halfway gone

Song of the Week – Lifehouse – "Halfway Gone"


North Curtin 3.0k
6 Amanda Walker W40 12:41 74.1%
10 Graeme Patrick M55 12:40 73.8
12 Ken White M55 11:47 78.3
14 Leanne Steinman W35 15:21 59.1
21 Geoff Moore M60 12:00 81.2
22 Noeline Burden W55 15:17 72.5
25 Gary Bowen M50 11:54 75.9
28 Katie Forestier W40 11:38 81.2
36 Cathy Montalto W55 15:03 75.0
40 Garry Maher M60 13:57 70.7
47 finishers

North Curtin 6.2k
5 Emma Adams W40 27:20 74.2%
11 Margaret McSpadden W60 37:15 69.9
15 Janene Kingston W45 28:57 71.6
23 Katherine Sheppard W35 34:41 57.7
24 Caroline Campbell W65 33:36 83.3
25 Miranda Rawlinson W55 33:07 72.0
29 Michelle Wells W35 27:48 71.3
41 Debbie Cowell W50 28:40 78.7
47 Christopher Lang M55 32:37 64.6
49 Alan Duus M60 32:05 68.0
59 Rae Palmer W60 33:58 75.7
64 Warrick Howieson M35 29:54 59.7
66 Troy Steinman M35 24:26 71.8
90 Sharene Hurnen W40 42:28 47.5
92 Rod Lynch M50 26:27 73.9
93 Heidi Johnston W35 30:24 65.8
100 Ruth Baussmann 34:57 70.8
101 Craig Davis M40 29:34 61.6
104 Cathy Newman W45 31:52 68.5
113 Ewen Thompson M50 36:58 53.9
116 Andrew Matthews M50 29:49 65.6
118 finishers

I managed 4 minute kms for today's 3k Vets Handicap run. This is satisfactory. And the same age percentage as Katie. I must be happy with that.

Time Team

I will be be inviting experienced marathon runners to apply to join the "Time Team", the official pacing group for the National Capital Marathon in Canberra on 2 May. Men and women can apply; we will have both Time Ladies and Time Lords. Afterwards we can share Time Team Tim Tams.

There will be a Time Team pacer for 3:00, 3:15, 3:30, 3:45, 4:00, and 4:30. Each Time Team pacer will be supplied with a modern Mizuno racing singlet and carry a balloon with the target time written on it. Time Team will be running their target times at a steady pace so as to achieve even splits. An application form will be available shortly, successful applicants will get free marathon entry, and be in charge of a pace group running 15 to 30 minutes slower than their Time Team pacer would achieve flat out.

Meanwhile, recent speedygeese times
Track 25 February
3000m
M50 Rod Lynch 11:02.07 76.0%
M50 Gary Bowen 11:37.23 73.3 **pb by 3 seconds
M60 Geoff Moore 11:53.04 77.4
W40 Nadine Morrison 11:55.09 73.4 **pb by 11 seconds
M40 Brett Morrison 11:55.55 65.6 **pb by 20 seconds
W45 Janene Kingston 12:26.10 74.1 **pb by 3 seconds
W40 Bronwyn Calver 13:18.91 65.7
M50 Ewen Thompson 13:58.01 61.0
W65 Caroline Campbell 14:40.85 85.2
W55 Ruth Baussmann 15:00.77 73.7
W60 Margaret McSpadden 16:16.51 72.2
My splits were approximately 3:52, 4:04, 3:57 to run a season's best by 13 seconds and there is no way I could have held off the fast finishing Morrisons had they caught me.

200m
M50 Gary Bowen 29.52 77.0%

100m Pentathlon
W40 Emma Adams 15.15 72.5 533 points
W55 Noeline Burden 16.15 80.7 747 points
200m Pentathlon
M60 Garry Maher 28.95 84.5 756 points
800m Pentathlon
W40 Emma Adams 2:36.77 74.3 663 points
W55 Noeline Burden 3:18.47 69.3 508 points
1500m Pentathlon
M60 Garry Maher 6:10.04 72.7 617 points
Shot Put Pentathlon
W40 Emma Adams 5.78 29.9 320 Points
W55 Noeline Burden 7.26 49.7 596 points
Long Jump Pentathlon
M60 Garry Maher 4.17 70.3 589 points
W40 Emma Adams 3.20 46.9 204 points
W55 Noeline Burden 3.15 57.4 367 points
Javelin Pentathlon
M60 Garry Maher 23.60 37.8 369 points
W40 Emma Adams 12.21 18.3 167 points
W55 Noeline Burden 13.90 30.2 316 points
Discus Pentathlon
M60 Garry Maher 24.52 39.6 416 points
Total Points Pentathlon
M60 Garry Maher 2747 **gold
W40 Emma Adams 1887 **gold
W55 Noeline Burden 2534 **gold

Jogalong 7 February
18. Katherine Sheppard 33:15
61. Sharene Hurnen 48:54
83. Michelle Wells 26:26
146. Caroline Campbell 34:26
167. Cathy Montalto 34:15
181 finishers

BBQ Stakes 24 February
Katie 25.18
Gary 26:19 **pb by 28 seconds
Helen 28.06
Caroline 41.42 **pb first run
Sharene 43.07 **pb by 61 seconds second run

Meanwhile, I owe Ewen a Caramello Koala

or something.

