catch phrase

Honk honk

Ewen, Miranda, Ruth warming up at Stromlo

We are the speedygeese, and some of us are competing at the Australian Masters Championships in Perth this Easter:
FRIDAY
10000m
Kingston, Janene W45
Pilkington, Roger M51

800m
Sims, Kathy W58
Forestier, Katie W44
Booth, Tony M71
White, Ken M56

SATURDAY
1500m
Sims, Kathy W58
Forestier, Katie W44
Booth, Tony M71
White, Ken M56
Pilkington, Roger M51

400m heats
White, Ken M56

SUNDAY
5000m
Sims, Kathy W58
Forestier, Katie W44
Kingston, Janene W45
Booth, Tony M71
Pilkington, Roger M51

400m final
White, Ken M56

MONDAY
8k Cross Country
Forestier, Katie W44
Kingston, Janene W45
Sims, Kathy W58
Booth, Tony M71
Pilkington, Roger M51

10k Race Walk
Pilkington, Roger M51

We are the speedygeese, and we could do with a marketing manager. A movie would be good: written and produced by someone who knows the formula for success. Thanks to Scott for this link we have the germ of an idea already.

The more I get done, the more there is to do.

Speedygeese results in recent races.
BBQ Stakes 24 March
Gary 28:45
Helen 32:02
Roger 32:03
Caroline 37:05
Sharene 46:02

ACTCCC Winter Series race #1:
Dunrossil Drive 4.1k Saturday 27 March
This is one of my favourite events but this year it clashed with the Vets handicap.
40. Rachelle Ellis-Brownlee W35 18:39
60 finishers

Monday training
A session similar to last week’s. Firstly Ewen, Miranda, Ruth, Yelena & I ran our 8k pre-training run, then we were joined by Bronia, Bronwyn, Caroline, Jennifer, Karen, Leanne, Neil, Rachelle, Richard, Tim & Warrick for the main session.

Happy Birthday Warrick, 40 years old today!

On Monday I had a funeral to go to first, then straight to our training, then straight to a meeting where, although I was able to report completing four major tasks, I ended up with more to do after the meeting than before. I am now feeling totally overloaded. And I got home by 11:30pm, what a day.

This seems appropriate:


And finally, the world record for the half marathon was broken on the weekend. 58:23 is fast! See http://www.iaaf.org/LRR10/news/newsid=56209.html.

The future is already here. If you’re not living in it, you’re dead

The Social Media Revolution

from Mark Conner's Space by Mark Conner

Click here to watch an educational video on the growing impact of social media.
Here are just a few statistics:

• By 2010, Gen Y will outnumber Baby Boomers
• 96% of them have joined a social network
• 1 out of 8 couples married in the US last year have met via social media
• Facebook added 100 million users in 9 months
• If Facebook would be a country, it would be the world's 4th largest
• 80% of companies are using LinkedIn as their primary tool to find employees
• 80% of Twitter usage is on mobile devices. People update anywhere, anytime. Imagine what that means for bad customer experiences?
• In 2009, Boston College stopped distributing e-mail addresses to incoming freshmen
• YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world
• There are over 200,000,000 Blogs. 54% of bloggers post content or tweet daily.

Click here to read the full story. And to watch the video.

Click here 

Click

Click

Click

What's on this week: (updated Mondays)

Monday 29 March Parliament House 4:30pm jog, 5:30pm speedygeese interval training - anaerobic #2.
Wednesday 31 March 12:15pm BBQ Stakes 6k handicap
Wednesday 31 March 5:45pm Parliament House, easy run, usually about 12k.
Thursday 1 April: 5:30pm Dickson training at Antill Street grass athletics track under lights. I might get there at 4pm for a longer run first. Give me a call if you might join me for that.
2-4 April Easter: R&R :)

