CTFR report
After a wild night of lightning and strong winds, Sunday morning at the Canberra Times 10k Fun Run we experienced flurries of heavy rain and hail, strong headwinds during the run, and walkers on the path, which meant that fast times were a rarity. It was impossible to run quickly in the last 2k, as walls of walkers blocked the way and all one’s attention was engaged in plotting and re-plotting the best path forward, while ducking and weaving and getting stopped dead at times. Every runner was held up by the walkers, not just me, so it didn’t affect placings much but did affect times a lot. Nevertheless I still managed to run an even split, and despite not feeling well, battling the wind, pulling up each time a walker changed course, and thinking I was running poorly, I ran a reasonable time of 40.59 which establishes an M60 10k pb and is considerably faster than last year's run.
Many speedygeese ran; and Helen and Rachelle came out to support us and cheer us on, which is always appreciated. The “original gosling” Michelle tells me via Facebook that she was there too, cheering us on. Hi Shelley!
The official results will become available on Thursday.
I wonder what it is about walkers in running races these days? In the Canberra Times event the walkers were only doing 5k and merged with us with 2k to go. Recently we have had 3k track races which are runs and walks combined, and more have appeared on the new AACT program for this summer. It is really difficult to judge how fast a walker you are passing is going; generally they are going much slower than is first apparent. And for some reason these walkers often like to walk several abreast. Up to seven or eight abreast on Sunday! And many of them “take more room” than runners, which is why they walk instead of run. And they are less predictable than runners, tending to dart across in front of you unexpectedly. When they run a few steps they go sideways, as if reluctant to leave their friends. And a few of them even get quite possessive about their space, intentionally blocking the way as if resentful that others are able to run. On Sunday many of the walkers showed a general lack of courtesy to all runners and a lack of understanding of running. Having walkers mixed with runners in serious races is very silly.
Without the walkers and the wind, I may have run 30 or 40 seconds faster. And I wasn’t feeling 100%. Which means I should be able to break 40 minutes this season, something I last did 15 years ago as an M45. Back then it was unexpected, a “one-off”. But now I am running consistently and not getting sore. Which was my primary aim and goal: to get to the point where I could run pain-free. This has been achieved this year. Even on the long and winding road.
Moore Moore relative photos
Kayleigh Falconer. Photo by Mon. This is here because on Sunday we could not show you her face.
Liana Hall and Kayleigh Falconer. Photo by Mon. As grown up as Liana is, Kayleigh is growner upperer.
Austin
The boy on the left is my late father-in-law, Austin Lowes, arriving in Australia in 1924. The cutting is from the Newcastle paper, "The Labor Daily". What is amazing is that Jenny at the same age looked almost identical! She has always said she takes after her father, now we know it's true.