Ruth On Top in novelty event

Last night's track: spiral 6 (2.514k)
4 Helen Larmour W50 10:33
8 Gary Bowen M50 9:36
11 Ruth Baussmann W55 12:31
12 Ewen Thompson M50 15:04 (Ewen race-walks these)
18 Bronwyn Calver W40 10:43

Ruth put in a 100% effort, in the seventh race in the eight event "Adler" series, to make her a favourite to take out the series this year.
Just how well did Ruth run?
Ruth’s time projects to a 3k in 14.56
That would be a 2 second pb, and 4 seconds faster than she’s run twice this season.
However the spiral 6 is shorter than 3k by 486m, and the extra distance would probably slow her down enough to finish a 3k in about 15:01
So she’s still to break 15 this season. If she had started on the front line in the 3k she would have done so twice!
I am told there are no more 3000s this season. we will have to wait until next season, unless everything goes pear shaped and the 3ks are scrapped. It could happen!
Ruth’s time of 12:31 was only 3 seconds outside her spiral 6 pb of 12:28.
Great effort Ruth. That pb breakthrough is just around the corner!

Go Ruth!

Ewen did the right thing by Ruth's point score margin in finishing just behind her last night in the spiral 6.

Time Team
It looks as if Ewen might also win the Caramello Koala pacers prize. Stay tuned!

your pace or mine

I will leave the question of a name for our pacing group open for another day wile I draft some pacers' documents. There have been lots of good ideas, I quite like the outside-the-box one of "Go for Goal". This should open up peoples' thinking a bit, we don't have to use a traditional style name. My "pacer bunnies" is OK; real bunnies often appear on parts of the course in the early mornings especially alongside Kings Avenue; and a bunny is a mid-field pacer as distinct from a rabbit who is a lead pack pacer. But bunny also has a playgirl/playboy connotation and I might not want to go there. I could just type away here and list whatever pops into my head:
Go For Goal
We Pace You
Bunny Bus
Come Together
Pack Power
Leaders of the Pack
Follow that Bus
Running for the Bus
Easy Riders
Tag-on Team
The list could be endless. I will decide tomorrow what the name is. Meanwhile keep the suggestions pouring in, it all helps the thinking process. I am listening.

blessed are the pacemakers

Breaking news! I am going to be in charge of the marathon pacers for the National Capital Marathon to be held at Manuka Oval, Canberra on 2nd May.

Pacers will receive free entry to the marathon, a free racing singlet, and will be identified by variously coloured helium balloons with the goal times on the balloons.

Pacesetters are required for: 3:00, 3:15, 3:30, 3:45, 4:00 & 4:30. If you want to be a pacer you must firstly apply to me. Details of what is required and what to say when you apply are being prepared and will become available as soon as I can write it all up.

Before I do, there is one thing to be determined: what should I call the pacing group? I think "marathon pacers" is a bit bland; "Geoff Moore Pacers" is a bit egotistical, "speedygeese pacers" is not really true, what to call us? And instead of "pacers" I might prefer some other word; "pacemakers" has a nice ring to it, "pacesetters" even better perhaps. Suggestions anyone? I do realise that out of my 100 daily readers only one would normally respond, but on this occasion I encourage everyone to have a go and make a suggestion however silly. A caramel koala prize goes to the winner if I use their suggestion!

Meanwhile the fourth Summer Series race in Canberra was something of a disappointment: what have they done to our beautiful running surface at Stromlo? All through summer the venue has been closed for repair, which has meant we haven't been able to train there just when we wanted to. Said repairs have turned the surface from perfect smooth billiard-table luxury to a rough rutted bumpy lumpy nightmare. Bah humbug!

Returning to our marathon; suggestions for a pacing group name can be made now!

Track runners wondering if they will win the Caramello Koala.

Be ORGANised; be ACTive; don't just read or write about it, be in the arena; do it!

At Parliament House training yesterday: Andrew, Bronia, Bronwyn, Caroline, Ewen, Garry, Gary, me, Heidi, Helen, Jennifer, Joel, Katherine, Leanne, Neil, Penny, Ruth, Sindia, Tim, Victoria, Warrick, Yelena. 22, not quite the record of 30 I was hoping for, but there are other events on like the Sprint-Marathon relay on Sunday and the Stromlo Summer Series race today, we all need to pick and choose what we can do from week to week. But this week the weather was perfect for our Monday session. We ran on the same loop as last week - somewhere around 370m depending on who you ask - but in the reverse direction. And we had teams of four as well as three, giving some runners a longer break enabling them to focus more on speed than on endurance. Like last week, we had random teams, which is fun, with runners not knowing who they were to be teamed with. This session is hard however, and like last week there were a couple of "casualties" who didn't survive the thirty minutes of hard running. Typically a runner in the 3 person teams got in about 7 or 8 intervals in the 30 minutes. And finally, Yelena did a brilliant job managing to remember everyone's names when we had our introductions; next week, it's Warrick's turn!

On the subject of long walks: early tomorrow there's the "Terry Connolly ORGANised Walk"
"Join more than 1,000 Canberrans and residents of the region in a morning run, jog or walk around Lake Burley Griffin. The walk will kick off at Regatta Point and circle around the lake via the Kings Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue bridges. There’ll be a free barbeque breakfast on the grass at Regatta Point afterwards, and families, friends and pets are very welcome.
Terry Connolly ORGANised Walk
Wednesday 24 February 2010
6.45am for a 7.00am start
Register your participation now at www.giftoflife.asn.au – it’s free!

