I have ilk

I and most of my ilk were at Innabaanya this morning to run in, watch, and in my case photograph, the final Masters Handicap races of 2008. Caroline Campbell was one of the star performers with a win in the long course handicap event.

Three of my ilk at O'Connor Ridge.

Roger, Gary and Katie

Roger is wearing his "helping new starters" bright cap. Middle of the picture is Gary who today was awarded a "middle of the field" trophy for the short course series. Katie seen monkeying around has won the short course series outright with another very fine performance today.

Baaaa
Several of my friends are holidaying in New Zealand - Ruth and David, Garry Maher, Joel and Yelena, amongst others. So here’s an appropriate story.
An Australian ventriloquist visiting New Zealand walks into a small town and sees a local sitting on his porch patting his dog. He figures he'll have a little fun.
Ventriloquist: Hey, good looking dog, mate. Mind if I speak to him?
New Zealander: The dog doesn't talk, you stupid Aussie.
Ventriloquist: Hey dog, how's it going old mate?
Dog: Doin' alright.
The New Zealander is shocked!
Ventriloquist: Is this Kiwi your owner? (Pointing at the New Zealander?
Dog: Yep.
Ventriloquist: How does he treat you?
Dog: Real good. He walks me twice a day, feeds me great food, and takes me to the lake once a week to play.
The New Zealander can't believe his ears!
Ventriloquist: Mind if I talk to your horse?
New Zealander: Horse doesn't talk either.
Ventriloquist: Hey horse, how's it going?
Horse: No worries.
The New Zealander's mouth is agape.
Ventriloquist: Is this your owner? (Pointing at the New Zealander?)
Horse: Yep.
Ventriloquist: How's he treat you?
Horse: Pretty good, thanks for asking. He rides me regularly, brushes me down often, and keeps me in the barn to protect me from the elements.
The New Zealander is TOTALLY amazed!
Ventriloquist: Mind if I talk to your sheep?
New Zealander: The sheep's a liar.

I hope you are all my ilk.

...the tough get going

Only Ewen kept going on Thursday night when it poured with rain during the 3k/5k, so fluked a win. Or to put it another way, ran last and caused the officials to get wet. But we have tough officials - see note at end of post.

Thursday night results.
400m
M60 Geoff Sims 63.58 83.2%
M50 Gary Bowen 64.26 77.6

1500m
M45 Rod Lynch 4:51.32 81.2 %
M45 Mick Horan 5:11.05 76.8
M55 Ken White 5:17.91 79.2
M60 Kevin Chamberlain 5:30.99 80.6
M45 Roger Pilkington 5:34.90 71.3
M60 Geoff Sims 5:49.89 75.0
W45 Helen Larmour 6: 09.56 73.9
W35 Bronwyn Calver 6:17.90 64.4

3000m
M45 Rod Lynch 10:52.33 75.9%
M60 Geoff Moore 12: 06.33 75.3
M55 Ken White 12:11.32 71.7
M45 Roger Pilkington 12:36.66 66.0
W40 Amanda Walker 12:45.77 68.5
W45 Helen Larmour 12:58.88 74.5
M50 Gary Bowen 13: 07.55 64.4
W35 Bronwyn Calver 13:26.57 64.6
M60 Geoff Barker 15:42.65 60.1

5000m
M50 Ewen Thompson 21:44.73 66.9%

Here it is!

All credit to the other runners Kevin, Geoff S, and Garry, who all ran quicker than I. We took 19 seconds off the Australian record that day.

Only the Lonely
A new training session at Stromlo Forest Park got going this morning. Yes 'twas only I at Stromlo running intervals. I don't mind - it means I am one hard session ahead of everyone else. And I was picturing those M60 championship races planned for 2009, hoping my rivals in those races were slacking off too.

When the going gets tough

... Kelley and her war wounds. But what is going on behind her?
Note - Kelley was the official who Ewen caused to get wet on Thursday night. But Kelley is used to that, if you remember her three dives into the water at Vanity's Crossing during the Bulls Head relay leg.

Oook! Oook! Oook!

Monkey Bars

I have managed to practise on monkey-bars three times this week. The set I use is in Colefax Place Florey. Much much more practise is required! Back when I was at school, I was the monkey-bars king! Not any more.

