Botanic Park Loop.

Last Sunday Twisted Sister Tracy and Moi competed in the Botanic Park Loop event here in Adelaide.
This event has three different distances to choose from; these being 5km., 10km., and the 25 km distance. These shorter distances are very popular with folk new to running whilst the 25km. is seen as a training run for the upcoming Adelaide Marathon.
The route is a 5km. loop around the parklands of Adelaide and it is a very pretty track. Tracy and I entered the 25 km. distance which meant of course 5 laps in total. I actually don't mind lap running and prefer it to an out and back long distance course.

 

 Dear friends John and Bette were the race organisers for this event and they did a brilliant job. The running course was well marked and there were plenty of race marshalls out on the track to offer support. All the competitors were cheerful and friendly and everyone was out just to have a good time.

This is Tracy and I at the 15 km. mark, still feeling great and maintaining at a steady pace of 6km. an hour. We are running with a lovely man called Euan, who at 75 is one of the veterans from our Running Club. Tracy and I have run with him a couple of times and he is a lovely man. He entertains us with all the gossip from the club. If Euan doesn't know it then it's not worth knowing. Who said that it's only girls who gossip ? He still runs marathons and embarrassingly still beats Tracy and I to the finish line.

At 21 km. our pace had started to slow and we're not smiling quite so much. I was experiencing some hamstring pain here. Tracy and I are both mainly trail runners and so we find it quite hard on the body to run on the roads. Trails runs are traditionally much longer distances but personally I find they don't cause any where near as much discomfort.

This is Tracy, Euan and I at the finish line, and yes he shot off with 50 metres to go and crossed the line before us. Most competitors chose to do the 5 or 10 km. distances and only 59 folk did the full 25 km.
Unfortunately my usual running buddies at the back of the pack did not compete and so that left me to carry the Tortoise flag all by myself.

My overall position for the 25 km was 59. I was the 15th female and first in my age group. Time, a less than brilliant 2:53:05. However this was a fun run to do and I would recommend it to all SARRC members. Do not be put off by running loops. 


Happy Running,
Cheers Karen.