The four hour pacer finishes the marathon

Canberra 2006. 3:58.38. For me there was a feeling of elation to have achieved the goal of a steady four-hour pace run. There was a large pack early - see my current blogger profile photo! Here at the finish line most of the pack had well and truly cleared out ahead of me! It was a great feeling to have helped so many other runners achieve their goals.

"...the [one] who really counts in the world is the doer, not the mere critic-the [one] who actually does the work, even if roughly and imperfectly, not the [one] who only talks or writes about how it ought to be done." - Theodore Roosevelt, 1891

who's up for a long walk?

What's on this week: (updated Mondays)
I have added a speedygeese Wednesday group run to the runs listed here and listed on Facebook.

Monday 22 Feb Parliament House 4:30pm jog, 5:30pm speedygeese interval training
Tuesday 23 Feb 6:15pm Summer Series race #4 Stromlo Forest Park 5k cross country
Wednesday 24 Feb 12:15pm BBQ Stakes 6k handicap
Wednesday 24 Feb 5:45pm Parliament House, easy run.

Thursday 25 Feb Vets Track: Pentathlon, plus

...6:00pm 3000m
...6:15pm 10k walk
...7:15pm sprints
...8:15pm spiral 6 laps
Sunday 28 Feb 8:30am Vets Handicap, North Curtin, please note the start time.

I am also thinking of going over to Stromlo on Fridays around lunchtime and doing a drills session there, it's the only window of opportunity I have. Also I had made tentative arrangements to run at Stromlo every couple of weeks on Saturday mornings but this won't happen now.

Last week I was unwell Thursday and Friday, which made for serious disruptions to my training! I bounced back OK and ran (or plodded) 29.5k on Sunday. The run was solo but I did manage to find some company to relieve the boredom, both early in the run and late. Hopefully this week I will feel better.

The postponed Sprint-Marathon relay yesterday was well attended given the circumstances, six teams of six runners each enjoyed the day. Nadine has put photos on her Facebook page.

And my tentative racing plans at the moment have been extended to include
Weston Creek Half Marathon 14 March
Rex Foulkes Half Marathon 2 May
Queensland Half Marathon (at Doomben, Brisbane) 6 June

Canberra Road Running Festival & Manuka Oval
The ACT Cross Country Club announced [during the week] that the race headquarters for the inaugural Canberra Road Running Festival will be Manuka Oval. Club President, Doug Limbrick, said: “A unique feature of this Running Festival will be a stadium like finish in Canberra’s iconic Manuka Oval for the half marathon, marathon and ultra marathon competitors”. Manuka Oval offers excellent facilities for the runners and the spectators and will be a wonderful venue for the Runners Expo which is an important part of the Festival.

The Canberra Road Running Festival will be conducted on Saturday and Sunday 1st and 2nd May 2010
and will incorporate:
• a 2km Mini Jog for children under 10 years of age
• a 5km Fun Run
• a Half Marathon (41st Rex Foulkes Half Marathon)
• a Marathon (to be known as the National Capital Marathon)
• an Ultra 50km event
• a Runners Expo

The Mini Jog and Fun run will be conducted on Saturday 1st May with the other events taking place on Sunday 2nd May. The marathon and half marathon will respectively incorporate the ACT marathon and half marathon championships.

The Patron for the Festival is marathon champion Robert de Castella and the Festival is endorsed
by Athletics Australia.

Further details are available on www.canberrarunner.com.au/festival
- Doug Limbrick, President ACTCCC

Ruth wishing Margaret a happy birthday last Thursday!

Wearing their walk numbers. Will they go in the 10k walk this week, I wonder?

geese. just geese.

Victoria, Nadine, Brett

More geese

get up and move it while you can

Thursday results

100m

W55 Noeline Burden 16.0 81.4%   

1000m

M50 Gary Bowen 3:11.9 80.2%     

M50 Rod Lynch 3:12.0 78.8                   

W40 Nadine Morrison 3:37.8  69.7 

M50 Roger Pilkington 3:39.7 69.4        

W55 Kathy Sims 3:51.1 80.5     

3000m

M50 Rod Lynch 11:43.3 71.5%     

W40 Nadine Morrison  12:06.7 72.2 **PB by 6 seconds      

M40 Brett Morrison 12:15.1 63.8 **PB by 10 seconds        

M60 Geoff Moore 12:39.1 72.7     

M50 Ewen Thompson 12:47.4 66.6       

W40 Bronwyn Calver 12:55.0 67.7       

M55 Graeme Patrick 13:04.4 68.0 **PB by 7 seconds       

W50 Helen Larmour 13:06.0 74.8       

W55 Ruth Baussmann 15:00.2 73.8       

W60 Margaret McSpadden 16:36.6 70.7       

5000m

M50 Roger Pilkington 22:25.6 64.8%     

M40 Craig Davis 22:43.4 59.2 **PB by 1 second

Gary running a big PB in the 1000m

Tomorrow (Sunday) morning is the rescheduled Sprint-Marathon relay, there are also the Stromlo events, but I am running from the zoo at 6:30am, a few others are joining me there.