Yesterday's track was on despite the BOM (Bureau of Meteorology) telling us to stay home and park under cover and batten the hatches. On the BOM website the storm was to our NW, heading straight towards us, and to the extreme right of the BOM scale in intensity, i.e. the heaviest rain and hail on the scale, which I have never seen here before. The promised storm did a 90 degree turn and we only experienced the edge of it. Someone else got it. I waited until the last event, 3k/5k, to race the 5k, but in lap six the skies did finally open and drenched us, so I bailed out of the 5k and trotted through the 3k finish line in a "very ordinary" 12:06: splits of 4:00, 4:02 and 4:04. I must confess I wasn't very comfortable in the humidity, and all the recent hard training had taken its toll so my 5k effort was less than convincing.

Paranoia time!

Sign by Danasoft - Get Your Free Sign

It's OK! I haven't hacked your computer! The Danasoft link, above, contains an explanation.

Keep on swinging

Monkey bar practise might become useful one day.

Women Masters

What am I reading?.

On the "masterstrack.com" website which I have linked to previously there is a whole lot of interesting reading. One article that grabbed my attention was about the history of women's involvement in Masters Track. We read a lot of rubbish about the history of our movement - I won't say where - so here is some balance. It makes fascinating reading. Continue reading at http://masterstrack.com/treats/thesis.html  - here is the intro:

The birth of masters track & field is credited to David Pain, an attorney and former handball player who began running in his mid-forties. Pain developed a new competitive arena featuring athletes considered past their prime. In 1966, he persuaded meet promoters to include a "masters mile" (for men over age forty) in their track & field competition schedules. The concept of a masters mile proved to be very successful, spreading to track meets across the U.S. As a result, Pain decided to highlight masters competition by organizing full-scale track & field meets just for masters athletes.

The first masters national track & field championship was held in 1968, co-sponsored by the San Diego Track Club and City of San Diego Recreation Department with 130 male competitors. Pain, chairman of the event, arbitrarily chose the age of forty as the starting age for masters competitors. He later said, "Since I was forty-five years of age, I assumed and just arbitrarily decided that masters competition for men would start at age forty. It was just a convenient age, it seemed to me, to start masters competition, since I was basically in that group, and I was thinking in terms of creating a program for myself."


Three ten-year age-group divisions (40-49, 50-59, and 60-69) accommodated the limited number of entries at the first championship. The schedule of events included many running events (100 yards dash, 220 yards dash, 440 yards run, 880 yards run, one mile run, 2 miles run, 3 miles run, 6 miles run, 440 yards relay, and marathon) and a limited number of field events (long jump, triple jump, shot put, discus, and javelin). The program included no women's events.

Continue reading at http://masterstrack.com/treats/thesis.html.

Sherryl & Margaret

You will read that in the year women's events were first introduced to Masters competition, women entrants were restricted to relatives of men entrants! All such sexism has long disappeared, thank goodness.

Unforgetful Whatsisname

Joel and Yelena are on holidays until January. Yelena said to say goodbye to the training group. Just so you don't forget them, here is a recent photo.

Spring Series #4 – Boathouse 5k, Tuesday 25th.
29. Mick Horan 20:14
44. Geoff Moore 21:26
71. Neil Boden 24:16
76. Roger Pilkington 24:47
85. Mick Charlton 26:06
86. Cathy Montalto 26:12
87. Adam Robinson 26:19
93. Caroline Campbell 27:20
94. Geoff Barker 27:37
109 finishers. I ran towards the back for the first 500m and felt OK so I picked up the pace and enjoyed passing other runners.

DVDs I am watching: This week it is one of my old favourites, "Run Lola Run". A must see for runners who like quality movies!

Vetrunner December edition is out now. Read the highly exciting feedback we the Member Services Sub-Committee reported on the “Masters” issue! Read the controversial discussion recommending LSD to new runners! If the style of writing in both articles looks familiar?.... Hem hem.

When it comes to the Veterans v Masters debate, I have after all lived on both sides of that coin, and I should be able to present a balanced, rational, cool-headed summary of everyone's responses. Which is what I, I and the sub-committee, have done, so I am not sure what my reaction would be should anyone respond unfavourably to the report. But next year you cannot have your cake on both sides of the fence as is happening this year: we will either stay as "Veterans" or we will change to "Masters", and people should express their views now if they haven't done so already.

Also on the website, there is the track program for January to April 2009. Some significant dates I notice in the program include another 4x1500m relay on 29 January, our main track championships on 12 and 14 February (Thursday night and Saturday morning, and including a 3000m), and the 5000m club championship on 12 March, well before the season end. It continues to be a very good program.

