General
Travel
Sport
Hockey
Technical
Gaming
Pages
Travel Plans
Live Music
Links
About
Blog Archive
Current Blogs
March 2010 (1)
February 2010 (3)
January 2010 (5)
December 2009 (1)
November 2009 (1)
October 2009 (1)
September 2009 (1)
August 2009 (2)
July 2009 (1)
June 2009 (2)
May 2009 (3)
April 2009 (1)
March 2009 (1)
February 2009 (13)
January 2009 (1)
2008 (25)
2007 (67)
2006 (23)
2005 (32)
2004 (10)
Blog Tags
General
10 in '10 (4)
Books (1)
DVDs (2)
Funny (12)
Gadgets (5)
Hawt (1)
Movies (13)
Music (6)
Pets (3)
Recipe (14)
TV Shows (1)
Web (27)
Travel
Calgary (2)
Edmonton (12)
New York (7)
Niagara Falls (2)
Pittsburgh (5)
Washington (4)
Sport
Basketball (1)
Running (3)
Hockey
Pittsburgh Penguins (25)
Technical
.NET (3)
Java (4)
Software (3)
Work (2)
Gaming
Commodore 64 (2)
Master System (1)
Mega Drive (1)
Xbox 360 (15)
XNA (1)
GamerTag
The rarely updated blog of Joel Dixon
Viewing blogs tagged Running
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Donate money for my next stupid run
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 04/02/2010 23:22:53Updated by Joel Dixon at 06/02/2010 02:11:27
I decided to enter the 2010 Run for the Kids 14.6 km event, and will probably stuff up my knees again. But I'm racing a friend from work - so it shouldn't be all bad.
How about you donate some money to sponsor me? Or don't.
# Posted in the Sport section and tagged as: Running
Comments (0) | Add Comment
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Great Australian Run - 2009
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 29/11/2009 15:28:23Updated by Joel Dixon at 29/11/2009 16:31:27
I was planning on running in the 15km Great Australian Run today. I did a 4km run about 6 weeks ago and loved it - so trained up for the 15 km.
I certainly had preparation covered last night. Laid out my clothes, pre-pinned my race number, packed a bag with toilet paper, band-aids, drinks etc and pre-attached my registered baggage tag. I analysed three potential methods of travel and decided on a primary and backup strategy (train / tram or car if I slept in). I then went to bed for an early night.
Of course, I slept through an hour and 45 minutes of my alarm and had almost no chance of making it to the race. Bell offered to try to drive me in - and I accepted - knowing it was probably too late.
I skipped my shower, breakfast and my morning good-luck toilet stop. Somehow we made it into the city in under an hour, and after dropping off my bag just made it to the starting area with one minute to spare. No time for a proper warm up - I just had enough time to remove a stone from my runners. But I was happy the last six weeks of prep wouldn't go to waste.
I actually felt really good over the first 5-7 kilometers, until my knee started to act up. As I've been training for this my left knee has been getting progressively worse - and today it was very sore. Had it not been the big race - I probably wouldn't have kept going. But I wanted that medal!
I suffered through the knee pain, the cramps and the rain, and I eventually crossed the finish line. The last 500 meters felt great, but as soon as I cooled down again I had great trouble walking. I think this is my last run for a few months!
It looks like my sore knee was also affecting my times - or I just got too tired after the first 5 kilometers
I like the yellow ribbon, stylish!
The run would be the 14.1 km Run 4 The Kids, which I'm certainly starting to second guess.
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Running
Comments (2) | Add Comment
Sunday, October 11, 2009
I ran a[n eighth of a] marathon today!
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 11/10/2009 20:44:21About two months ago, I had been going to the gym for a few weeks and started to really enjoy the treadmill work I was doing. So, of course, I went too far ahead of myself and said to Bell "I want to complete a marathon before I turn 30". This was partly because I think running a marathon is a good bucket list goal - and partly because of Hamish Blake's effort.
So I signed up for the 5km event of this year's Melbourne Marathon. I chose the 5km distance because I was still new to running - and just wanted to see how much harder running would be when not on a treadmill. Over the last few months I've found that 5km isn't that long - and I predicted I'd finish the race in around 30 minutes, maybe 25.
The race started a little annoyingly - I was so far back at the starting line - I just stood there for a full minute while the long line ahead of us got started. But when I got running it was great fun! The weather was excellent - and spectators were littered around the course offering encouragement.
By far the most enjoyable part of the race was the final 800 meters - a semi-lap of the MCG. Running in through Gate 3 of the 'G to apparently 10,000 people sporadically cheering was amazing. Sure - most of them were there for the proper runners (half and full marathons) - it still felt pretty good.
After the finish we all received a participation medal. Sure, it sounds like "everyone gets a medal day" - but it was a really nice quality prize. In roller hockey, I've won grand finals, team and league MVPs and various other sporting trophies - and none have looked as nice as my 5km participation medal. The longer distance ones looked much nicer too!
My bling
I had a look at the online results - and I actually finished in 19 minutes and 51 seconds. I'm pretty surprised at that - it's an average of 15 km/h - I guess I've been slacking off when on the treadmill. My official position is 400th (out of around 4,000) - but my net time (i.e. discounting the time it took me to get to the start line) puts me around 300th. I'm pretty happy with that - especially for my first race.
My Results
In the end - I wish I had have run the 10km race. 5km isn't enough to see if I have the right kind of endurance to get a full or even half marathon. I'm going to give the 15km Run For The Kids a go next March - should be a better challenge.
To top it off - our mixed basketball team won our first non-grading game by 38 points tonight. I scored 12 points - meaning I wasn't allowed to score anymore. The "can't score more than 12 rule" is one that I thought would never need to be applied to me during a game. Perhaps I should go for a 5km run each morning before basketball!
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Basketball, Running
Comments (4) | Add Comment
Recent Blogs
Yeah ... Baby! xkcd Parody Donate money for my next stupid run Feta, Sushi and Underwear Pimpy McHat Attack Chai did it! 10 things for 2010 Party like it's 1999 Literal Music Videos Green Day - Melbourne, 2009Feed
Blog Entries
Recent Comments
Green Day - Melbourne, 2009
posted 3 months ago by joeldixon
The Offspring is probably the one that I most want to see next - except for maybe Daft Punk. I'm ... link
Green Day - Melbourne, 2009
posted 3 months ago by Brad
Can't believe it took you this long, but as far as first concerts go Green Day would have to be ... link
Great Australian Run - 2009
posted 3 months ago by joeldixon
Thanks Hitman - the "we stuffed up the distance" article generally takes a few days to be released - so ... link
Great Australian Run - 2009
posted 3 months ago by Hitman
Hey Dixon, I haven't read any articles suggesting otherwise, so I will take you at you word that you ran ... link
I ran a[n eighth of a] marathon today!
posted 5 months ago by joeldixon
I should be fine. I'm sure the 15km will only be around 850 meters, after the measuring errors etc :) link
Comment Standings
1. the man with no name (45)
2. Hoff (39)
3. Gav (27)
4. Hitman (25)
5. Brad (22)
6. Eryc-Ads (13)
7. Deep Lurker (6)
8. thefury (5)
9. Dieter (4)
10. Zelks (4)
About This Site | Contact Me