All geese need a running start before they can fly

BBQ Stakes results 17 February

Emma Adams 27:17 pb by 2:33

Roger Pilkington 30:27

Helen Larmour 30:30

ACTVAC track 18 February 
4 x 800m relay, approximate times

Gary Bowen 2:31
Rod Lynch 2:35

Emma Adams 2:37

Katie Forestier 2:38

Brett Morrison 2:40 pb by one second

Amanda Walker 2:41
Graham Patrick 3:03

Helen Larmour 3:05

Margaret McSpadden 3:47

The W40 team of Katie, Amanda, Emma and Jane ran a new Australian W40 record , breaking the old record by 12 seconds. 

Video - after the relay, by Bruce

If this blogger version doesn't work, you can view the video on Facebook's speedygeese page. Thanks again, Bruce.

Emma and Noeline at last night's track

Training: temporary pain for permanent gain.

A huge improvement by Andy:
Summer Series Race #3 - North Curtin 5k 
28. Andrew Matthews 20:53
32. Nadine Morrison 21:06
36. Brett Morrison 21:17
41. Michelle Wells 22:00
43. Heidi Johnston 22:22
48. Maria O'Reilly 22:56
50. Craig Davis 23:08
67. Roger Pilkington 24:24
69. Cathy Newman 24:32
78. Neil Boden 25:48
83. Ruth Baussmann 26:11
94. Caroline Campbell 28:40
106. Mick Charlton 31:36
112 finishers

Happy Birthday Margaret

63 today!

Samurai Running

Scott Brown together with his wife have started is a small venture to bring interested people to Japan to run in races and enjoy all that goes with that.

They are not doing this for profit but simply want to be able to show people why they choose to live there and just how good a trip to Japan can be. People still have the image of Japan as an expensive, incomprehensible travel destination and they'd like to show them different.

They have made two intial packages leaving from the Gold Coast and are particularly targeting Australian runners. They would be happy to offer "Speedy Geese" membership a 5% deal on top of our almost at cost trips and arrange flights from Canberra.

Please take a look at the following website "Samurai Running." I will put their logo, linked to the website, on the side-bar.

See, speedygeese membership is good value for money!**

Sprint Marathon Relay
Due to the heavy rain in Canberra last weekend, the Sprint Marathon was postponed until Sunday 21^st February 2010.  For all those who had signed up, please ensure you confirm your availability or otherwise for Sunday with Jim White by Thursday night (ph: 6231 4168).  Jim will be at the Track Thursday evening.

**p.s. speedygeese membership is in fact free :)

keep taking the jelly beans

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there." -- Will Rogers

Jeff Hunt' story  http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/more-sports/marathon-man-strides-out-of-nowhere/story-e6frey6i-1225828469299

Campbell Park handicap

Most runners have started; only the very speediest and the very best are still waiting to start.

Monday Training: Parliament House the intention was to run a 30 minute continuous relay in teams of three with runners going hard for a lap then jogging a lap, and I chose a lap of about 350m. It turned out that the surface was OK, just a little slippery on one corner so next time we could reverse the direction. It also turned out that it may have been closer to 400m around. Nevertheless we had a good turn-out despite the heavy rain of the last few days (about 150mm in our back yard altogether). The rain stopped just in time for our 4:30pm jog attended by Ewen, me, Jennifer (Keep taking the jelly beans. And by "taking" I mean “TAKING”), Ruth & Yelena. Then for the main session we were joined by Andrew, Bronwyn, Caroline, Christopher, Emma, Garry, Heidi (new to Parliament House), Helen, Joel, Kat, Katherine, Kim, Neil, Noeline, Penny (new) Rachelle, Richard, Tim & Warrick. 24 in all. We ran in random teams which meant that some of the runners, e.g. Katherine & Ruth, had less recovery time than others. They did very well. This was our first week of "speed-endurance" training, and everyone had ample recovery between efforts, really. For long distance runners, "speed-endurance" intervals should be faster than race-pace and allow for some recovery between them. We are not pushing into the anaerobic, which is what would happen with shorter breaks or standing breaks, nor are we focusing on sheer speed, where we would need longer breaks.

One of the reasons ACTVAC does not grow is because most members are not willing to be inconvenienced. Just thought I'd throw that in.

shimmer shimmer

Join the Facebook speedygeese group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=info&ref=ts&gid=287488711234
Once joined you will be able to add photos and videos, and you will be able to invite others. At this moment there are 41 members of the speedygeese Facebook group.

What's on this week: (updated Mondays)
Monday 15/2 Parliament House 4:30pm jog, 5:30pm speedygeese interval training
Tuesday 16/2 6:15pm Summer Series race #3 North Curtin 5k
Wednesday 17/2 12:15pm BBQ Stakes 6k handicap
Thursday 18/2 Vets Track
6:00pm 1000m (additional event)
6:15pm 200m Daniels
7:00pm 100m
7:15pm 4 x 800m relay
8:00pm 3000m / 5000m
It was absurd that no distant event had been scheduled at 6pm.
Friday 19/2 - Sunday 21/2 Stromlo Running Festival
Sunday 21/2 6:30am Zoo long run (I may attempt a 29k run)

I will be updating this on the Facebook speedygeese Info tab each week, as well as here. And for this purpose I need information from the two other speedygeese sub-groups please so I can include their places and times. (Or should "sub-groups" read "super-groups"?)

Kat celebrating her engagement to Matt.