Political bit

15 steps, then a sheer drop

Monday night training at Parliament House saw Bronwyn, Cathy, Christopher, Ewen, Gary, me, Helen, Jodie, Katie, Ken, Mick C, Mick H, Miranda & Neil run a 45 minute effort, stepping out for 200m of each 410m circuit. Twenty laps was the goal for the quickest runners and about five of us achieved it. Conditions for running were better than of late; the storms stayed away.

Track program this Thursday night:
6.00pm 1000/5000m walk
6.30pm sprint hurdles
6,40pm 200m
7.00pm 1500m
7.20pm 400m
7.45pm 3000m/5000m

Slaughtering the Turkeys

These turkeys weren’t elected. It was when Palin stepped out in uncharted waters after the quickest of learning curves that she fumbled the ball. Notice the activity in the back-ground. How tasteful!

song of the week: "15 step", by Radiohead, from "In Rainbows".

Edit: My custom is to connect disparate things in a post. Today's connections are: Gary was last Thursday's winner of the turkey handicap. We all felt like dropping after 15 steps of the cool-down when we had to start up again after last night's very hard training session. Canberra has recently felt as cold as Alaska. Sarah Palin had 15 steps of media popularity before she dropped herself right in it. Edit edit: The edit was a bit contrived. But I do like the song "15 step", definitely a favourite on the album.

Get Off The Road

My training progress
last week’s target: 90k
achieved: 48k
year 2008 total to date: 3616k in 47 weeks
this week's target: 90k
weight: 64kg ▼

This week's plans:
Monday an hour's gym soon, I have also found some monkey bars in good repair where I will work towards swinging on them to build up more strength! But I do not expect any initial success. just hanging on them will do for a start. I don't even know if I can re-lean how to swing on them at this age, the shoulders may be beyond repair. Then a run at 4:30 at Parliament House, followed by interval training at 5:30.
Tuesday Spring Series race, 5k at the Boathouse at 6:15pm
Wednesday an hour's gym, followed by an hour's jog.
Thursday Masters track, there's a 1500m and a choice of 3000m or 5000m, I will decide what to run when I get there and see what the weather's like. This week I did not even venture outside all weekend to race as planned, the weather was so foul.
Friday an hour's gym, an hour's run, and a second attempt at monkey bars!
Saturday my first interval session at Stromlo. Every Saturday starting from 29 November, an additional training session will be held at Stromlo Forest Park. Sessions will commence at 9am. All are welcome to come along and join in.
Sunday there is a Masters handicap run at Inaabanya, it starts at 8:30am (note earlier start time). I am on duty so I will not be racing. Annual handicap presentations take place at the conclusion of the event so I must remember to take my camera. And I think I get a trophy this year.

Coming up next year is the Running Festival at Stromlo. The publicity for the event reads:
The inaugural STROMLO Running Festival combines on-site camping and catering into a weekend 'Festival' that is not to be missed. The range of running events will provide something for everyone, from the complete beginner to Australia's elite athletes. So come and join Robert de Castella and be part of something amazing.

The STROMLO Running Festival will provide a friendly, social, exciting, and interactive weekend focussed on running, participation and healthy lifestyles. The combination of multiple running events focussed on participation, on-site catering, camping and caravan accommodation, as well as entertainment, lectures and training sessions, will make the STROMLO Running Festival a unique and nationally recognised event; where experienced and elite athletes will socialise and motivate those individuals who are new to running.

The event slogan – "Get Off The Road" – is highly appropriate given the running events comprising the STROMLO Running Festival will be held on the purpose built Stromlo Cross Country Course, as well as the beautiful fire trials and single tracks within Canberra's nature parks surrounding the Stromlo area.

The STROMLO Running Festival will offer a variety of community and competitive events including:
• Robert de Castella Cross Country Invitational
• Lightning Strike Trail Runs (10km and 30km)
• Cross Country Races (4km and 8km)
• Orienteering Events
• Criterium Track Road Race (1.2km)
• Mountain Race (3.2km)
• Social runs led by Celebrities and Elite athletes
• Government/Business challenge
• Primary School and High School Challenge

The event will also incorporate other activities including:
• Official Opening and Dinner
• Festival Expo
• Running Clinic hosted by elite athletes and coaches
• Bands and Children's Entertainment
• Guest Lectures on Maximising 6-Foot Track Marathon Performance, Injury Prevention, Training, Footwear and Nutrition
• Practical Training Sessions on Core Stability, Running Drills/Plyometrics

Please Note:
• The field will be limited to 2,500 participants and spots are sure to fill quickly – so don't delay, enter now via our secure online site at www.stromlorunningfestival.com.au
• Amazing 2XU bundle for the first 500 entries.
The first 500 entrants will receive a special bundle offer of 2XU STROMLO t-shirt (value $60) and 2XU Compression Socks (value $50) for just $35 - Save over 65%!

