The bay run is a charity event which is held each year in Adelaide, South Australia, this year was a very significant year for the Hughes family. With not being able to participate in Lewis memorial ride they wanted to do something to help the trust fund get off to a flying start the run was done by Lewis three cousins Dr Rachel Hughes, Carla Bromwich, Rachelle Werner and Carla’s mum in law Wendy. A grand total of $820 was raised by family & friends. A big thankyou to everyone out in Australia for their support and we look forward to this years event with great anticipation.
The Sunday Mail City to Bay Fun Run (http://www.city-bay.org.au/) is an annual run/walk in which participants are encouraged to raise money for their chosen charity. It is held on the third Sunday of September and this year it just happen to fall on the 18th to coincide with the LBTF bike ride. Participants can choose to run or walk 12 km’s, 6 or 3 km’s on a stretch of road that leads from Adelaide town centre to the coastal suburb Glenelg. Last year in 2011 i ran the 12km’s along with Rachelle and Wendy (Dylans mum). It was mine and Rachelles first time attempting the city to bay 12 km run and until that day had NEVER ran 12 km’s, not even in training sessions!
To train for this event, Carla and i had to start early (June) as we were both pretty unfit. I could barely run the 850 metres to the park where we would train.
Early stages: We started off running to the park, resting, running back.
Second stage: Run to the park, do at least 10 of Tash’s exercises (bear crawl, pushups, sit ups, plank shuffle, etc.. etc..)
Third stage: Run to the park, do 10 exercises, 2 laps of the oval
Fourth stage: Run to park, 10 exercises, 4 laps
Fifth stage: Run to the park, all of the exercises (around 16), 6 laps
Sixth stage: Run to the park, all of the exercises, 10 laps (around 5 km’s)
Final stage: Road run (between 6 and 8 km’s depending on route), all exercises
We trained every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Mondays we played netball and we rested on the weekends.
The week leading up to the event we trained hard Tues and Wed but less intense on Thurs and Fri. Saturday we drank loads of water. Sunday morning i had an electrolyte drink in the morning. I drank nothing whilst running even though there was plenty available on the side of the road. I never drank during my training runs so i didn’t drink during the race. I made a playlist featuring lots of Bon Jovi J as well as some of my fav songs and played it on random shuffle so that i would be surprised at what came on next. At the 6 km point, BJ’s living on a prayer came on “You’re half way there, ooooh oooh living on a prayer” that was amazing timing! 1 km out of the finish line, Florence and the machines “Dog days are over” came on… That gave me a boost and i sprinted the last 200 metres for my triumphant photo finish. J As you can see in my close up pic, i am very red faced J In my finish line pic i am on the left with my hands up in the air wearing blue shorts and my LBTF t-shirt. Rachelle is in the centre of her photo finish pic wearing black shorts and her LBTF t-shirt.
We ran to raise money for the LBTF and collected donations from family and work colleagues. In 2011 the fastest time was 34 minutes, 11 seconds. The fastest female time was 39 minutes and 52 seconds. In 2011 there were 220 female competitors who were the same age as me (28). The average run time for us was 79 minutes and 37 seconds. I ran it in 68 minutes and 40 seconds. Rachelle ran it in 84 minutes, 19 seconds. My goal was to make it sub 90 minutes, which i well and truly achieved. Rachelles goal was to keep running the whole time which i am so proud to report that she did. Rache wasn’t training as hard as Cj and I, and couldn’t complete our training road run without a cheeky breather. When she finished she had the largest blister i have ever seen!!! Carla unfortunately had to go to Perth for work and couldn’t participate in the city to bay. Instead she ran 6 km’s in stinking 40 degree heat on a treadmill at her works gym. A massive effort! This year in 2010 will be the 40th year of the city to bay. My goal is to run sub 60! I’ve just started getting back into training now after the festive break and we are back to about stage 5! We’ve got until September to pick up our pace J
