Ten years ago, showed up and I ran/walked/crawled in the City 2 Surf with no training.

For non NSW people, the City 2 Surf is an annual 14k fun run that stretches from Sydney’s CBD to Bondi beach.  My dad has been running it for 15 years, and at the time my sister and I, aged 12 and 15 respectively, decided to give it a go.  I showed up wearing a singlet and boardies, having done no cardio leading up to it as I said, and I believe I even ate a maccas breakfast on the drive down.  I was in pain for days afterwards.

Of course, I was a child at the time.  If I tried that same strategy now, I would need an ambulance.

My family was reminiscing that day over dinner last night with great amusement.  My mum remembers how proud of myself I looked when I finally crossed the finish line, not being able to believe what I had done (and with a final burst of energy darted into the seeded runners marquee and stole a finger bun – this was back before all athletes were paleo and long distance runners were all about masses of carbs for energy.)

I had finished with a time of about two and a half hours, my sister about ten minutes or so in front.  I idly wondered out loud how I would do if I actually trained.

To which my family responded, “well, why don’t you?”

I totally should.

I’ve never been a big fan of cardio.  I consider myself quite active and I do go through periods of regular jogging but the reason I tend to run hot and cold is because it’s what I do if I can’t think of anything better to do.  I prefer sports, or weights, or yoga but can’t always be bothered coming up with a routine.

And then there’s the fact that bad things tend to happen to me when I run.  I fall over things, or into things and hurt myself.  And let’s not forget the Frisbee incident.

But maybe letting a few injuries put me off this form of exercise is unfair.  Your body best responds to a varied exercise routine, so I should be trying to mix things up.  Running is a great mindfulness exercise too.

The event is five months away and the website has a ten week training plan but I reckon I’ll use ten weeks to build the intensity then keep going at that level until the race, maybe repeating the last three weeks.

I’ll keep you guys posted on how I’m going.  I’m going to need a lot of quest bars…

Mac