enforced rest sometimes results in a good race

After being forced to rest to get over the flu I managed third place in today's 4k handicap. Gary did one better and won silver! Go the geese! I would have done better with uninforced rest. But then, I wouldn't have rested, not this week....and in the 8k Rae Palmer won gold!
Results: Stromlo Forest Park 8k
1 Rod Lynch M50 62:07 41.2%
3 Rae Palmer W60 42:35 78.6  **GOLD**
7 Warrick Howieson M35 38:06 61.4
14 Mick Charlton M55 43:19 63.8
16 Debbie Cowell W50 37:48 77.9
18 Yili Zhu M45 38:30 65.3
19 Christopher Lang M55 42:46 65.3
23 Helen Larmour W50 38:02 77.4
28 David Baussmann M55 38:58 71.7
35 Michelle Wells W35 37:05 70.4
36 Troy Steinman M35 32:56 69.7
38 Alan Duus M60 42:45 66.8
39 Nadine Morrison W40 36:32 72.5
52 Cathy Newman W45 39:30 73.2
54 Janene Kingston W45 39:36 68.1
55 Miranda Rawlinson W55 45:16 68.8
56 Caroline Campbell W65 46:00 79.4
68 Heidi Johnston W35 40:03 65.6
69 Ruth Baussmann W55 45:45 70.4
73 Margaret McSpadden W60 51:45 65.5
79 Tony Booth M70 51:21 61.9
81 Emma Adams W40 37:24 71.1
85 Ewen Thompson M50 46:33 56.0
87 Brett Morrison M40 39:07 60.9
104 finishers

Stromlo Forest Park 4k
2 Gary Bowen M50 17:11 73.1% **SILVER**
3 Geoff Moore M60 17:50 75.1 **BRONZE**
8 Leanne Steinman W35 23:04 53.6
9 Geoff Barker M65 35:19 38.8
18 Graeme Patrick M55 19:16 (time adjusted from that published)
31 Cathy Montalto W55 20:02 76.0
38 Katie Forestier W40 20:55 61.9
39 Ken White M55 21:15 60.6
49 Roger Pilkington M50 23:36 52.4
49 finishers
The age percentages are low because the "short" course was long!

Warrick will like this, to make up for him just missing the medals today:

Doctor Who premieres in Australia on ABC iView - midnight Friday 16th April

In a first for ABC TV, the new series of Doctor Who will launch on ABC iView – the ABC’s internet broadcasting service – two days prior to its broadcast on ABC1.

Less than two weeks after the first episode airs on the BBC in the UK, Australian viewers will be able to stream it on iView from midnight on Friday 16 April at abc.net.au/iview. The episode will then be shown on ABC1 on Sunday 18 April at 7.30pm

…. continued at http://blogs.abc.net.au/abc_tv/2010/03/doctor-who-launches-in-australia-on-abc-iview.html

all over bar the nationals

Best wishes to all those competing in Perth at the Nationals at Easter time. I will hold off publishing a list of PBs until after that!

Speedygeese at the Vets 25th March 2010:
1500m Walk Championships
W55 Ruth Baussmann 9:58.60 68.8%
W60 Margaret McSpadden 11:29.51 62.2

200m
M60 Garry Maher 28.63 85.5%
W55 Noeline Burden 34.61 78.4

800m
M55  Ken White 2:20.39 87.1%
M70  Tony Booth 2:52.12 81.7

2000m Turkey Run
W35 Rachelle Ellis-Brownlee 9:27.50 58.2%
W55 Ruth Baussmann 9:48.67 73.0 2nd best estimate
W45 Janene Kingston 10:45.95 55.4
W60 Margaret McSpadden 10:53.88 69.7 1st best estimate.

5000m Championships
W40 Katie Forestier 19:32.39 79.6%
M50 Gary Bowen 20:00.99 73.8
W40 Emma Adams 20:01.27 75.5
W40 Nadine Morrison 20:22.20 73.6
M50 Roger Pilkington 20:34.32 70.7
W40 Amanda Walker 21:01.75 72.5
W45 Janene Kingston 21:27.37 73.2
W55 Kathy Sims 21:33.96 86.3
W50 Helen Larmour 21:45.20 76.8
W40 Bronwyn Calver 22:21.74 67.1
W35 Rachelle Ellis-Brownlee 22:53.09 64.3
M70 Tony Booth 23:56.56 72.9
W65 Caroline Campbell 24:13.90 88.1
My guess is that a lot of these times are very good PBs, so congratulations all!

to tweet or not to tweet, that is the question

Do you have something to say?

There are probably good reasons to connect to twitter, and good reasons not to. Let's think.

1. I have something to say. Not just what was in my vegetable soup at lunchtime, or who I just saw cycling past. But there are bound to be times when there is interesting stuff I am doing, and times when I want to mobilise people in a hurry, and twitter is ideal for all this. Although, what interests me may not interest others. "Rush down to Woden, Evermore are playing next at the Southern Cross Club!" Only one in a hundred would be vaguely interested, I suspect. however much I would be excited by the news.

2. I like staying connected with people and twitter is a direct and easy way to stay in touch. Of course, this assumes I want to stay in touch with "everyone". It 'aint necessarily so.

3. I wouldn't go crazy like many twitter users and overload my friends with trivial tweets. On the other hand, I wouldn't want my time wasted reading other people's stuff I had no interest in, or getting involved in tweets being forwarded on. Like email so-called "jokes" and other spammy stuff some people send me now. Boring, boring, boring.

