Thursday morning running group

Every Thursday morning at 5.15am, I run with a local running group organized by a qualified running coach. We are required to complete a 1 to 2k warmup run prior to 5.15am which necessitates setting the alarm for 4am.

The session is designed to accommodate the abilities of all group participants as some members excel in long distance events, some participate in the multitude of fun runs/trail events of offer in Australia and international, others are committed parkrunners and our oldest member who is 85 years young ran her first half marathon in the local Jetty to Jetty event at age 80. Another mature aged lady smashed the half marathon record at Gold Coast earlier this year which has stood since 1998

Our coach alternates the locations so that every second Thursday is a hill set and every other Thursday a flat set

The temperature this morning was much kinder now that Spring has arrived but darkness is still an issue for the next couple of months. My warmup commenced in complete darkness with only a quarter moon but the lights of the Scarborough Boat Harbour and flashing navigation lights for boating people to find their way from the Harbour to the open water, stood out like a sore thumb

The remainder of the warmup circuit was much safer upon reaching the path along the Scarborough foreshore as it is well lit

Following some pre run drills, we headed to the hill for instruction on our set and noted low fog on the fields adjacent to the hill but light improving

Then sunrise arrives and the hill looks longer and more daunting but the reward for completing was “brownies” supplied by our coach to nibble on with our mandatory post session coffee at nearby Scarborough Pirates park overlooking the ocean