Important:
Entries close 20th of February 2009 (unless sold out).
No entries will be taken over the weekend of the event.

Running in Canberra:
Since the establishment of the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, the nation's capital has developed a strong history of distance running and is now considered one of Australia's most ideal running locations.
Stromlo Forest was where 'Deek' and many other Australian and International running greats did much of their training through the 1980's and 1990's. In 2003, the entire forest was destroyed in the bushfires that also claimed the lives of four Canberrans. Deek was one of the 500 families who lost everything in those fires and was a key member on the ACT Government's Bushfire Recovery Taskforce. Stromlo Forest Park was one of his ideas; to not just replace what had been lost, but to make it better and to leave a legacy for future generations. Stromlo Forest Park has already become Australia's best, and most sought after, dedicated off-road running and cycling venues.

Australians, and anyone else in the vicinity, come on down to Canberra and join in the fun!

“Plan 9 from Outer Space”

"The Golden Turkey Awards" is a 1980 book by film critic Michael Medved and his brother Harry Medved. This book is credited with giving the movie "Plan 9 from Outer Space" by Edward D. Wood, Jr. the reputation of being the "worst movie ever made". I have seen "Plan 9" a couple of times and can confirm, it really is the worst movie ever made and released.

On Thursday at the track, a Turkey Award was presented to a goose. Gary Bowen was closest to his time in the 2000m. And what did he win? Movie tickets! Gary, make sure you plan to see a turkey! There are plenty of turkeys around, check out “Saw 5” and “The Women” for starters.


Gary finishing the 2000m


Helen


Bronwyn


Rachelle and Bronwyn still enjoying their Australian record


Katie


Gary on discovering he was the "turkey." Winner.


Helen

Results of the spiral 5:
2 Jill Pearson W50 9:58
8 Roger Pilkington M45 8:37
12 Ruth Baussmann W55 10:46
18 Rachelle Ellis-Brownlee W35 9:13
22 Kathy Sims W55 9:11
23 Bronwyn Calver W35 9:12
29 Gary Bowen M50 10:16
32 finishers

Australian Masters Games (Geelong): Registrations close 5 December. That's less than two weeks away! There's a link in ACTMA news.

My plan to move from Internet Explorer to a new web browser, Opera, has been a total success. I am very pleased with Opera.

"Je n'ai fait cette lettre-ci plus longue que parce que je n'ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte.
I have written this letter longer than I should, because I didn't have the time to make it shorter." – Pascal.

Showing Off

At the gym on Friday I held the hover (a.k.a. plank) for three minutes and was branded a "show off". Well of course I am! My record was 90 seconds and I was going for a new record! Since when are we limited to following the gym instructor's dictates to the letter? She told us to hold it for one minute, rest, then go for another half minute. I am trying improve myself; some of the exercises I am terrible at, some I can barely do, and some I find easy. I shall continue to do harder versions of the easy exercises.

I also like showing off our accomplishments at the track.

More pictures from Thursday - click to enlarge.

1500m's over, now we can relax.


Signing up for the 2000m. "What time did you put down?"


"new starter"


Ken


Amanda


Nadine


lining up for the 2000m

Thursday night track results
Full result of the 4x1500m relays:
1. M45 team 18:43.38 ACT M45 record by 10 secs.
M45 Hugh Lennon ~4.32
M45 Paul Considine ~4.47
M45 Mick Horan ~4.56
M45 Bruce Graham ~4.26

2. M50 team 20:40.45 ACT record by 10 secs.
M50 Michael Leahey ~5.11
M50 John Morton ~4.56
M50 Phil White ~5.09
M50 Gary Bowen ~5.24

3. M45 'B' team 21:17.29
M45 George Mason ~5.06
M45 Dale Moore ~5.38
M45 Bryce Anderson ~5.30
M45 Rod Lynch ~5.01

4. Mixed team 22:34.17
M45 Roger Pilkington ~5.44
M40 Steve Johnstone ~4.53
M60 Graham Burke ~5.45
W45 Helen Larmour ~6.12