4. In theory I have time to tweet but in practise I never have enough time. At least I can be a bit more disciplined when I use blogger or facebook.

5. Is it good to know details of peoples' lives you would not otherwise know without twitter? Sometimes, sometimes not.

It all boils down to, twitter doesn't really appeal to me. Anything's possible, because Facebook didn't appeal to me initially, but now it very much does. I won't bother with twitter unless those in my closest circle of friends start tweeting. My guess is that won't happen for a while, and by then something else will be all the rage.

It's a different world we live in!

spicks; and specks.

what I am viewing
A favourite program on television is Spicks & Specks, much much better than, say, Rockwiz, to pick another program at random. Spicks and Specks has a Facebook page where you can catch "unseen bits". Often even funnier than the show itself. The quality of an episode depends heavily on who the guests are, and last night's Specks was one of their best. Time out on a Wednesday night in the middle of a stressful week is always very welcome.



Some recent speedygeese performances
BBQ Stakes results Wednesday 17 March
Gary Bowen 27:20
Emma Adams 29:50
Helen Larmour 32:21
Roger Pilkington 32:21
Caroline Campbell 36:41
Sharene Hurnen 43:52

Summer Series Race #8: Stromlo Forest Park 5k Tuesday 23 March
34. Roger Pilkington M50 22:44
38. Maria O'Reilly W55 22:58
44. Janene Kingston W45 23:37
53. Ewen Thompson M50 25:18
54. Brett Morrison M40 25:19
70. Caroline Campbell W65 27:07
72. Ruth Baussmann W55 27:15
74. Cathy Montalto W55 27:43
75. Graeme Patrick M55 27:44
77. Geoff Moore M60 28:34
81. Mick Charlton M55 29:13
82. Sharene Hurnen W40 30:59
90 finishers
Plus 48 finishers in the 2k

The return of the High Noon Meet
2010 will see a continuation of the popular ‘High Noon’ Track & Field meets conducted by Athletics ACT (AACT) during the winter months.  All athletes turning at least 12 years of age by 31^st December 2010 and older are invited to compete at these meets.

WHERE:         AIS Athletics Field, Bruce 12pm-1:30pm

WHEN:           Sundays, commencing at noon on the following days:

23 May                        15 August

13 June                       5 September

11 July                        19 September

1 August                   

WHY:              To introduce new participants to athletics at the AIS Track, introduce ACTLAA athletes to the Seniors environment, and provide competition opportunities for athletes at all levels, including AWD athletes, preparing for high level domestic and international meets.

COST:            Registered Athletes: $5.00

Unregistered Athletes: $10.00 ($5.00 Gate Fee & $5.00 One Day Rego)

(An unregistered athlete is someone who is not currently registered with AACT, ACTLAA or ACTVAC and will be required to take out a one-day registration for insurance coverage)

EVENTS:        There will be a rotating program of events in the 90 minute time-slot similar to the Summer T&F season.  There will be at least 2 sprints, 1 middle-distance event, 2 jumps and 2 throws every 3 weeks.  Constants will be 60m, 100m, Shot Put and High Jump.  Rotation will be between 1500m and 800m, Sprint and Long Hurdles, Discus and Javelin, Long and Triple Jump. Other events included rotationally are the 400m and 3000m. Walking events will be meshed into running events.

Groundhog Day?

Alright I didn’t look up to see what day is actually groundhog day.
But that déjà vu feeling is annoying isn’t it.
Fortunately for us runners one day is never the same as the previous.
We don’t have to run the same runs, walk the same walks, read the same blogs even.
And just adding “20k” to our tally means we have totalled more kms than ever before!
I like to say "I have never before been this old when I have gone for a run"!
There are so many options in the world of sport, if one door closes there are many doors one could open.
I am expecting doors to close. I won't be able to run, one day. Some would say I can barely run now.
But there is never any reason to be bored.
Try something different!
It’s all good.

sharing your running with your family

weekend track results
Vets championships Saturday 20th March 2010
100m Championships
M60 1 Garry Maher 14.16 84.1%
W55 1 Noeline Burden 15.84 82.3

400m Championships
W35 1 Rachelle Ellis-Brownlee 1:09.82 72.7%
W55 1 Noeline Burden 1:19.42 77.5

