Kurrawa as seen through my IPod

By the time it was my turn for the second leg of the relay I was ready to go.....

Phase One - Rocket Shoes

Starting a race is such a buzz and I called it the "Rocket Shoe Effect". It felt like I was hardly touching the ground but the draw back with Rocket shoes is that they are fast burning and before long there is no fuel left. I started with track 2, "Black is Black" by Belle Epoque .... it's old disco and I love the "wooooo's" which was great floating up the first steep hilly bit. I wondered what happen to by first track "Boogie Wonderland" by Earth, Wind and Fire. There wasn't much of a breeze this day but there was a Fire! As I cruised down the hill I moved into Grandaddy's, Pull the Curtains. I was trying not to be too uptempo early, but it wasn't long before I was going for the gatorade figuring it was going to be a long hot one.

Drinking as much as I could of my Gatorade I shift gears into Scooter - The Logical Song and Scissor Sisters. Only 20 minutes down and phase 2 starts.

Phase Two - Oh It's Going To Be A Hard Day At The Office or OIG TOBAHDATO

As the onset of Oig Tobahdato (pronounced Oi-ngg Too-bar-day-toe) ) hit me all the symptoms were there ... like an overwhelming desire to vomit ... I could have expressed this some other more delicate way but I kinda like the sheer violent connotations it conjures up. Scissor Sister were back on main stage with "Comfortably Numb" .... but nothing could be further from the truth. The following three tunes were "On and On", "Powerless" and "Do You Really Want to Feel It" ala Futado and Fragma. Despite my powerless disposition, I struggled on and on whilst not really wanting to feel it at all. The heat of the sun beating down on me and a rapid rise in my own temperature, took me some time to get under control.

Phase Three - The Grind

I like to call the middle part of a run "The Grind". Head down, don't count the km's, keep your eye on the runner in front and don't let the guys behind overtake you. There was a further 5 tracks that hardy registered until the Kaiser Chiefs launched into "Everyday I Love You Less and Less". It became a little ballad I shared with the pavement below and the sun beating down from above. I really got into it and there I started my reincarnation.

Phase Four - Pumping It

There was a water stop with crushed ice that I stacked under my hat and this quickly fixed my overheating issues. MJ and Hannah drove beside me with water and encouragement. I was shot by one of those massive water guns and Tara and Scotty were staked out at a water station cheering me on. This is what running is all about, I thought to myself. "Dance Me In" by Sons and Daughters signaled my change in outlook. There was a couple of big live AC/DC tracks with Angus sweating out the massive guitar solos whilst I did my best to do the same. There were also a few more memorable tracks that seemed just perfect for the moment like "Run Like Hell", Pink Floyd as well as Tusk and Flagpole Sitta.

Phase Five - Close Out

There was one final steep hill with steps done the other side. I took the opportunity to "suck it up" by walking up the embankment. I guessed there was about 4km's left, so turned it up with my favorite running song "Shake That!" - Scooter. I was very familiar with this part of the course having traced it over and over again training for the Gold Coast marathon. I closed in on a couple runners and felt good enough for the big finish - yeah.

I'm happy with my run and experience it gave me. I missed my last track being Rock n Roll, Part 2 - Gary Glitter but the Queens of the Stone Age, "No One Knows" wasn't a bad second choice for a finishing track.

For the record, I did get lost when facing a road with a "No Through Road" sign at the entrance. I was part of four confused runners that headed down the street, backtracked, went the opposite way towards the highway before doubling back for a third or fourth time to find the hidden pathway by the beach.