Homebush Hustle

Sunday March 8, 2009 (Run – 24km)
About 40 runners were milling about in the dark waiting for the 6.00am start to the Striders Homebush Hustle Sunday training run. I had a late night and woke up feeling more tired than when I went to bed. It felt like the alarm went off just as my head was hitting the pillow, I only had 3 hours sleep. This was to be my second last long run before the taper. Homebush is one of the few flat courses, starting in Concord and winding its way through the Olympic grounds at Homebush Bay then along Parramatta River to Silverwater and then back through Rhodes and Concord. We set off expecting a largish group but after the first turn it was clear that there were only 10 of us running almost together. We kept going surprised by this and by 1km it was clear that something was not right. We were lost – it was dark and no one could read their map by the feeble streetlight. Standing in the middle of the road a discussion ensued about where we went wrong so we maybe be able to backtrack. But being fearless and lost we let the same people who led us astray lead us back on track. We ended up doing an extra 3 km before we rejoined the course just into the Olympic grounds. By this stage the pace was cranked up to make for lost time and we ended up running around 5.00 min/km through Homebush. I was not enjoying this at all and it felt more like a race of sorts then a training run that I was supposed to do at conversation pace. I dropped back a bit and ran with John and Alan we still found ourselves winding up the pace. My hamstring was painful and tight and I focused on adjusting my posture which brought some relief. Through Silverwater we ran past the back end of the group that did not get lost. From here we were joined by Rob, Sue and Marcus. The six of us ran as a group at an even pace but by this stage the damage was done. On the way through Rhodes I decided to cut the run short. Ran a total of 24km at an average pace of 5:23min/km. Hamstring is still very painful and it hurts to sit, hoping to see the physio again this week.