1500m Championships
M40 1 Brett Morrison 5:25.23 68.1% pb by 11 seconds
M50 1 Gary Bowen 5:05.81 80.9 pb by 6 seconds
M50 2 Roger Pilkington 5:48.99 69.7
M55 1 Ken White 5:11.01 81.6
W40 1 Katie Forestier 5:19.86 80.4
W40 2 Nadine Morrison 5:24.83 75.7 pb by 8 seconds
W40 3 Amanda Walker 5:32.38 75.5 pb by 10 seconds
W55 1 Kathy Sims 5:47.01 88.7 season best by 11 seconds

300m Hurdles Championships
M60 1 Garry Maher 53.00 81.5%

21st March 2010
200m Championships
M60 3 Garry Maher 28.56 85.7%
W40 1 Emma Adams 30.79 74.3
W55 1 Noeline Burden 33.74 80.5

800m Championships
M40 1 Brett Morrison 2:37.24 68.3% pb by 3 seconds
M50 1 Gary Bowen 2:21.89 84.0 pb by 4 seconds
M50 2 Roger Pilkington 2:44.48 71.3 season best by 8 seconds
M55 1 Ken White 2:21.54 86.4
W40 1 Emma Adams 2:31.72 77.5
W40 2 Katie Forestier 2:39.30 75.8
W40 3 Amanda Walker 2:44.59 72.0
W55 1 Kathy Sims 2:52.75 81.9

2001 a cyberspace oddity

So now we start the third millennium of posts. At this rate by the time I die there will be 20,000 posts on this blog. Of course by then, in 2055, blogging will be seen as a cyberspace oddity. And only residents of retirement villages will be readers. Suits me, I will be able to repeat the same post each day. Perhaps I can automate it and write 100,000 advance posts? All saying my goose is cooked.

And next Monday before training I am going to yet another funeral. Bah humbug. If I'm late for the early run you will know why. But last night: WE ALL ran a hard continuous session of 12 sprints of ~200m with ~100m recovery. With a decent warm-up and cool-down, the session totalled over 9k. In addition, three of us, Ruth, Miranda & I, preceded the session with an 8k jog in quite warm conditions for this time of year. Then for the main session we were joined by Bronia, Bronwyn, Caroline, Colleen, Ewen, Garry, Jennifer, Jill, Karen, Leanne, Neil, Rachelle, Sindia, Tim, Warrick & Yili. This is a great time of year to be out there running.

Although training hard I still feel reluctant to race hard after last week's half marathon where I probably over-exerted. Probably? Definitely given the crawl over the last 2km or so. I am therefore a bit tentative about tonight's 5k cross country race, Thursday's 5k track race, and Sunday's 4k cross country handicap race. Still, I will probably start in each one. But I think I might be taking it pretty easy.

Which brings me to Song of the Week.

I just love this song, it should be my theme song, everything resonates, and if I weren't such a goose it would be. But hey, I looked like that in the early 1970's, too. Really! [Maybe not as tall].

2,000th post

What's on this week: (updated Mondays)
Monday 22 March Parliament House 4:30pm jog, 5:30pm speedygeese interval training - anaerobic #1.
Tuesday 23 March 6:15pm Summer Series race #8 of 8, Stromlo Forest Park 5k
Wednesday 24 March 12:15pm BBQ Stakes 6k handicap
Wednesday 24 March 5:45pm Parliament House, easy run, usually about 12k.
Thursday 25 March: final track night at the AIS: 5000m championships; Dickson oval training under lights will resume next week, 1 April.
Friday 26 March 12:15pm Customs weekly 5k handicap, Commonwealth Park
Saturday 27 March 7:00am Pack Runs at Molonglo Reach
Sunday 28 March 9:00am Vets monthly handicaps, Stromlo Forest Park

This is our 2,000th post, not counting static pages. It all started in January 2005, when Ewen advised me that a blog would be an effective way of promoting communication to and within the training group. There were 15 posts in January 2005, starting on January 18 with "Up and Running". The vision articulated there has been fulfilled with posts daily up to the present, and no plans to wind up any time soon.  Recently we have branched out into Facebook, because (a) Facebook is even more interactive than Blogger, (b) many more speedygeese have Facebook accounts than have Blogger accounts, and (c) Facebook is the most popular and fastest growing site of any kind in the world. Nevertheless this blog will continue in its present format, supplemented by the Facebook group, with little overlap as far as content is concerned.

Finishing the Half Marathon...

And soon after (from the Broulee Runners' blog)

Thank you Weston Creek for emailing us our finish photos!

post #1999

which is good, it means I won't have to dream up a title at least today, nor tomorrow, nor on Tuesday.

