Diary Extract 1999.... Chicago and an Olympic A qualifier

1999 was an interesting year for the wombat. I spent a chunk of January and the previous December up in Falls Creek in an effort to prepare for the Canberra marathon. My goal was to win this and in doing so secure a trip to Chicago and run the Chicago marathon in October with the intention of qualifying for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.(More on Canberra Later but basically I won it and made it to Chicago.

A good prep in Falls put me on track for running well , so I thought , and on returning to Perth hit 36degree Celsius and 40 degree days ... I race a poor 3km track GP and won this in 8.45 , which was hardly inspiring, edging out Dave Suiter in the process. Running some big mileage 110 and 120 miles a week I managed to win the state 1500m in 3.51.70. on 14 Feb My diary for this day reads: State championships1500m. Warm up easy (solo) 24min3sec. Light stretching and strides. Ran some more strides in my flats before changing into spikes. Made a great start but was soon passed by fast boys and although at the back of the pack I was at least in contact. Sitting in 8th , put my head down and just worked but did not panic. gave coach a smile after first lap and she smiled back knowing we only had to work hard and wait.Slowly worked through the pack and while they slowed each lap I maintained and eventually got faster. With 200m to go I finally caught JP . passed him with 80m to go. Shattered as I crossed the line. Pretty sure my lower intestine was intent on coming up through my throat. Splits : 45.05/63(1.49)63 (2.52) 59 3m51.70s. You beauty.

On March the 2nd my first little wombat came on the scene and life changed. Interruptions to training while we (Me and Mrs Wombat) tried to established routines with a young wombat who was playing by his own rules was not easy.

News clipping in my Diary 9th July 1999 " El Guerrouj ran 3min43.13sec to shave 1.26sec off the previous mark of 3.44.39 set in 1993 by Algerian Nourdine Morceli.

Chicago October 24th 1999: Diary reads: Woke 4.19am Breakfast 4xtoast with marg. Walked to warm up area (6.30am) easy warm up 18min34sec. Light stretching. strides to the start 7.30am Quickly established a rhythm and got inot pace by the second mile. Stood next to Khalid Khannouchi but that was it. he went on to win in a world record of 2hr5m42s. Went through first mile in 4m58.22 and held this for the next mile. the 5th mile was covered in 4m55.03 s (5km in 15m33sec) 10km was 31m4sec with a 15m24s split. I was still running and holding sub 5 and 5 minute miles through to the 17 mile point. Settled into a a small group and ran with the kiwi Dale Warrander. We were both after the same time so it made sense to work as a team. By half way dale was in trouble and I still felt strong. Half way point in 1hr 5min 42sec. Continued to run strong until the final 6 miles where I had slowed to 5min 14s miles. 30-35km was a 15m55s split. The next 5km 35-40k was a 17minute split. Looked at my watch and realised I was in a real danger of missing the qualifier. Covered the final 2.195km in 6min 50sec. Finished 16th in 2hr 13min 26seconds. Olympic A qualifier...Job done..

Apart from the A qualifier and being a part of a world record race the highlight came when I got to meet and talk with Frank Shorter 72 Olympic Gold Medalist and 76 silver medalist for the marathon. Frank was just an amazing bloke to talk to and I came away with a sense of having talked to someone who was grateful for his ability to run and run fast... I have the card he signed in my diary and a large poster of the event he signed I later had bloke mounted.....

Later than year in possibly the last marathon of the year in Japan Rod Dehighden (Rowdy) ran a 2hr13m59s qualifier to just duck under the 2.14 time limit. This now meant that the Sydney Olympic trails planned for April 2000 had 4 runners (Rod, Pat Carrol, Troopy and myself) via for 2 positions behind Mona , who held the first. In the Trial in 2000 Rod won the race, Troopy was second of those who had qualifier over the line and I was third.The other runners ahead of both Troopy and I did not run qualifiers in the race. A fact that all of us knew was doubtful on the course and so had a significant advantage. This meant that I had again missed selection....

More extract from the wombats past soon.

In the meantime have your own dreams and chase your own goals.

Barrel on Wombats...