rustyrunner-blog

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New Blog

For anybody who has found this blog, thanks for stopping in :)

You can check out our new blog, with heaps more info at www.rustyrunner.com.

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Donations please ;)

It has been a while since I have really pushed our donations page onto anybody as I wanted to show that we had some dedication before anyone threw money into the kitty.

We are only 3 races in, but we are working hard. The closer the challenge gets to finishing, the more you will probably see me put this page out there. But at the moment, we have had a few small cash donations and that's about it.

Anybody that is following our progress, has some slight interest in the challenge or in the Make A Wish Foundation, please donate and share this page with everyone. We are doing this for a reason, and that is to raise money.

I know that I am extremely tired and I'm sure the others are too! Starting work later to get to the gym earlier, lots of running and spending time away from kids to make sure that we do the runs that we promised.

Please make it worth our while and make a donation, no matter how big or small at www.everydayhero.com.au/rusty-runner.

Thanks for supporting us, sharing our page, and keeping an eye on our progress.

Josh.

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Kids are Spanners

This was an old post from the 19th of June that I accidentally deleted. Luckily I had it open in two windows and was able to retrieve it.

Last week was the first week where I really felt like it was all coming together. I was determined to make the most out of every workout and to make sure that the job was getting done everyday. Then, a spanner was thrown into the works.

Since Wednesday last week my 9 week old daughter developed a cough which was worsening. I missed gym on Saturday morning because we had to take her to the hospital where we were told she was ok, she just had a viral infection and if it got worse to bring her back. So we did, Sunday afternoon we were back at the hospital. She had not been drinking any of her bottles and was very dehydrated. It was a stay overnight job for her.

So after last week I was so determined to make this week the best I have had I planned to go to Body Renovations on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday with runs everyday inbetween (excluding Saturday as we have the Solomon trail running series on Sunday).

But as usual, life gets in the way of your plans. Monday was out, due to being at the hospital until 2am on Sunday, and getting up early to get back to the hospital. Tuesday (today) was now out also. 2 or 3 days of spending time at the hospital means that I fall behind a huge amount with work. So on my day off last night, tired as ever, I needed to sit up late and catch up on some of my work so I was prepared for the next day.

So here I am on Tuesday, facing an 11km run on Sunday with no workouts done this week. Meaning tonight I will have to force myself to run, even though my body is feeling the effects of little sleep.

The worst part of it all is lately I have been feeling like to mornings are my best time of day. I have never been a morning person, and I was starting to believe that I was becoming one. However, today I feel like I have been hit in the face with a medicine ball. I am walking around with a slouched posture that I can’t seem to iron out and my eyes feel they have been scratched with sand.

Kids definitely do throw a spanner in the works!

Before I go though. I want to send a thought out to my fiance who is supposed to be completing the 5km run in the Salomon Trail Series this Sunday. She stayed with my daughter at the hospital and slept with her on the couch last night and has had much less sleep than I. Hopefully we can both recover tonight so that she too can get some training in and do well.

Josh.

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Salomon Trail Series, Race 1

For me, our third race in the Rusty Runner Challenge was preceded by an 18 hour work day. Saturday was Calivil United Football Netball Club's Goods & Services Auction. Most of Friday night I spent frustrated trying to get the accounting system to work as I wanted it too. That however didn't go to plan and I was stressed out! So Saturday morning I had to devise a new plan. Saturday I was up at 6am. Between trying to get the printer to work, trying to get the re-work my plan for the auction and getting the girls ready to go to football it was already a long day when I got there at 11.30am. Anyway, before I get too sidetracked with the happenings of the day lets just say it was a long one. Finishing at 1am, home and in bed at 1.30am.

The race started at 9am, and we had to be there before 8.15am so we had planned to be up at 4.30am to give us time for shower, fuelling (breakfast), meet with the other guys, take the 2 hour drive and pick up our number for the race. 

So after 3 hours sleep when the alarm went off naturally one of us hit the snooze button and in a delirious state also turned the alarm off! One hour later we were awoken by everyone trying to call us, waiting for us. Frantically up, in the shower, we ran out the door and we were on our way. It was only Sherie and I from Bendigo and 4 of the other Rusty Runners from Geelong, two of which stayed in Bendigo the night before.

After a frantic drive, we made it. We were just after 8.15am but luckily the registration tent was still open.

9am the 5km race started, and everybody apart from myself lined up. It was a fairly good turnout although I still don't think there were as many as the MS Fun Run a month or so ago. I can't tell you much about the 5km race as the track was completely different.