From the AMRA website:
World race walking greats Robert Korzeniowski of Poland and Nathan Deakes of Australia enjoyed the camaraderie of the unfamiliar experience of running up Mt Kosciuszko and finished together in 6th place in [Friday's] Kosciuszko Run from Charlotte Pass Village to the mountain summit. Korzeniowski, the four-time Olympic gold medallist, was in Australia to help celebrate the 170th anniversary of the discovery of t Kosciuszko by Polish explorer Sir Paul Edmund Strezelecki. Deakes, the former world record holder and world champion for the 50 km walk, hosted his former Olympic rival.
A Polish television crew followed the race but the National Park ranger’s vehicle with the TV cameraman could not keep up with the sizzling pace set by 4-time Australian mountain running champion Scott McTaggart of Canberra who clocked 45.33 despite a fierce headwind over the final 5 kms. So McTaggart did a few re-runs of his finish sprint for the benefit of the cameras once the crew reached the summit.
The minor placings were filled by Australian mountain running representatives John Winsbury and Stuart Doyle of Canberra in 49.29 and 50.08 respectively.
Well performed Canberra distance runner Hannah Flannery ran 56.58 to be fastest female, with Darwin professional triathlete Ali Fitch second in 1.02.31 and Bronwyn White of Newcastle third in 1.14.54.
The race was sponsored by Strzelecki Heritage Inc, the Heart Foundation and Kosciuszko National Park, and organised by the Australian Mountain Running Association. Race organisers were John Harding, John Kennedy, Diana Schneider and Kerry Muir. The wind was so strong in gusts pre-start that when John Kennedy had the rear door of his van open to get his gear, a powerful gust blew out one of his rear side windows. [those who have seen John’s van would not be surprised by this - Geoff]

Males: 1 Scott McTaggart 45.33, 2 John Winsbury 49.29, 3 Stuart Doyle 50.08, 4 Robin Rishworth 55.36, 5 Simon White 57.18, 6 eq Robert Korzeniowski 59.54, 6 eq Nathan Deakes 59.54, 8 Jared Sullivan 1.03.31, 9 Greg White 1.04.36, 10 Matthew Darcy 1.13.53, 11 Michael Burt 1.27.12, 12 Kieran O'Connor 1.28.05, 13 Geoff Barker 1.28.37, 14 Jarek Odwazny 1.29.33, 15 William Chin 1.30.17, 16 Henryk Klocek 1.35.18.
Females: 1 Hannah Flannery 56.58, 2 Ali Fitch 1.02.31, 3 Bronwyn White 1.14.54, 4 Kerri Louttit 1.15.15, 5 Colleen Koh 1.30.17, 6 Kate Kasia Swaczynski 1.34.54, 7 Violetta Kazmierski 1.38.46.

Photos from Colleen's facebook page. ("a tribute, not plagiarism")

a very happy blogger

from my blogging helpdesk:
Blogger [has just] released their new template library. Instead of a static library, though, they chose to provide

• An array of combinable choices. 
• Multiple, exciting styles.
•  huge library of theme organised backgrounds, each with an associated colour palette.
• A selection of layouts, 
• with symmetrical combinations of 2, 3, and 4 columns
• with and without split sidebars
• in both left and right variations
• Adjustable column widths.
• An updated Fonts and Colors GUI interface, with selections for new template objects like Static Pages Indexes.

From the Draft Blogger dashboard, select "Layout". From the navbar (with Draft selected), select "Customize" (This link is not yet available.) From "Page Elements", then select "Template Designer" - and check out the possibilities.

What we have, in Draft Blogger now, is an almost infinite variety of possibilities, which should keep many bloggers happily occupied for days!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some bloggers are starting to feel confused about Blogger and their options.
Right now, we have the following options, all ordered separately.

Classic vs Layout template.

• Your blog is configured for a Classic (HTML) template using Layout - "Edit HTML" - "Revert".
• Your blog is configured for a Layout (XML) template using Template - "Customize Design".
• Your blog requires a Layout template, to have Gadgets, "Older Posts" / "Newer Posts" links, and Dynamic Label indexes.
• Your blog can use HTML content in a Layouts template, but cannot use XML content in a Classic template.

New Post Editor vs Old Post Editor.

• The new post editor and old post editor are alternately selected, using Settings - Basic - "Global Settings".
• The new post editor is required for the enhanced photo upload wizard and for static pages.
• The old post editor is required, for spell check and video upload.
• If you get the New Post Editor, it will apply to all of your blogs. If you are a member of a team blog, all members of the team will end up with the New Post Editor.

Draft (Blue) vs Production (Orange) Blogger.

