Is your glass half-empty or half-full?
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I was talking to NewRun race director Paul Humphreys during the week, lamenting the fact I have entered the half marathon of Newcastle’s running festival for the first time but, one week out, have not been able to prepare as planned.
He was telling me about the course changes to this year’s races due to construction works around the city and I jokingly, half pleadingly, asked if somehow the new course would be avoiding King Edward Park and Memorial Drive.
I feel pretty comfortable plodding along at a Cliff Young shuffle on the flat but I haven’t done much hill work this year, so the thought of taking on the climb up Watt Street and through King Edward Park then coming back up Memorial Drive after the halfway point is quite daunting.
As Paul assured me hills would remain a strong feature of this year’s courses he also said creating a challenge for participants was part of their philosophy behind the event when it started as just the Hill2Harbour 10km 11 years ago.
“It’s all about having a pretty course,” he said. “But we also wanted to create something challenging.
“We can all run or walk around a park and we could make a flat 10k and everyone would be doing PBs [personal best times], but the hills are challenging, and you want to do a challenge because it's the satisfaction and sense of achievement at the end.
“That’s what we try to do with all of the events we run.”
He said the half marathon was in fact growing in popularity with people increasingly looking for a harder challenge if they’ve already conquered the Hill2Harbour 10km, from Bar Beach to the harbour and including a 1.8km climb up Memorial Drive first up, and the Fort 5km, a flat course around the Foreshore and a great place to start out if you are new to events like this.
Talking to Paul changed my view from half-empty to half-full. Instead of being concerned about what lies ahead and whether I will make it, I’m actually just really looking forward to it now.
I have been running and walking sections of the 21.1km course for years and there are a number of breathtaking parts along the way if you take the time to enjoy it. And I figure at my pace I will have plenty of time to enjoy them all. The main thing is I am outside, appreciating our amazingly beautiful city and being active as well.
And last year, a friend and I also had the fortune of kind of warming up with legendary runner Steve Moneghetti. Well he ran past us at quite a pace with a few fast local runners and we tried, fairly unsuccessfully, to keep up for a minute or so. But nonetheless we can now say we have run with the great man.
It is also a great community event. Cooks Hill and Nobbys Surf Clubs help out with water stations and CanTeen is a very deserving official charity.
So, if you are looking for a challenge this weekend, then look no further than NewRun. Hopefully I will see a few of you out there.
Renee Valentine is a writer, qualified personal trainer and mother of three. r.valentine@fairfaxmedia.com.au.