Rachel Bowerman (a.k.a Zac Qereqeretabua) completes City to Surf 2011

Congratulations Ray! You were a awesome ring-in - making a great flying Fijian sub - completing the 14km in 86mins 19secs.

Ray and Ella at the end of Sydney City to Surf 2011

The Yippies: George Lombard, Rachel Bowerman (aka Zac Q),
Euginia Munroe, Helen Rees and Isaac.
Front row: Support crew members  Ben  and Zoe Clarke

City to Surf NO-GO!

Hi everyone,

Devastated. A back injury this week has meant no City to Surf for me on Sunday.  

I had a little accident on Tuesday with the boot door coming down on me - pulled my back which has left me pretty much immobilised for the last two days. Doing physio, but there's no way I'll recover in time (see pic below of how I ended up).

Rachel Saves the day!

The good news is Isaac's Aunty ( Emily's sister Rachel ), is going to run in my place for Isaac's school team.   She will actually be running under my registration and bib #... just a much better looking version of me!

Thank you
Thank you so much for the very kind donations received: Alan Lucas; Mum and Dad; Em; Chris and Jacqui; Cas; Gareth; Matt Stevens; Uncle Manny Williams; Nitij, Geeta and Isabella Pal; Dana John, Lani and Thomas; Will, Sam, Leon and Monique, Karen, Guy Hanna, Jack and Henry, Robin Dosuruth, Matt 'Black Grace' Bowerman, Priti Singh, Rachael & Eddie (oh and Rachel Bowerman).


We've managed to raise just over $2500 for the school and $990 of that from you.  So disappointed I'm not going to make the start line, but I'll be there in spirit, having run 160 kilometres in training and over 1000 minutes spent doing it. 


Thank you again for supporting Yeo Park Infants School.

Ouch.

Running for Yippies update

Hi everyone. Thank you so much for the very kind donations received so far - Alan Lucas; Mum and Dad; Em; Chris and Jacqui; Cas; Gareth; Matt Stevens; Uncle Manny Williams; Nitij, Geeta and Isabella Pal; Dana John, Lani and Thomas; Will, Sam,Leon and Monique - thanks again.


Two weeks to go, so there's still time to make a donation.


BTW, do I still have to actually do the race? I mean we've achieved the objective of raising the money and all, right? Ha ha, funny guy :)
Ok, so here's an update.


I think I'm starting to hate running!
Oh the monotony of it - I can't remember having run so much in my life! Truth is I probably haven't - not just running for the sake of running. 
Yes there have been sports and track and tennis and what not; but there is something so very dreary about belting out 5,7 or 10km every few days. But I'm sure lots of people adore it :) Doesn't help when you've been staying up to watch Le Tour de France! 


I found a couple of great little quotes which made me smile.   

It's unnatural for people to run around the city streets unless they are thieves or victims.  It makes people nervous to see someone running.  I know that when I see someone running on my street, my instincts tell me to let the dog go after him.  ~Mike Royko

Jogging is very beneficial.  It's good for your legs and your feet.  It's also very good for the ground.  It makes it feel needed.  ~Charles Schulz, Peanuts

I believe that the Good Lord gave us a finite number of heartbeats and I'm damned if I'm going to use up mine running up and down a street.  ~Neil Armstrong 

Nevertheless, on goes the show. 121km run so far, and about 800 minutes spent doing it. 

Did I mention the ice baths??

Every time I jump into my ice bath following a run I laugh (while hyperventilating), because I feel like I'm doing something quite insane. But I can vouch for the results on 40 year old legs. Doesn't it just look so inviting?
> My training program

8 hours running so far...

Thanks so much for the donations so far everyone. Thanks Jacqui and Chris, Cas, Matt and Em. 


Since 14 June (when I wandered off the couch, tripped on the remote, fell into my runners and started training), I've run a total 8.5hours, for the princely distance of 80km.


I'm in Phase 2 of my training program now and have moved up from running 5kms to 7kms this weekend. I'll stay on 7kms for the next week (2-3 runs) and then hopefully move to 10km next week. 


Pace? Still hovering at around 6min/km. Aieee it's hard.


Have been using this great street distance calculator to plan runs.


Ta. Z.

Running for Yeo Park Infants School P&C Committee!

Hi everyone, 


My son Isaac has asked me to run the Westpac City 2 Surf on 14 August this year, to help raise money for his little public school, Yeo Park Infants School, in Sydney.  

Please take a look at our City 2 Surf sponsorship page to make a donation, or just drop me a note of encouragement - I need it! You might need a Gmail account to post a comment on this blog but you can also drop a comment on our sponsorship page link above.

My goal is to run the 14km in 5.5min/km. That would be a huge feat for an old bugger, so I've even designed a training program. 




Pic from when I reckon I was
in my peak running form!

 I'll publish updates as I go and keep you in the loop.


Thank you for your support!


Zac