5. M60 team 22:57.96 Established ACT record.
M60 Kevin Chamberlain ~5.17
M60 Geoff Sims ~5.50
M60 Garry Maher ~6.18
M60 Geoff Moore ~5.32

6. W35 team 23:56.61 Australian record by 65 secs
W35 Rachelle Ellis-Brownlee ~6.12
W35 Bronwyn Calver ~6.21
W35 Nadine Thomlinson ~5.48
W40 Katie Forestier ~5.36

speedygeese in the 2000m (Turkey Handicap)
M45 Rod Lynch 7:10.78 74.0%
W40 Katie Forestier 7:49.59 73.5
M50 Gary Bowen 8: 00.64 67.9
M45 Mick Horan 8:25.82 63.5
W40 Amanda Walker 8:29.00 66.5
W45 Helen Larmour 8:59.52 69.6
W35 Bronwyn Calver 9: 05.14 61.5
W35 Rachelle Ellis-Brownlee 10: 05.78 54.2

More pictures and results tomorrow.

Rachelle’s Australian record in her first ever track day!!!

4 x 1500m relay
The W35 relay team which broke the Australian record by 65 seconds:


The M60 relay team which established an ACT record:


The M50 relay team which broke the ACT record by ten seconds:


The M45 relay team which also broke the ACT record by ten seconds:


The M60 relay team again which is the same four who broke the 4 x 800m M60 Australian record by 19 seconds earlier this month.


The happy new track star Rachelle:

Is it time to go home already?


A fast 1500m is a hard bubble to crack. But we did it.
Highlights included Kevin's 5:17, my 5:32, and Katie's 5:36. More of the highlights tomorrow!

In Melbourne, Sonia (our 50,000th blog visitor) also had her track debut last weekend. Her first ever track race was a 1500m in 5:35, abou the time Katie and I ran; well done, and good luck in this week's 5000m; don't let a little dampness deter you, you can run faster when it's cool!

Back here in Canberra, Wednesday’s Spring Series result for 5.1k+ at O’Connor Ridge was:
24. Mick Horan M45 23:01
34. Roger Pilkington M45 24:34
40. Thea Zimpel 25:00
46. Geoff Moore M60 25:57
49. Neil Boden M55 26:40
60. Mick Charlton M55 28:01
66. Caroline Campbell W65 29:14
76 finishers

Persistence pays! To anyone who thinks of given up trying when times seem tough: here is my definition of "fatalism": fatalism is the delusion that, because the past is immutable, so is the future. Yes folks, fatalism is not rational. We determine our own futures, according to our actions today. End of lecture.

Finally, for your diaries: a restaurant is booked for the speedygeese Christmas dinner for 7pm Tuesday 16 December. It's the Phnom Penh Cambodian & South-East Asia restaurant, in Luxton Street Belconnen. I will be taking names.

smoke and mirrors

there should be more speedygeese blogs. then you could share how your training was going...

You know you’re a masters athlete when . . .
. . . you take home the gold medal after finishing last in your race.
. . . you arrive for the high jump an hour late, and the bar still hasn’t been raised to your starting height.
. . . you thrill to see yourself in the annual age-group rankings.
. . . you despair to see your only mark of the season in the annual age-group rankings.
. . . you start comparing yourself to 70-year-old pole vaulters and 30-year-old milers on the basis of performance percentage.
. . . you get crushed by someone 15 years older than you.
. . . you learn the guy who crushed you competed in the 1960 USA Olympic Trials at Stanford University.
. . . you travel a thousand miles just to run for 12 seconds.
. . . you pull up lame 1,000 miles from home six seconds into a race.
. . . you line up against teen-agers at an all-comers meet, just for the private satisfaction of seeing their faces when you tell them your age afterward.
. . . you limp into work the next day, just for the public pride in being able to explain to astonished co-workers that you just ran the 400-meter intermediate hurdles.
. . . you celebrate turning 50, 55, 60 or 65.
. . . you curse being 49, 54, 59 or 64
. . . your physiotherapist is younger than your kids.
. . . you have enough T-shirts to make a quilt that would cover the track infield.
. . . you spend more time stretching than you do running .
See the rest at http://masterstrack.com/treats/know.html

I want a spell checker because my typing is pretty random and an automatic spelling correcter is very handy. And fun when for example it tries to correct "pole vaulters" by suggesting “pole vultures”. Which sounds fair enough, could it could catch on?