I lined up in the medium pace section of runners for the 10.8km run which started at 9.15am. I was nervous, because I had pain in my legs purely from being so tired before we even started. Luckily, as we drove into Melbourne the clouds cleared and it was a fairly sunny day, because I think if it were any colder my legs would have been in some serious pain.

The race started, and surprisingly I was feeling good. I made my way up the pack a little bit, found my pace and settled in.

The landscape that we were running in was amazing. Firstly running along the side of the freeway in Melbourne, then under the freeway and into a beautiful park following a river. In the beginning I sort of lost track of how far or hard I had gone because I was distracted by the surroundings. It was awesome, but being so distracted would be my downfall.

Usually, I am pretty good at guessing how far I had run. I don't know if it was because it was so different from road running or because I was distracted but I know that it had something to do with me being so tired that I couldn't tell how far I had gone. It turns out that about 1/3 - 1/4 of the way in I was mega tired and thinking that I must have gone at least halfway.

But the trail kept coming! And getting more difficult. Because of the recent rains, the skinny tracks were filled with puddles that had become very soft and slippery from all the runners before me. I lost my footing numberous times. There was also a huge amount of track that was single file, with small but sharp rises and falls with plenty of rocks sticking out of the trails. In these sections all the runners were packed in so tight that you could only concentrate on the feet in front of you and think quick to try and place your foot right and not roll your ankle over a rock. Any other day I would think that this would take your mind off things and make the run easy but nothing seemed to be working for me today, the run was just painful!

For quite a bit of distance we were running along very skinny trails, right next to a vertical drop into the river which was of significant height. At one point I saw a lady who was probably 45 years old, slip in a puddle and her right leg (which was closest to the river) ended up hanging over the edge. She was very close to falling down about 3 metres and into the river. There was also heaps of people crossing the line covered in mud, which would lead you to assume there were lots of falls due to the muddiness of the track (I'm guessing lots of rolled ankles too).

I came across the only drink station on the track and I remember thinking how odd it was that they would put the drink station so close to the finish line. However, had I studied the map properly I would have known I was only halfway!

It was then that I really started to struggle, panting and wheezing, even walking once to climb a set of stairs.

Overall I would say that my pace was quite slow. But still happy with my efforts. It was a huge challenge running on such different terrain but it was great. All the puddles added an extra element and made it really fun, and hard to concentrate at the same time. If I had a full night sleep, the run would have been one of the most enjoyable yet.

All the other guys really enjoyed the run too and said they were all happy with their efforts, I believe most of them clocking in their personal best times for 5km.

And so we start another week. After today, tomorrow will be my rest day. But looking forward to putting in some big efforts this week. For now, I need some bloody sleep!

Josh.

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DETERMINED!

Feeling more determined than ever today. I was supposed to show up at Body Renovations this morning and had told everyone that I would be there despite the large runs, painful sessions and a tweaked back that I have been experiencing all week. I woke up this morning and my back felt fine! Unfortunately I woke up to Sherie shaking me, saying that we need to take Rubi, my 9 week old daughter to the hospital. She had been up all night with the most terrible sounding cough and we feared that it had developed into something serious (it hadn't by the way).

So no session at Body Renovations for me. But I was so keen for it!

Luckily, one of the other Body Reno goers had posted the WOD for me to tackle after Sherie had finished playing netball.

A 20 minute workout - 5 vertical pushups, 10 one legged squats and 15 chinups. Problem, I had nowhere to do chinups and I struggle at vertical push ups (really struggle). So I did the 10 one legged squats and instead did 15 butterfly situps and 10 burpees. 20 minutes I got 5 or 6 rounds in (I didn't count very well).

But this is the Rusty 'Runners' right? So I thought I would add in a little bit of my own. My dog really needed a run, so before I started the 20 minute workout I took on a 3.87km run (with a stop at the dogwash on the way home).

Then did the workout.

But wait theres more. After the workout I went out again. This time for a 4.77km run!

My legs were tightening up in the last part of the run, but I feel awesome as usual after the workout. These days, more and more I am looking forward to the next challenge everyday! Glad that I decided to take this on :)

Josh.

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Sugar Free Craze

I have often wondered about the amount of sugar that I eat on a daily basis and how incredibly bad it must be. Like a lot of people who are talking today on social networks I watched 60 minutes last night and it appears that this is probably true... sugar is killing us all!

I have often thought about people who complain about being unable to lose weight, they cut out all of the fat from their diets yet still drink 3 softdrinks and have 5 coffees a day with 2 sugars in each of them. Then they say its ok to have a piece of cake after dinner, and maybe a chocolate on the couch. That's a lot of sugar!

