Fruit Toast and Lattes

Saturday morning's run (21km) was my last long run before I leave for Antarctica. I decided I wanted to share the run with some friends so I put the call out to the CoolRunners to join me and got a crew together, Chilli, GreyBeard(less), Darkum, Di, Go4it (me) and Maggot (who arrived to late to get in the photo). We started at the Brighton Beach Baths (in the picture) and headed out to Ricketts Point - a nice little half marathon course. It turned out to be a stunning day, just perfect for a run. Maybe not so good for the cicada that was caught and eaten by an Indian Myna Bird just as we ran past! The ultra crew took off quickly and did some investigations of the beach trails as well as the running trail. I chose to wear my trailrunning shoes to test them out on the longer run and they worked well - although my feet were very toasty warm!

On the homeward journey we caught up with Kevin Cassidy who is gradually building up his running kilometers after successfully completing a swimming crossing of the English Channel - about the same time I was running the Alice Springs Marathon - where we both finished wet and salty!

We made it back to the Brighton Beach Baths and were greeted by Courtly who had been with me in Alice Springs Marathon, while she completed the Alice Springs Half Marathon. Also joining us for breakfast was Eat Em who had cheered us on while he went zipping past on his bike! The breakfast is always the nicest part of the long run and great to share it with good company - I wonder if they have fruit toast and lattes in Antarctica!!

To complete my weekend I had a BBQ with my greatest supporters - my family! We had the chance to talk about my Antarctic adventure and what I would wear. For example the balaclava and snow goggles - not a good photo since I wasn't smiling :). The comment was made that perhaps I was ready to supplement my income by visiting some banks while wearing the mask! I didn't wear the balaclava for too long - it just got too hot!

My dad was reassured when I told him that there would be a snow mobile on the running course - that could transport runners back to the tents if the weather conditions turned bad!

I thought I might end this blog with a picture of some of my family (my parents, brother and two nephews) who I am sure don't really understand why I would chose to undertake such a difficult challenge as running a marathon in sub zero conditions but have nevertheless been 100% supportive of my efforts. Not in the picture - because she was taking the photo was my Aunt who has also played a role a major role in promoting my event - fingers crossed that Channel Nine comes through!