Canberra Road Running Festival

From the ACTCCC committee: "We are pleased to announce that Athletics Australia has endorsed and fully supports the Canberra Road Running Festival to be conducted on 1 and 2 May. We have also been advised that Athletics ACT and the ACT Veterans Athletics Club (ACTVAC) also endorse and support the Festival. This means that the ACT Marathon Championships and the ACTVAC Marathon Championships will be an important part of the marathon within the Festival".

no bugles, no drums, no bronze medals

Thursday night speedygeese results
800m
M50 Gary Bowen 2:27.60 80.1%
W40 Katie Forestier 2:35.23 77.7 **PB by 3 seconds**
M50 Rod Lynch 2:40.73 72.4
M40 Brett Morrison 2:41.06 66.6 **PB by 5 seconds or more**
W40 Amanda Walker 2:44.11 72.3
M50 Roger Pilkington 2:52.76 67.9
W55 Kathy Sims 3:02.70 77.5

1500m Steeple
W55 Noeline Burden 7:59.82

10000m Championships
M35 Troy Steinman 40:25.37 silver
M60 Geoff Moore 43:40.07 silver
M50 Roger Pilkington 43:56.94 gold
M40 Brett Morrison 44:44.52 gold **big PB**
M50 Ewen Thompson 45:57.54 silver
W50 Helen Larmour 47:03.05 gold
W40 Bronwyn Calver 47:40.12 gold
W65 Caroline Campbell 54:53.12 gold
(did I miss any 10k pbs?)

60m
W55 Noeline Burden 10.07 84.4%

100m
W40 Emma Adams 14.78 74.4%
W55 Noeline Burden 15.90 81.9

4x400m Relay
M50 Ken Smith, M55 Ken White, M50 Rod Lynch, M50 Gary Bowen 4:16.81
M60 John Lamb, M60 Jim White, M60 Garry Maher, M60 Geoff Sims 4:28.65
W40 Katie Forestier, W40 Amanda Walker, W50 Sue Bourke, W50 Vicki Matthews 4:56.86

Noelene sprints home

Jim, Corey, Garry waiting for the relay to start

Garry hands over to Geoff

All photos from Thursday night track were taken by John Kennedy

pedestrian (adjective) - (a) of or intended for those who are walking. (b) ordinary, dull; everyday; unexceptional.

Brett and Katie would have been pleased we arranged to add an 800m to last night's track program when they ran pb's - Brett by 5 seconds or lots more if you don't count relays, and Katie by 3 seconds. Meanwhile the 10k championships, being combined with AACT, had a reasonable field. I ran a very slow 43:40, splits approximately 21:40 & 22:00. It was so pedestrian I lost count of how many times the winner lapped me.

Last night's 4 x 400m relay

Katie to Amanda

Amanda to Sue

Women: Entries are now open - go to
http://www.canberrarunner.com.au/wgfunrun/index.php

Men: Helpers are needed - go to
http://www.canberrarunner.com.au/index.php?module=News&action=ShowNews&id=121

pedestrian (noun) - Somebody walking rather than using a vehicle; somebody traveling on foot

Ruth in last night's walking race

keep working on it

Speedygeese times, Summer Series race #2
Boathouse East 5k (a repeat of last week's course)(and almost a repeat of last week’s results!)
40. Nadine Morrison W40 20:50
41. Mick Horan M50 20:51
42. Michelle Wells W35 20:55
43. Geoff Moore M60 20:57
49. Brett Morrison M40 21:14
61. Roger Pilkington M50 22:19
67. Graeme Patrick M55 22:53
68. Maria O'Reilly W55 23:01
85. Cathy Newman W45 24:52
97. Ruth Baussmann W55 26:18
104. Margaret McSpadden W60 28:32
111. Cathy Montalto W55 29:38
113. Sindia Sosdian 29:52
122. Mick Charlton M55 33:31
134. Melanie Tait 41:39
136 finishers. [did I miss anyone?]
Boathouse 2k
15. Caroline Campbell W65 10:36
39 finishers

Training group size
After we had 29 training at Parliament House this week, and 28 last week, I wondered what was the most we have had in a single training session. Excluding the small number of walkers which I did include in the count at one stage, I find that at Parliament House there were 30 runners twice, 20th September 2004 and 3rd March 2008. Elsewhere there were 31 at North Lyneham on Tuesday 12th June 2003. I feel a new record coming on.

I would like to see  our training group grow in numbers. Not at the expense of other training groups. I would love to see us exceed 100 participants each week. Can we accommodate 100? Yes, because the training can be adapted to suit most people who join us. Where will the numbers come from? Mainly from new people. And who brings in new people? Mainly the newest members. Go for it!

Theme for 2010
I'm still working on it! Stay tuned!

Graeme enjoying his running, at Weston Park.

can you hear the thunder

It's out there now, with an easterly wind, and thick cloud. I wish it would rain, Just as when it's freezing cold it might as well snow, if it's muggy and thundery it might as well rain.

Many speedygeese ran last night's summer series, and the race was exactly the same course as the previous week. That would be boring if it happened all the time, but on this occasion it was a welcome opportunity to compare times. I felt worse; it felt sultry, but I ran 4 seconds faster. Non-runners would not appreciate the significant extra effort it takes to run 4 seconds faster in 21 minutes! And if the course were not the same I would not have realised it was a "better run". Not that I live or die by my times. But of continuing interest to me is to discern and understand the circumstances which can produce fast or slow times in the short or long term for myself and for others.