I too consume a lot of sugar in coffee, but have never had a sweet tooth when it comes to lollies. However, I am sure that there are many more sugars in my diet that I have never thought about though.

This will no doubt, become the next dieting craze. But I think that this one has merit. Reading up on sugar 'addiction' I see that there are some people taking their opinion to the extreme already. One site that I read claiming sugar creates everything from wrinkles to cancer, however I think they may have been trying to sell something (they usually are right?). http://www.smoothie-handbook.com/sugar-side-effects.html

Perhaps in this time of transforming my fitness, it is time to quit this habit! I don't think I will get rid of all the sugar, but maybe I should definitely cut down on it and start being more conscious about the sugar that I eat in everyday foods.

Josh.

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After a week of sickness!

It's amazing how much one week of sickness can set you back! It was only a week or so ago that I ran home from work and smashed it!

Today, after being out of the gym and no runs (besides the MS fun run, which I went ok in) I attempted to run home again. A bit of the sickness must be lingering still because for the first 5.5km's I really struggled. Heavy legs, couldn't control my breathing, sore back... the works!

I thought I would call into Body Renovations for some inspiration and some facebooking! As a side note, next time you check in to Body Renovations you should see it appear on their own page and not some secondary non-existent place!

After leaving there I had another 4.3km's to go. And finally I settled in. I thought that I was going to set a new record for average speed it felt that good but I was sitting at an average 11km/h which is already about the fastest average speed that I can maintain. Still, I was much happier with that.

The only downside is my back is sore again (and is actually moving down through the top of my legs). Perhaps a bath in some lectric salts tonight before deciding whether I should go back to gym tomorrow morning?

Anyhow, glad that I am back into it again and the sickness is basically gone. Our next run is on the 24th of June and was meant to be a 5km. But I think that I (not sure about the others) am going to take on the 9.8km run instead. Salomon trail run - can't wait!

Josh.

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The Rusty Runners in the MS Walk & Fun Run on the 3rd of June, 2012.

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Rustified Weekend

The first weekend of June was a full-on Rusty Runner weekend for those based in Bendigo.

I myself had been sick all week with the dreaded cold that everybody is catching at the moment. I was quite nervous going into the weekend as I knew we had a run coming up and with no training all week wasn't sure how I would fair, even if it were only 5km's.

However the weekend and this story starts on Saturday. On this particular weekend we held a BBQ at Fitzpatrick's Home Timber & Hardware on Eaglehawk Rd. When we arrived, the fellow that I had organised the BBQ with wasn't in store, and it appeared that nobody else knew that we were coming!

It was ok though, after 10 minutes or so we were set up and ready to go. But it was dead slow! There were heaps of other expos on around Eaglehawk and we certainly picked the wrong day to be there.

For the majority of the day we were worried that we wouldn't make back what we had spent on food and drinks! But in the end we did (big thanks to the fella who bought 7 sausages when we thought we were done. Spurred us on for a little longer) and as a matter of fact turned a profit of about $50. Its a small profit but hey, it's a start.

I should mention a big thanks to everyone who was there to help out.

On to Sunday. The alarm starts buzzing at 5am (don't forget it's Sunday!) and I seriously consider if this is worth it. But we are determined enough to drag ourselves out of bed, quickly shower and throw the two girls into the car.

Of course, we were a little late meeting everyone but they still weren't ready to go anyway. By the time we left we knew we were cutting it close so we rushed out of town but how could we drive nearly two hours without a coffee? Well that's just absurd to think, so drive through McDonalds, grab an 'Expresso' Cappucino and hit the road. Sherie didn't want her coffee, so I drank that too as I was driving and needed the buzz. And buzz I got. Wasn't too long after that I was bouncing around the car, I couldn't sit still! If you ever want a real coffee high get two of those babies into you... wow!

If you ever want to come down really hard with the coffee jitters also, get two of those babies into you. Not long before we get to the race I felt like crap. My hands were shaking and I couldn't stop biting my nails to distract myself from the sick feeling in my stomach. It wasn't the best feeling to have when I was already trying to distract myself from being sick all week.

When we finally arrived (after a few misdirections from somebody who doesn't know their left from right) we were almost at 9am, the start of the race! We couldn't get a park near the start so we had to park around the other side of the lake.

Pinchy & I decided to run while the others took up a fast paced walk to get to the start. After a few hundred metres we arrived at a water tent which had a 3km marker, meaning that we had 2km to get to the finish/start line! Keep running, faster and faster. Brad slowed as he had (lets just say) stomach pains and I kept going. I stopped at the toilet and then continued to the start line where there was a timer clock - the race had been running for 9 minutes. As I ran past I look around the lake and see an army of red people starting to spread apart as they ran.