• Draft Blogger is accessed directly, as "draft.blogger.com".
• Production Blogger is accessed directly, as "www.blogger.com".
• Production Blogger will redirect to Draft Blogger, if you select "Make Draft Blogger my default", from the Draft Dashboard.
• Draft Blogger is required to access the Designer Templates wizard.

So know your options, and pick what you need.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have a calendar and a to do list which, if allowed, would run my life.
Instead of me being in charge, the calendar would be in charge.
It helps that I don't "go to work", but it is still the case my plans to get all the things done that need to be done, ot that I have committed to and therefore feel obliged to spend time on, can end up controlling me rather than me controlling them.

So here are seven principles which should be the real priorities in my life.

• Family is always first
• One day off each week
• Leave email/facebook/blog alone when engaged in important tasks
• Get out for a walk/jog/run/drive whenever possible
• Start the day with devotions
• Put together a "stop doing" list
• Plan the next holiday when the previous one finishes

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finally, speedygeese at the Jogalong on 7 March
Emma Adams 25:50
Michelle Wells 26:49
Caroline Campbell 33:32
Sharene Hurnen 39:46
Thea Zimpel 44:24 (ran with a friend)
134 finishers

Milton Valentine

Honest John Award

Helen at BBQ Stakes

Helen receives her Honest John award for 2009. Photo by Emma.

speedygeese in the six foot track

Ewen, Cathy, Graeme, Ewen, Graeme. Photos at http://www.marathon-photos.com/

second chance

Fat Chance 2

Superbly muscled

Summer Series Race #7 - Lake Ginninderra 7.1k

35.     Maria O'Reilly          32:57

43.     Cathy Newman        35:07

49.     Roger Pilkington     36:44

58.     Susan Sturgeon       38:40

59.     Neil Boden              38:57

63.     Caroline Campbell   40:41

68.     Margaret McSpadden 42:18

74 finishers

Milton Valentine

Dear Friends

On Wednesday last week Milton felt that his body was deteriorating, he asked me to call Cass, Dylan, Ryan and Kasey to talk to them and let them know that he felt that things were changing.  On Thursday I contacted his mother, brother and sister in Melbourne to ask them to come up to Canberra.  They arrived Thursday evening and Milton was sitting up and talking to all...we shared a lovely evening together with all of his family at the hospice.  Milton had very little energy and conversations were short.  That night was very disturbing, Milton coughed consistently and his lungs were filling up, he felt an enormous pressure in this area as well as the persistent pain through his body.  Quentin arrived at lunch time Friday and Milton had very few conversations of only a few words during Friday, it was clear that he was declining.  Milton did not really gain consciousnesses on Saturday, however he was aware of the people around the spoke a few words which took some much energy from his weak body. 

The family left late on Saturday night and Cass and Dylan stayed in a spare room at the hospice.  At 4am I woke and the night nurse said that ”it was getting close’’ as Milton’s pulse was almost non detectable.  I sat with him  and held his hand and watched his breathing slow down -  he slipped away at 5:40am and seemed very much at peace.  Cass and Dylan and I then sat with Milton for a while and then the rest of the family came back out to the hospice.

It was a beautiful crisp autumn morning over the lake and we watched the hot air balloons rise and pass the hospice.  Peace in the world again.

-  Ann-Maree McTaggart

================================================================

Milton’s funeral will be held on Thursday 18 March at the Norwood Park Crematorium, Sandford Street Mitchell commencing at 1:30pm.   Notices will be placed in Wednesday’s edition of the Canberra Times and also the Melbourne paper. To celebrate Milton’s life please wear something PURPLE or ribbons will be available at the service to wear. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Cancer Research Council (envelopes will be provided). We’d love you to record a brief memory of Milton that touched your life. A memory box will be available in which these may be placed. 

===============================================================

"God bless this tiny little boat, And me who travels in it. It stays afloat for years and years, And sinks within a minute. And so the soul in which we sail, Unknown by years of thinking, Is deeply felt and understood, The minute that it’s sinking." – Michael Leunig.

================================================================

Weston Creek Half Marathon 2010

A very big turn-out of  speedygeese at the annual Weston Creek Half Marathon saw speedygeese win two (or three if you count Liz as a speedygoose) category prizes and nine barrel draw prizes - it was worth hanging around afterwards! There were many big PBs as well.

