line. His treatment on my achilles realy has helped.

Also bought some speedos. The pool shorts I am wearing were causing very bad chafing.  

Looking forward to my holiday. Jogging around Kings Park should be enjoyable. To be honest I should feel more upbeat, but I feel strangely down.

1.2km without tape

This morning dawned clear, sunny and hot. I headed down to the pool for an hour and a half pool run. I estimate that to be the equivalent of a 15km run. The first hour or so was good very few people in the pool.

A young girl who was a particularly strong swimmer splashed water on me from three lanes away. Her bow wave pushed me towards the side of the pool.

I wore a shirt because an hour and a half in the sun can cause sun burn. I’ll have to purchase some other swimming attire because I got bad chafing from the pool shorts I was wearing.

Then two girls dived into the pool and splashed me and swam across my path. They got in my away as hard as I tried to get out of theirs.

In the afternoon I took the McConnell tape off and drove down to Toormina. I had seen a photo in the local newspaper showing little athletes competing with a Woolworths sign in the backgorund. I thought there might even be an athletics track there, and it turned out there was. So I walked a couple of laps around the track without the McConnell taping. It felt OK.

This is good thinks I. So then I decided to jog. I jogged three laps or 1.2km, and the knee felt pretty good. I even sped up a bit the last lap or so.

This is the first time I have jogged without tape for three years!

It looks like that after three years of hard work and of being in  pain that I  I am finally getting to the stage where I can live my life without my knee taped.

I went shopping at Toormina centro. I walked around knee untaped. I can remember the times that I couldn’t walk from my car to the shops and back without the knee cap becoming tight and running off track. 

Before last Christmas I tried to get around without tape. At the end of the day my knee would feel horribly tight. Christmas 2005 was the last time I had a normally functioning knee.

That is a long time with a disability.

Today I walked at least 2 kilometres, ran 1.2km kilometres and so far it has stayed on track. I have not worn tape for seven hours.

The 14th December 2008 is  going to be a day to remember.

Quagmire

The grass playing fields were I run where a quagmire this morning. It was raining only lightly, but Iwas slowed down by the soggy puddles that had formed on the ground.

I managed to run 8km my furthest since hurting my achilles. Again I was hampered a little by a pain in my ankle and towards the end a pain in my back.

splits were: 5:41, 5:28, 5:38, 5:26, 5:36, 5:38, 5:49, 5:51

The slow time might have been caused by the Garmin not receiving enough satellites due to the heavy cloud cover and rain.

8km 45:07

Yesterday as I finished work I felt very down. Hopefully this will clear up the longer I spend away from work.

I thought as I was going to sleep that I want to really train hard possibly twice a day. To see if I can maybe next year go in a half marathon or marathon. To prove to myself with the achievements of training and competing that I am a hard worker that I am not lazy.

This afternoon I also did a 35 minute pool run. Afterwards I felt tired and feel to sleep for about three hours.

An even wetter run

Well tonight it was raining so heavily that the rain drops were changing the display on the bezel on my Garmin. The rain consisted of very fine droplets like a very concentrated drizzle. A strong southerly breeze was blowing the rain in sheets. I was running fast when the wind was at my back and slow when it was in my face running through the long soggy grass.  

I ran six kilometres in 30:40. Splits were

5:22, 4:57, 4:57, 5:06, 5:03, 5:14

My achilles wasn’t sore, but I did feel some pain in the front of my ankle and also in my back.

Looking forward to my holiday in Perth.

A wet run

It was raining tonight when I ran around the grass field. A lot cooler than Saturday.

I ran thirty minutes tonight: splits were

5:32

5:05

5:08

5:12

5:12

Total distance covered 5:8 km; 5km about 26:09. It was pretty comfortable to be honest.

Just heard that Kerryn McCann the Australian Marathon runner past away from breast cancer aged 41. A tragic loss. Her win the Melbourne Commonwealth games was one of the most exciting athletic events I have ever witnessed. I remember she ran in the Sutherland to Surf back in the 1980s. She really made something of her running career. Her time in the Sydney Olympics was excellent 2hours 28. One of the best ever Australian distance athletes.

A hot run

Hot and humid. 28 degrees at about 9:00am when I did my run.

First I did a five minute walk to warm up, walked 450 metres. 

Then I ran for 25 minutes

0.55k 3:24

1k  5:30

2k  5:18

3k 5:14

4k 5:03

Warm down walk.

Total distance covered 5:3 km in 32:26.

The confidence in my achilles is returning. I probably pushed a bit harder than I should’ve.  Probably I should look to average around 5:20 5:30/km on these training runs.  A toenail was cutting my skin, and my right hamstring was a little sore.

The day out in the field yersterday really sorted me out. I was very stiff in the legs. The amazing thing was that when I got home and took my trousers off I noticed that the knee tape had worked free. So I was walking around for seven hours, a good proportion of it without my knee cap supported by tape. I really am beating the maltracking patella.

I really felt the heat towards the end of the run this morning. The sun was beating down on the back of my neck, and there wasn’t a breath of wind. I was sweating profusely for an hour after the run.

I thought to myself if conditions at the Sawtell fun run are going to be like this, then it will be a tough race. The Sawtell Fun Run is on in only 26 days away now.