Since completing the calendar club in April, my goal in running was to become faster. My enthusiasm to run ultra-marathons dwindled but my interest in road-racing and track running was soaring to places it hadn’t been before.
After coming off a big race for the Ekiden relay, I quickly backed up into a 2km time trial. My friend Daniel has been gunning all year to break 6 minutes in a 2km time trial. In his last attempt, he ran 6 minutes and 5 seconds. About a month ago, I said that on his next attempt that I would come out and pace him.
Monday morning rolled around and it was go time. I headed out the Adelaide Uni Loop with the Redbacks cricket team with the goal of helping Daniel break 6 minutes. It was a staggered start and we were let off the start-line last. We were on the chase. However, we weren’t out there to beat everyone else, we were there to help Daniel improve his individual time. In team sports, it’s rare to see an athlete break 6 minutes. I was excited to see what we’d do. We went out at a strong pace for the first kilometre and tried not to become unsettled as we started the second kilometre. As the seconds went by, we started to overtake the people that started ahead of us. With 500m to go, I was yelling to Daniel “LET’S GO”. The energy was high and we both finished very strong. I crossed the line in 5 minutes 53 seconds and Daniel in 5 minutes 54 seconds. We achieved his goal and I was proud to be apart of it.
The rest of my week seemed to revolve around running – from my memory anyway. I trained at the uni-loop and did a great session on the track. In 2018, I brought together a small group of friends who enjoyed running. Over the last two years, this group has grown and expanded into Bayside Run Club. It’s been a passion project of mine to build this community and over the last couple of months I’ve really started to see the seedlings shoot. Bayside Run Club has a strong community feel and it brings me so much joy to see the connection, community and self-development that he has brought to many of the members. On Thursday, a bunch of us had a speed session on the track. We’ve recently acquired new running kits and it was awesome to see the boys moving swiftly in the kit.
From a work perspective, I did two interior shoots this week. This was a new experience for me and a new style of editing. I enjoyed the process and a change of scenery.
Another solid week!
Big Love,
JL