Pinchy had now caught up. We were unsure whether to waste time signing in at the registration tent so I chucked RunKeeper on and we just ran. Pinchy gave me a headstart as he decided to relieve his stomach pains and I kept going. After going hard just to get to the start line the first kilometre seemed to go on forever and the second wasn't much better. But after that I seemed to settle in again, and Pinchy must have also.We both passed a heap of people which was reassuring and I came in with a time of 25mins 58 secs. Pinchy was around the 30 minute mark, so if he hadn't of stopped we would have came in around the same time.

Next to come in was Sherie, she had left the others and got in somewhere around the 35-40 minute mark! What an effort for a girl that couldn't run a few hundred metres only 4 weeks ago.

Then like a true team the others stuck together, coming in at 45 minutes. Korie and Sue have never participated in one of these before, and Nett has only ever done one (the MDC in Bendigo, which was 4km) and on that particular race it took her over 1 hour to make it past the finish line. So what a huge effort, huge improvement and an awesome result.

It was only 5 hours earlier that I was wondering if it was all worth it. And it was! Such satisfaction from not only crossing the finish line, but watching everybody else cross the line too. Congrats to all and thanks for all the efforts over the weekend.

A special thanks to Bryce who is not running but helped out with the BBQ and even came all the way to Melbourne to look after my girls while we ran in the race.

If you would like to donate to the Make A Wish Foundation and make all of this worthwhile please head to www.everydayhero.com.au/rusty-runner. I can't wait to share some more stories with you all. Next event is the Salomon Trail Run Pt 1! Can't wait!

Josh.

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Beginnings of a name....

Whew, what a crazy couple of weeks!

It was only not too long ago that I came up with this idea to run in a marathon. Then I thought, 'what I should do is run in a few races and work my way up to keep me motivated'. THEN I thought, 'what I should do is raise money for charity - running a marathon is a big task'. All of the sudden there is 11 people running along in the Rusty Runner Challenge and all of these things start happening!

It has been a couple of weeks in the making, but I came up with a logo, got some shirts printed, started a blog, started a facebook page. Loaded with arsenal I started sending emails.

So far not a lot of people have responded. However, I was surprised at how quickly some people jumped in and wanted to help. Of course there is publicity for them but most seemed genuinely interested and wanting to help.

The first real sponsor that has given us a highly valuable service is Body Renovations. Tony Skinner was on board straight away and has offered to train us up for a few months to help us achieve our goals. We have our first session as soon as we can all get together, and being trained will be highly valuable.

Then of course the Bendigo Advertiser did a story on our group. Hopefully, we will see something come of that also.

People are starting to take notice. And although we haven't got the backing and support that we are hoping for just yet, I think it will come. Hopefully, our $5000 target will be raised easily without sending us all broke!

So keep an eye out at the local races, because this is just the beginning of Rusty Runners. Look for the logo on our shirts and the numbers on our backs. I think this may be the beginning of something great.

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Sammy boy

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Running with Sam - Fail!

Had set my mind on a 5km run tonight. Had been listening to Eric Thomas' Secrets to Success and watching various sporting videos with that particular speech in the background. I was ready to go!

(By the way - anyone looking for motivation should youtube 'Secrets to Success' and any of the videos that use that speech as narration - will pump you up for life!)

Not that 5km is an impossible task, but it had been a while since I had ran that far.

Not too long ago Grace got a puppy. Well... I got a puppy for me and gave it to Grace for her birthday! Sam's my little buddy and he gets walked everyday. Growing fast, I took him for a run the other day and he did lag behind a little but he was okay.

I wasn't sure whether to take him or not, but he doesn't get too much attention with everyone busy all day so I took him with me.

Mistake!

About 1km in, I found myself pulling at his collar. I turned around and his tongue was hanging out of his mouth, frantically puffing. At every road I usually tell him to sit so that he gets used to not running on the road. At the next corner I didn't need to, as soon as I stopped he was laying down ready for a nap. Poor puppy.

So I walked for a little bit. Then ran. But the gap between the time he was keeping up and the time I was dragging him shortened dramatically every time.

The run ended up being 3.5km. We would have stopped for a rest or a walk about 6 times I think. And in the end I didn't get to run the full distance.

At least he got a good run in. But I think that for the next run I might leave him at home. On the upside, I am not as unfit as I thought; in fact I was ready for more. At least the first few races I should be able to complete okay!