Email: mpluss@optusnet.com.a
by Martin Pluss
Fun Runs is where it all started in the early 1980s. I arranged trips to Sydney and country locations based on runs. There were a few runs I did on a regular basis and some only once. There was a West Sydney 10km through the streets of Glebe. They were always interesting with the people on the streets and the mixture of gentrification and the traditional areas. The Earlwood 6km was a good run which was a hard workout because of the hills. Any Lloyd started it a few times. One year he arrived with his arm in a sling. It mush have been soon after his car accident.
The is are a host of individual runs that I did. There was the SAN 10 km at which I set my 10km below 40 minute run, all the Bay fun runs which started at the shops, the Deewhy to Manly 14km, the Noosa and Yamba fun runs to name a few.
There were a number of local fun runs in Bowral.My first run was the Burrawang 8km which was on the road out towards Fitzroy Falls. There was the Bowral Hospital 8km, Dahalia Dash which was 8km including a run along the golf course. Then there was the Tulip Time 12 which was a favourite and it was the site of my sub 48 minute 12 km. Finally there were the unofficial group runs in Penrose and (scary in hindsight) Bellangalo State Forests.
The fun runs were treated as training for triathlons. When I stopped doing triathlons on a regular basis I lost interest in fun runs. I was just happy to go for runs over the same distance. After triathlons my next challenge was to try half marathons. In the early 1990s I tended to do the SMH half marathon and the Nepean Triathlon each year and that was it. Young family and all.
Like my first marathon my early half marathons were my best. I decided to do the Canberra half. It was my last year in Bowral, I had stopped drinking for a year, I was finishing my masters degree and I pretty well had stopped triathlons, except for a few sprint events in Canberra for which I did not have to train. I did the half with mark Alexander a well known local running identity. I did not do any specific training. Mark picked me up and stopped at a roadside service station and had a tea. I think that invigorated me. I knew the course would be flat and it was up to me if it was going to be fast. I had no expectations. There were some competitive runners and I got swept along and could maintain a solid pace. I had to really concentrate when I ran over the bridge and into the last kilometer to keep the pace and I finished with a 1:28 half marathon.
I was keen on half marathons after that and entered the first SMH half and as 2004 I have done 9 of them with a little break in the late 1990s. I did them at all different paces with all sorts of friends. I also did a few Anzac day Half Marathons.
The other half marathon I did on a regular basis was the Westleigh Half. It was a very hilly course with two laps over the hilly section on the northern end of Westleigh. It also had a 4 and 10km race which jenny and friends did.
In one race I was really surprised to approach 198km and come up next to Cliff Young. It was good to run and talk to him. A few of us did the same thing in the 1980s during the Westfield run when he came through the Southern Highlands.
It was a real privilege to run and speak with him. He obviously started faster than me and I actually felt a bit guilty running past him.
This section of my running half marathons will go on for a while I suspect. I am currently enjoying the Sydney Marathon Clinic Half Marathons and hope to keep them up for years to come.