Once I wondered "am I obsessed"? My non-running friends, sorry, "friends", have on occasion suggested so. But I met an obsessed runner once, an American female who "had to run" to deal with stuff in her life, and I realised then that I am not obsessed, nor was anyone I had known up until then.

The subject of "compulsive runners" and their attributes and problems is interesting but not relevant to this group, I have decided. The few compulsive runners I have encountered in Canberra do tend to be young women, and seem to enjoy bright but short careers. I am disinclined to encourage them.

"There is no finish line" is eternally true, for us whose primary concern is to be fitter for longer! And for that there has to be some discipline! But not extreme obsession, compulsiveness, or the need to control.

Pre-race intelligence sharing

Mick and Bruce. That blue singlet went past me late in yesterday's 5k. If I had known it was Mick I might not have run so hard before he caught me.

port and to the shoint

Monday training attendees: Andrew, Bronwyn, Caroline, Christopher, Craig, Emma, Ewen, Garry, me, Jennifer, Jenny (new), Joel, Katherine, Kim, Helen, Leanne, Lucy (new), Maria, Melanie, Miranda, Noeline, Neil, Richard, Ruth, Sindia, Tim, Victoria, Warrick & Yelena. I needed Ruth to remember the 29 names, then Bronwyn to post them first, to be certain I had got them all. Roll on speedygeese sessions with 100 starters! Photos and videos of the day's activities are on the speedygeese Facebook page (new), thanks to Ewen who came armed with a loaded camera. There were 20 hill sprints, the series of attrition sprints at the end being won by Joel from Tim, Andrew, and Bronwyn.

It's all happening at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=287488711234. One of the photos:

The Thick Plottens

From today's Canberra Times:

Facebook news

Announcing a new Facebook group, the speedygeese. Just type "speedygeese" in the search window and you will find it straight away. 20 members had joined already in its first day. Anyone can write on the wall, upload videos, post links and pictures, etc. I will use it to create speedygeese events and send out invitations to members of the Facebook group, as well as keeping them posted on what's coming up. So there will be a little redundancy, as I plan to copy the "what's on " section below to the Facebook group page. Otherwise, new stuff will appear on Facebook as it is potentially more interactive than a blog is. And results reports, for example, will stay here.

What's on this week
Monday 8/2 Parliament House 4:30pm jog, 5:30pm speedygeese interval training
Tuesday 9/2 6:15pm Summer Series race #2 Boathouse West 5k
Wednesday 10/2 12:15pm BBQ Stakes 6k handicap
Thursday 11/2 Vets Track
6:00pm 800m (additional event)
6:10pm steeple
6:15pm 100m
7:00pm 60m
7:15pm 4x400m
7:40pm 10,000m championships (combined with AA)
Sunday 14/2 Sprint-Marathon relay. Be at Dunrossil Drive at 7:15am for an 8:00am start.
[Edit: I have copied this section to Facebook's "the speedygeese" news. But it will have to stay here too as not everyone is on Facebook]

Kerrie is a "not-quite-yet-speedygoose" who has joined the speedygeese group on Facebook.

You better run

song of the week: Down Under, by Men At Work


you better run, you better take cover
Larrikin’s lawsuit against Colin Hay and Ron Strykert, and their claim that Down Under had unfairly used Kookaburra Sits In the Old Gum Tree: discussed at
http://majortominor.wordpress.com/2010/02/05/obviously-the-more-the-better/

The lawsuit won. Oh, courts. Gay your life must be. Take care if you play the flute. Someone else may have already used the notes you use. A bit like running on a course someone else has already run on. What if the someone else proves they ran there first? So what, I hear you say? Ah, but you can't trust courts. Yes, life is stupid sometimes. The innocent don't always win, not when there's money involved.

Let's get back to the true spirit of Australia: which is, a fair go for all. This imported litigation rubbish is so un-Australian!

marathon response from CSM

The following has appeared on the CSM website

On 4 February, the ACT Chief Minister announced "with enormous regret" that the ACT Government is unable to provide the necessary approvals to allow the Canberra Marathon to proceed this year. CSM deeply regrets the decision also. In the interests of ensuring that a highly successful event for the national capital continue, CSM believes that it ought to be granted the permit as the incumbent organiser of the event, until such time as the Federal Court rules against its right to organise the event. Whilst the Minister's decision certainly presents challenges for CSM at this time, we are not going to stand by and see one of Canberra’s great running and family events fall over because of the actions of others. To that end we are seriously exploring all options for 11 April 2010. We will be doing all we can to honour the faith of all existing entrants, and hope to do so. The Kids Marathon remains an integral part of our 2010 plans. We'll keep you informed.

I will keep you informed too.

Having come this far, this is what I think ought to happen.
----CSM should try to relocate all events elsewhere.
----ACTCCC should continue to organise an alternative event here.
----Neither should attempt to interfere with the other.
----If CSM's events cannot be staged, all its entry money should be refunded.
That's what I think should happen now, but this is NOT a prediction.
What do you think should happen now?

jogging your memory

Start running and watch your brain grow, say scientists

Neuroscientists at Cambridge University have shown that running stimulates the brain to grow fresh grey matter and it has a big impact on mental ability... 
Read the full article at 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/jan/18/running-brain-memory-cell-growth/print.