Official results -
22. Elizabeth Bennett W45 1:30.51 second female, first W45
39. Mick Horan M50 1:33:30
45. Nadine Morrison W40 1:34:08 fifth female, first W40
54. Geoff Moore M60 1:35:44
64. Andrew Matthews M50 1:37:18
67. Debbie Cowell W50 1:37:52
78. Warrick Howieson M35 1:38:59
82. Brett Morrison M40 1:39:38
92. Kylie Malone W35 1:41:05
93. Jennifer Bright W30 1:41:06
96. Janene Kingston W45 1:41:31
98. Helen Larmour W50 1:41:58
113. Maria O'Reilly W55 1:43:45 first W55
117. Craig Davis M40 1:44:13
119. Bronia Rowe 1:44:23
150. Suzie Gye W30 1:50:42
156. Bronwyn Calver W40 1:53:16
169. Alan Duus M60 1:55:58
171. Colleen Koh W30 1:56:05
189. Miranda Rawlinson W55 1:59:20
193. Ruth Baussmann W55 2:00:24
254 (individual) finishers

Weston Creek Half Marathon Relay Teams
1. RUN FAT BOY RUN MFF 1:31:36
Ken White M55
Katie Forestier W40
Amanda Walker W40

2. UN-SPEEDY FEMS FFF 1:33:01
Rachelle Ellis-Brownlee
Melissa Clarke
Heidi Johnston

22. TWO SLOW GEESE FF 2:01:06
Caroline Campbell W65
Margaret McSpadden W60

43. ROBBO AND SON MM 2:15:44
Adam Robinson
Laurie Robinson M60

49. MELANIES FF 2:41:24
Melanie Tait
Melanie Brooks

54 relay teams finished! Our relay teams did extremely well: I managed to get a minute (?) clear of Heidi and Ken on their first leg; then stay about a minute (?) clear of Rachelle and Amanda on their second leg; then my wheels fell off and I almost walked the last few kilometers as about 15 people passed me including the two final relay runners Katie and Melissa, who were probably running sub 4 minute per km pace for the first part of their run. We usually win the relay section; the times this year were faster than previous years.

Then on Monday some of us backed up again for training, but numbers were down a bit because of the Half. Present were Andrew, Caroline, Christopher, Craig, Emma, Garry, me, Helen, Jennifer, Joel, Katherine, Kim, Leanne, Maria, Melanie, Neil, Noeline, Richard, Ruth, Sindia, Tim, & Warrick (22 runners). We ran our final speed-endurance session for now, short sprints on the grass in teams of three, over and over again for thirty minutes.

Sad news: I learned yesterday that Milton Valentine passed away on the weekend, after a long illness. If I hear of funeral arrangements I will post them here tomorrow.

flock of geese at launch

What's on this week: (updated Mondays)
Monday 15 March Parliament House 4:30pm jog, 5:30pm speedygeese interval training - speed endurance #6 of 6.
Tuesday 16 March 6:15pm Summer Series race #7 lake Ginninderra 7.1k
Wednesday 17 March 12:15pm BBQ Stakes 6k handicap
Wednesday 17 March 5:45pm Parliament House, easy run.
Thursday 18 March: nothing this week; Dickson oval training under lights will resume on 1 April.
Friday 19 March 12:15pm Customs weekly 5k handicap, Commonwealth Park
Saturday 20 March 7:00am Pack Runs at Molonglo Reach
Saturday 20 March 5:30pm ACTVAC 1500m track championships, Bruce
Sunday 21 March 4:30pm ACTVAC 800m track championships, Bruce

Six Foot Track
People I know who completed the six foot track. The speedygeese are highlighted as usual.
9 Martin FRYER 3:46:36
13 David OSMOND 3:54:13
29 Trevor JACOBS 4:03:57
33 Angela BATEUP 4:05:57
69 Louise SHARP 4:26:44
166 Steve APPLEBY 4:51:50
181 Pam MUSTON 4:55:23
227 Carol BAIRD 5:04:00
300 Kerrie MUIR 5:17:32
303 John KENNEDY 5:17:35
333 Michael THOMPSON 5:21:05
449 Kerrie TANNER 5:40:08
509 Graeme PATRICK 5:49:02
544 Michael CORLIS 5:54:03
646 Catherine MONTALTO 6:13:41
733 Diana SCHNEIDER 6:35:17
750 Ewen THOMPSON 6:39:47
807 finishers. Full results here - http://www.sixfoot.com/results.php
Sharene Hurnen was going well at 4 hours plus, pulled out with some trouble breathing.
Vanessa Haverd – had entered but did not start.

Weston Creek Half Marathon

Colleen and William at the start. From Colleen's facebook page.

Geese at Book Launch

In today's Canberra Times, page 10 of Times2, there are eight pictures from Melanie's book launch. A flock of geese flew in and settled down to be part of the photo shoot. The geese flew off with at least five of the books.

