An idea is born…

It’s a rather ironic title as in a few weeks, my wife and I are expecting twin baby girls, but as the 2011 running season draws to a close the mind turns to – what’s next for 2012? Among the usual races that I’ve finalised into a short-list, comes the challenge of just doing something for the hell of it.

There’s no rhyme or reason as to why we want to do certain things, we do them because they appeal and well to be frank, we just fancy doing it. For a few years I’ve touted running Poor Man’s Comrades, out and back. Heck I’ve never run it one way properly, but after a lot of ribbing from a few friends, I’ve set a date – April 27th 2012, 6am from the Opera House, which is also my 34th birthday. Thus at the same time my new family is born, an idea and an adventure is too.

With my new family on its way, there’s a certain amount of unknown regarding what training I’ll be doing, but my intentions are to certainly continue to run as much as possible, I’ll just have two lovely baby girls on my plate to manage too.

But why run to Gosford and back? Surely there are other much more appealing options and better runs out there? Sure there are, but to my knowledge, no-one has done this yet (please correct me if I’m wrong people!) – which is appeal number one. It’s also pretty stupid and most people ask me why? Appeal number two. It also fits in quite nicely between the other things I want to do, appeal number three.

Sure, there are others who have embarked on much tougher journeys than the one I’m proposing, take for example Chris Turnbull’s heroic adventure from Sydney to Melbourne – the C2K guys will run 50-odd more kms than this too. In comparison, this is a rather ‘tiny’ 184kms. Heck our 24 hour track athletes run further in 24 hours too, so I’m fully aware of the fact that in the grand scheme of things, it’s nothing more than a little run up the coast and back. But there are a few stipulations that I’m going to place upon myself, but I’m doing this just for fun more than anything:

– It will be a single stage run i.e. no overnight sleeping or nipping off course to have a shower.

– I’ll aim to crack 24 hours in total if I can.

– I’ll get a support crew involved, along with some pacers if they fancy it, but it will be a solo effort.

The run will start on the steps of Sydney Opera House (hence the picture above) at 6am, before I make my way up through North Sydney and the suburbs leading up to the Old Pacific Highway and then follow this to Gosford. I’ll turn around and then make my way back, with a view of arriving back at the Opera House 24 hours later in time for sunrise and a bacon and egg roll.

So there it is – the idea is born, the ‘why’ is taken care of. I just need to work out the ‘how’. Stay tuned… Commit & Finish.

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Dan
I'm a mediocre runner who can bat above his average when I train hard. A man of extremes, I do enjoy everything life offers and consider it an absolute pleasure just to be able to put one foot in front of the other and let my mind wander somewhere different.

16 thoughts on “An idea is born…

  1. love it! Great idea!!!

    184km in 24hrs is 7.49 pace. I reckon you’ll smash that on the road. Id be happy to run along side for a little bit.

    1. Thanks Ian – Everything is easy on paper… doing it is a different story. I’d like to think it was realistic and achievable. Again, would be great to have you along for a few kms.

  2. Good stuff Dan, i assume you will be following the official PMC route taking in that lovely Bobbin Head loop? Nice goal, might tag along somewhere for a few kms.

    1. Sure thing Spud. I will be following the PMC route to the letter, anything less is a DNQ. Would be good to have you along, although you might want to come on the out, the back could get slow-ish 🙂

  3. mate, you are not going to know what hit you with the girls but a fantastic idea none the less, I am up for keeping you company for a stretch. By the way are you going to do 6ft track – I know it is very short for you but I know you love the run 🙂

    1. Very true Tym… however that’s why there’s 168 hours in a week. always time to run! Yes, am in for 6ft, subject to getting in. It’s one of two ‘A’ races for 2012. I’ll be going all out for it.

    1. Awesome stuff Bull… would love to have you pace me for the last section… although that will be the early hours of Saturday morning. Will you and Jono be sober?!?!?!?!?!

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