Running stories

"Running! If there's any activity happier, more exhilarating, more nourishing to the imagination, I can't think of what it might be. In running the mind flees with the body, the mysterious efflorescence of language seems to pulse in the brain, in rhythm with our feet and the swinging of our arms."

- Joyce Carole Oates, American author and professor of creative writing at Princeton University:

"When I am running my mind empties itself. Everything I think while running is subordinate to the process. The thoughts that impose themselves on me while running are like light gusts of wind – they appear all of a sudden, disappear again and change nothing."

- Haruki Murakami, Japanese author

"When I run, I think about everything: physics, family problems, plans for the weekend. I haven't made any big discoveries on a run, but it does give me time to think through problems. Some solutions are obvious, but they are only obvious when you are relaxed enough to find them."

- Wolfgang Ketterle, Nobel prizewinning physicist, MIT

"Being a runner, to me, has made being depressed impossible. If ever I'm going through something emotional and just go outside for a run, you can rest assured that I'll come back with clarity and empowerment."

- Alanis Morissette, singer-songwriter

Brett Lynch

Running is good for young and old.

Canberra Road Running Festival

The ACTCCC has just made its official announcement. What follows is an open letter to Cross Country Club members.

"Many of you have suggested that we conduct an alternative event if the Canberra Marathon dispute cannot be resolved in a way that meets the conditions set by the Chief Minister for providing approval for the event. As the Chief Minister’s conditions (advised to CSM and to this Club last year and announced publicly on 4 February) have not been met it is apparent that the 2010 Canberra Marathon will not be held. Taking into account your strongly expressed views we have decided to conduct a new weekend of running that incorporates a number of our previously separate events into the one festival.

"A Canberra Road Running Festival will be held on 1st and 2nd May 2010 and will incorporate:
 a 2km Mini Jog for children under 10 years of age;
 a 5km Fun Run;
 a Half Marathon (41st Rex Foulkes Half Marathon)
 a Marathon (to be known as the National Capital Marathon);
 an Ultra 50k event; and
 a Runners Expo.

"We are fortunate to have secured world champion marathon runner Rob de Castella as patron and a key support for the planning and execution of the weekend. We also have a number of sponsors and support groups for the weekend.

"Many of you have offered support in response to the previous open letters. We will clearly need your assistance leading up to the May weekend and of course on that weekend. If you would like to volunteer please let us know as soon as possible (secretary@canberrarunner.com.au). A list of specific tasks will be put on the website but you may want to move quickly to show your support."

The website link has also re-opened
http://www.canberrarunner.com.au/festival/

sub 11:30 for Katie

news from last night's track
400m
M60 Garry Maher 1:04.99 82.9
W55 Noeline Burden 1:22.22 74.8

3000m
M35 Troy Steinman 10:44.18 70.7%
W40 Katie Forestier 11:26.82 79.5 **pb by 7 seconds
M60 Geoff Moore 12:07.94 75.8
W40 Nadine Morrison 12:13.07 71.6 nearly a pb
M40 Brett Morrison 12:25.07 63.0 **pb by 11 seconds
W40 Amanda Walker 12:26.15 71.6
W35 Rachelle Ellis-Brownlee 12:31.04 68.4 **pb by 14 seconds
W55 Maria O'Reilly 13:03.84 80.1
W50 Helen Larmour 13:08.76 74.6
M70 Tony Booth 14:06.95 71.9
W55 Ruth Baussmann 15:16.53 72.5
W65 Caroline Campbell 15:47.43 79.3
W60 Margaret McSpadden 16:42.48 69.3

Spiral 5
3 Tony Booth M70 9:19
11 Kathy Sims W55 9:00
15 Helen Larmour W50 9:01
17 Brett Morrison M40 8:23
18 Bronwyn Calver W40 8:33
19 Ruth Baussmann W55 10:18
22 Nadine Morrison W40 8:41
24 Margaret McSpadden W60 11:31
25 Rachelle Ellis-Brownlee W35 9:08
29 Gary Bowen M50 8:12
32 finishers

In the 4 x 1500m relay my guesses for times were
Maria 6:32
Helen 6:15
Gary 5:28

Katie is starting to run some excellent times, breaking 11:30 for the first time in the 3000m yesterday.

latest on the marathon - from the ABC website

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/04/2809672.htm. Includes audio from John, Zed and Doug.

summer series speedsters

Summer Series #1 Tuesday 2 February
Boathouse East 5k
44. Nadine Morrison 20:50
45. Michelle Wells 20:59
48. Geoff Moore 21:01
52. Janene Kingston 21:24
56. Brett Morrison 21:39
64. Craig Davis 22:16
66. Mick Horan 22:21
74. Maria O'Reilly 22:59
79. Graeme Patrick 23:19
103. Cathy Newman 25:21
105. Neil Boden 25:31
107. Ruth Baussmann 25:54
117. Susan Sturgeon 27:08
129. Roger Pilkington 28:36
134. Margaret McSpadden 29:19
142. Mick Charlton 34:18
145. Melanie Tait 38:35
146 finishers.

The return of CJ

Hot off the press - "CHIEF MINISTERS PRESS RELEASE"

HOPES FADE FOR 2010 CANBERRA MARATHON

ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope says it is with enormous regret he has today informed the parties in dispute over the ownership and operational rights of The Canberra Marathon that the ACT Government is unable to provide the necessary approvals to allow the event to proceed this year.