Andrew19

Highlights of this morning's Weston Creek Half Marathon
There were many outstanding performances, and none as outstanding as Andrew's Half Marathon PB by 19 minutes!

Liz who ran with us for the first time the other day was second female overall, and Nadine was fifth overall.

Maria won the W55 division.

Nine of the speedygeese won barrel draw prizes! The first name out of the hat was Ruth's, and they just kept coming; Margaret, Nadine, me, Andrew, Brett, Caroline, Suzie, and the last name out of the hat was Victoria, who won the major random prize. There were other people who won random prizes too. There were a lot of prizes! But it was also a record number of entrants and a record number of starters and a record number of relay teams as well.

And we had a very enjoyable breakfast/lunch afterwards - thanks to Heidi for organising it!

Happy Birthday to Gary, 53 today. Which could explain his absence from the Half Marathon!

Gary53 and friends

Andrew19 at his favourite sport

Andrew's secret isn't the drugs, it's the three months he spent fishing when the rest of us were training.

call me crazy

Call me crazy, please do if you want to, but I am still going to race 21k tomorrow. Non-runners have no idea.

Happy Birthday Christopher, 59 today! But you are still younger than me. And younger than certain others I won't mention (yet).

Pennington Series final results
1 Bruce Graham 149 points
2 Ken White 136
3 Ian McDonald 133
4 Tony Booth 132
5 Katie Forestier 125
6 Amanda Walker 103

Other speedygeese results from Thursday
100m
M60 Garry Maher 14.30 83.3%
W40 Emma Adams 15.20 73.1
W35 Rachelle Ellis-Brownlee 15.77 67.2

100m (Heat 2)
W35 Rachelle Ellis-Brownlee 15.88 66.8%

200m
M60 Garry Maher 28.92 84.6%
W40 Emma Adams 30.53 75.0
W35 Rachelle Ellis-Brownlee 31.64 68.7
W55 Noeline Burden 34.90 77.8

4x200m Relay
W40 Nadine Morrison, M40 Brett Morrison, M50 Angel Marina, M50 Gary Bowen 2:00.9
W60 Jill Brown, W60 Margaret McSpadden, W60 Susan Archer, W60 Margaret Taylor 2:36.14

Crazy? > I AM going crazy seeing the continuing proliferation of inappropriate apostrophes in other people's posts and comments! Or, should that be, apostrophe's in other peoples' post's and comment's? AAAAARRGGh!

Heres another one of John Kennedys' good photo's:

Margaret @ North Curtin

running scared

Happy Birthday Melanie, 30 years old today. You now qualify to join the "Veterans"!

Best wishes to everyone running the Six Foot Track tomorrow. It was great that Ewen amongst many others got in at the last minute. Great except for the fact that many would not have trained properly for it. And great except for the suggestion that a block booking in the first few hours after entries opened may have forced many to miss out initially. If that is what happened, I hope that next time the race organisers give everyone else a couple of days to register before allowing anyone from this selfish group to do so, and then only one at a time.

The 1500m handicap was run last night and here are our approximate times (actual times may be around a second faster) as taken on my watch:
Ken White 5:09 (season's best)
Gary Bowen 5:09 **PB by 8 seconds
Katie Forestier 5:22
Nadine Morrison 5:32 **PB by 11 seconds
Brett Morrison 5:36 **PB by 7 seconds
Amanda Walker 5:39
Janene Kingston 5:53
Kathy Sims 5:59 (equal season's best)
Tony Booth 6:11
Rachelle Ellis-Brownlee 6:19

The official spiral 7 results:
7 Ruth Baussmann W55 14:30
8 Margaret McSpadden W60 16:01
9 Brett Morrison M40 11:51
11 Katie Forestier W40 11:23
13 Gary Bowen M50 11:28
17 Helen Larmour W50 12:22
24 Bronwyn Calver W40 12:53
26 Tony Booth M70 15:13

The official final spiral point scores
Women:
1. Ruth Baussmann 252
2. Bronwyn Calver 226
3. Sherryl Greathead 223
(4. Helen Larmour 221)
Men
1. John Donovan 269
2. Dale Moore 267
3. Gary Bowen 253

An excellent women’s spiral report is at at http://all-rounder.blogspot.com/2010/03/adler-run-won.html - although the best Helen could have done would have been to finish second behind Ruth. Congratulations to Ruth, who says she has been running scared, so thanks to Bronwyn and Helen for pushing her!

cool down

Gary and Ken have got down to sub 5:10s in the last 1500m race before the ACT championships.