Tan 100

Run Distance: Sun 8:30, Mon 16:45, Tue 16:53, Wed 10:94, Thu 10:91, Sat 22:44, Tue 10:75, Thu 10:70, Sun 99:72,
Average Pace: N/A
Weekly Total: 99:72
Monthly Total: 198:44
Yearly Total: 3348:28
Running Calendar: What Next?

This year I set my goal to run some longer races. I guess because they represent a challenge and partly because you join a smaller pool of like minded people who see running as an obsession. It's less about winning and more about bettering your time. An everybody offers encouragement no matter what end of the scale they are at.

The CP100 was the first run and really I treated it as a learning experience. I was lucky enough to finish under the 12 hour cut. As with any race, work out what when right/what went wrong and learn from it.

The second run was the Tan 100. I had heard lots about it from Two Fruits, Nick M and Jog. The Anderson St hill, dogs on leads and four seasons in one day.

Well my experience was not quite how it had been scripted.

There was only one season and that was sunny. I started in a t-shirt and sleeves and finished in a t-shirt and sun glasses. I had no race plan except for run Anderson St for the first lap and time how long I took for a lap. Anderson St wasn't as hard as I though and I ran it for the first 43k. Each lap was about 23mins.

My quads were getting tight around the 45k mark so I altered my strategy. Walk out of the drink station for about 100m then run to the Anderson St corner, walk 3/4 of it and then run from there.

There were plenty of diversions to keep me occupied as I ran along. The sunny weather brought lots of people out on the track, and yes there were dogs. What people neglected to tell me was how many pretty women in the latest sporting fashions there would be - a nice addition.

A finishing time of 10hrs 46min I thought was a fitting reward for the hard work I have put in leading up to this run. To take an hour off the CP100 time was the cream on the cake.

Brett Saxon and the trails+ team really know how to put on an event. It's too early to plan for the second half of next year but this one may just find a spot on my calendar.