Mr Stanhope said the government had been in regular contact with event management company Cundy Sports Marketing (CSM) and the ACT Cross Country Club (ACCC), encouraging them to settle their differences and not to jeopardise what has been an iconic sporting event for Canberra over many years.

“Sadly, CSM and the ACCC have failed to resolve the dispute through mediation and it is still awaiting a final determination before the courts. I am advised that might happen until later this year at the earliest.

“The courts have been asked to make a ruling on which of the parties owns the event and the legal advice I have received is that until the court makes its decision, the government doesn’t know who owns the Marathon and so it is not in a position to approve the running of the event this April.

“Put simply, we cannot pre-empt the findings of the court by ruling in favour of one of the disputing parties over the other.

“Like the hundreds who enter in this popular event each year, I was hoping by now common-sense would prevail and the parties would reach a sensible resolution to the dispute.

“As that clearly hasn’t happened and with time running out, my concern now is to ensure no runner is left in the lurch, by allowing this most unfortunate saga to continue any longer.”

“What concerns me most is that runners from Canberra and further afield appear to have been used as pawns in this dispute. The government isn’t interested in becoming embroiled in the sort of game-playing between the parties, in which a commercial sporting venture appears to have been put ahead of the interests of competitors.

“I am seeking an assurance that no-one who has been preparing to enter in this year’s marathon and particularly those who have committed to travel here for the weekend of 10-11 April 2010, will be in any way out of pocket as a result of the failure of the two parties to resolve this issue.

Mr Stanhope is asking CSM and ACCC, who have known for many months that this year’s event was unlikely to proceed, to immediately advise all past and potential participants for this year of the true situation and to ensure no-one is financially disadvantaged as a result of the ongoing impasse.

fleet feet

Some BBQ Stakes results:

13 January
Gary 13.17
Roger 31.05

20 January
I don't have the results but Roger, Gary & Victoria ran as far as I know

27 January
Gary 28.59
Helen 31.21
Roger 31.22
Victoria 33.04

Today, 3 February
Victoria 28.12
Gary 28.14
Helen 29.32
Emma 29.47
Geoff 29.47

Victoria ran a pb in her eighth run, breaking 30 minutes for the first time
Emma had her first BBQ Stakes run.
I went out there today because I might not get there for a while, being busy on Wednesdays, and was happy to show Emma the course.

Yesterday's Summer Series 5k
Results not out yet but plenty of speedygeese ran. I ran as hard as I could on the day, taking into account attempted drills Monday night, and weights, drills, and stretches Tuesday morning, 21 minutes was OK and something to try and equal in future. From where I was, Nadine had a great run and was very fast, out of sight by the end of the race; I couldn't quite catch Michelle despite a burst of speed at the end; and Brett and Janene were close behind me towards the end; even if they weren't at the finish, I ran as if they were, ie trying to hold them off. At the other end of the field, Melinda had her first run with the Cross Country Club and did not stop. Well done!

Campbell Park 3.0k

Congratulations to Garry Maher on his bronze medal

Campbell Park 6.0k

The three medallists, Craig (silver), Andrew (gold), Brett (bronze)

Peter Magill drills

Here are the drills - http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=17578.
I recommend you open the link and watch the video. We found this via Peter Magill's excellent website - at http://petemagill.blogspot.com/2009/09/technique-drills-video.html.
Some very attractive demonstrators should keep everyone glued to the video!

Each of us should try to schedule one session incorporating many of these drills each week. Only miss them if you are in a serious race phase. Last night at Parliament House, Ewen took us through such a session. Now we cannot keep doing these on Monday nights, as that is normally our interval training session. So we need to set aside an hour some other time in the week. Ewen at present is running this session on Sunday afternoons. That would work when our long morning run is Saturday rather than Sunday. At present I run long or I race long on Sundays, so I was thinking that Fridays might be better for me, possibly at Charnwood oval Friday mornings, because that's next door to where I will be doing some gym work starting this week. I am open to suggestions.

Last night the speedygeese who did the introductory drills included Andrew, Bronia, Bronwyn, Craig, Ewen, Garry, Gary, me, Helen, Jennifer, Jodie, Joel except he couldn't find us, Kat, Kim, Leanne, Maria, Matthew, Melanie, Neil, Noeline, Ruth, Sindia, Steve, Susan, Tim, Victoria, Warrick & Yelena. Numbers are slowly increasing! Welcome to the newcomers. Bronwyn was tested and remembered all the names. Someone else next week!

As we develop these drills and fine-tune them, I envisage repeating the introductory session from time to time on the occasional Monday night, particularly when a number of new people have joined the group. I look forward to hundreds of agog motorists seeing sixtysix senior and not-so-senior runners attempting "foot shuffles" on the lawn outside Questacon during peak hour. The mind boggles!

Study the video: do the drills in a group so you can be assessed and corrected as you go, and for moral support should on-lookers start laughing. And if you watch the video to the very end, for heaven's sake don't get any ideas!

Photos: I have run out of good photos but I haven't run out of bad photos. I plan to download John Kennedy's Campbell Park shots asap, but meanwhile input from other photographers would be good!

On the subject of photos, on my Facebook page I have just started loading up many really old family photos. Take a look!

But you saw this one first, here!