Anna Tunnicliffe's July 4th – A New Personal Best

by Anna Tunnicliffe on 7 Jul 2008 Anna Tunnicliffe's latest report.

I hope everyone had a great and safe 4th of July. I spent mine at home in Ft. Lauderdale in the hot and humid Florida summer weather but it was lovely after being away in colder temperatures for so long.

Since I've been home, I've been training with my husband Brad Funk, both on the water and in the gym, getting him ready for his European Championships and me ready for the Olympics. The opening ceremony in Beijing is now just 32 days away. We begin racing in Qingdao the next day, August 9. The weather here has been hot and humid without a lot of breeze, which is perfect for practice. Thunderstorms are a potential problem. We have had to keep a sharp eye out!

For our July 4th, we planned a long day, which began at 5:30 am and ended around 10:30 pm. We woke early. I was to run a 5K race over in Weston, just a couple of miles south of where we live. The race started at 7:00 am and the weather was perfect. The sun had just come up so it hadn't gotten too warm but a hot day was on its way for sure.

There were over 1,000 runners and my goal was to finish under 21 minutes. At the start, the usual sprinters blasted out of the blocks, only to get really tired two minutes later. Clear of the early sprinters and out in the open, I got into my rhythm. I hit the first mile in just over six minutes and felt really good so I kept pushing myself. Throughout the race, I could see the second-placed woman just in front of me so I tried hard to hang with her.

I reached the finish line with my fastest time yet – 19:51. I was third female overall. The overall female winner ran 17:45 … wow!. I was very happy with my great time which also proved that my training in the gym is bearing fruit. Brad finished in 21:16 and was third in his age group.

After breakfast we headed to the Lauderdale YC for a sail. The sail out to the ocean with the current was quick but plugging home against the current was annoying as usual. However it was totally worth the challenging light and lumpy conditions on the water.

On the way home after practice, the heavens opened up and didn't really let up for the rest of the night. The rain and our early morning start decided us on staying home to watch a movie until it was fireworks time. We took in three shows. The Plantation City firework show was just down the road, so we got to watch from the parking lot.

A neighbor set off some pretty neat fireworks in the parking lot too. We ended the night by watching the Macy's firework show on TV. It's sooo cool the way they orchestrate and synchronize the fireworks with the music. I was like a little kid. I guess you can say I'm easily amused.

Today was another great day on the water. It was quite windy as we sailed out but then died very quickly. There were storms floating around all day and the wind was very cell-driven. We dodged all of the storms and had another great practice in light and choppy conditions. At the gym after sailing, the TV news reported a waterspout that afternoon just south of our practice area. Luckily, it wasn't around whilst we were.

I am spending another week in Ft. Lauderdale before I head to Houston to get in some more time with Luther. As a team we go to San Francisco on July 23 for team processing and to receive all our Olympic kit. We leave for Beijing on the 26th. It's hard to believe that the Games are approaching this quickly. I'm sooo excited it and feel that I'm right on track for doing well. I'll write again before I head out.

I'd like to offer a special message of thanks to the Lauderdale Yacht Club for allowing us to use the club as our training facility. As always I would like to thank my sponsors Carmeuse www.carmeusena.com and K-Swiss www.k-swiss.com for supporting my campaign for the Olympic Gold in Qingdao.

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