I am currently masquerading as a UK citizen on my home computer, in all but time-zone, to avoid horrendous "American English" spelling, but there is a down side: iGoogle search gives me British hits first, and a British-only search option instead of the familiar Australian-only.

I might just revert back to Australian, and turn off automatic spell checking and correction. Unless there is some way, any way at all, done with smoke and mirrors no doubt, to get around it? Please say it is so!

what I am reading
Neil Gaiman has become my favourite author, just through reading his book Smoke and Mirrors.

Crossroads
If I run well in the 4x1500m relay tonight I will keep training for 1500s.... See you at the track. Bring your raincoat and umbrella.

Wild Geese

Joan has posted a beautiful poem, which I understand to be her favourite:
Wild Geese, by Mary Oliver
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.




Movies/DVDs I am watching
This week I am enjoying the BBC's four part mini-series Gormenghast, based on Mervyn Peake's classic novel Titus Groan. It's wonderful escapist fantasy.

At last night's MSSC meeting (the main items of business at these meetings are food, and drink) we spotted Mick and Kelley also at Wests. Good to see the party culture lives on ..... Here is a recent photo of them at Mt Buffalo:

Fly Goose Fly!

Send your lifeboats out

Last night's training - most ran 15 x 200m with a 210m jog, on 3 minutes. Some ran 18, some ran 12, with various recoveries. It was another good night for running, with a light headwind cooling us down for the sprints. Participating were Alan, Alistair, Bronwyn, Ewen, Gary, me, Helen, Jodie, Joel, Katie, Ken, Mick C, Miranda, Neil, Rachelle, Ruth & Yelena. Ewen, Miranda and I did our customary 7.3k run jog prior to meeting the others.

Program this Thursday night.
6.00pm spiral 5
6.30pm 1500m walk
6.45pm 60m
7.00pm 4 x1500m relay
7.30pm 100m
7.50pm 2000m turkey handicap

Speedygeese Christmas dinner 2008.
It's drawing towards the end of the year! Even the calendar's days are numbered! (Well, they are, aren't they?) We will be having the speedygeese dinner on Tuesday 16 December. I will find a venue tomorrow and then let everyone know what's happening.

Song of the week. Lifeboats, by Snow patrol, from a hundred million suns.

"Cool heads have failed,
and now it's time for me
to have my turn"

Little fish

My training progress
last week’s target: 90k
achieved: 92k
year 2008 total to date: 3568k in 46 weeks
this week's target: 90k
weight: 65kg ▲

This week's plan
Monday: gym plus Parliament House intervals
Tuesday: the Spring Series race
Wednesday: gym plus a jog
Thursday:: a 1500m in a relay
Friday: gym plus a jog
Saturday: a 5000m race
Sunday: a long run at Stromlo

Driving to the gym this morning, I had just read Karmin's latest post, and with her I was struck by a feeling of insignificance compared with the immensity of this planet! In a peaceful sort of way. One of my pet aversions is the obsession many around here have with "my rights", "bill of rights" "human rights", in an unbalanced sort of way. It does us good from time to time to temper with a little perspective the passion we have in regard to our personal goals and achievements.

800m race 3

Are we ready - yes we are - wasn't that fun - yes it was

Billions of bilious blue blistering barnacles!

Did you know geese sometimes fly in heart shape formation?

And while I am there, I just want to help DespairInc get over 1,000 websites using the words "never before have so many people with so little to say said so much to so few". There, done it.

Captain Haddock has just seen this page. Aye aye Captain, I will fix its appearance very soon! Font and colours will be better! I will neaten it too.

Today's run around Stromlo is illustrated with a real map by Allrounder - see http://all-rounder.blogspot.com/2008/11/stromlo-forest-park-pack-run.html for a picture of the 10k circuit we ran. After that run, I was about to go home but turned around and ran a second 10k, on the grass. It was good to see hordes of cyclists using the area, and many other running groups too.

Saturday's track results - no speedygeese ran!

Thursday's 800m, second division.

Was there confusion about which way the race was going? (picture one). Eventually they sorted it out (picture two) and finally got going (picture three). Garry chased Gary for a while (picture four) but couldn't keep up, and Katie was being chased (picture five) while Amanda was being the chaser (picture six). They all finished too fast for this camera-man.