I am so looking forward to 2017!

Happy running! Run happy!

holiday reading

Updated versions of the books I read as a kid:

A week at the coast

We stayed at Bombo Beach. I managed four runs in the 6 full days we were there.

Bombo Beach and beyond - 6.4k


Bombo Wetlands - 3.8k


Kiama coastline - 5k


Jamberoo Golf Course - 5k

Tony Manning and Kerry O'Brien

The famous Ron Clarke

Immortal

Song of the week: "My Immortal", by Evanescence
From https://youtu.be/5anLPw0Efmo

some famous runners here

eating / drinking

behaving

Speedygeese training

Our latest two Parliament House sessions were on Thursday 15 December with Brendan, Jackson (new), Jen, Lauren, Nicole, Peter, Sandeep and Steph attending; with me watching them run 211m loops in a relay, and Monday 19 December I ran some of the 400m loops along with Andy, Ben, Colin, Dave, Garry, Isaac, Jen, Nicole, Pieta, Rae, Ruth, Sandeep, Susan and Vanessa. Training will continue through the holidays on Mondays and Thursdays although I will be absent this Thursday and next Monday.



Try hard in 2017!
Not long to go now!
...

This week’s Speedygeese race results

AMRA Deep Space Mountain Marathon 11 December
13 Peter Thomson 4.37.07

AMRA Deep Space Mountain 10k 11 December
2 Isaac Muscat 46.42

Lake Tuggeranong Stakes 6k 13 December
Peter Thomson 30:09
Ewen Thompson 36:54
Sandeep Chandra 38:30
Nicole Bruce 38:30
15 finishers

ACTVAC Track 15 December
3000m
W65 Ruth Baussmann 16:00.00 77.0%

Customs 5k 16 December
Giles Lamb 22:35
Ewen Thompson 30:12
Caroline Campbell ??
8 finishers

Ginninderra 5k parkrun #241 17 December
29 Brendan Belcher 22:23 M30
41 Geoff Moore 23:56 M65
44 Bron Sparkes 24:00 W40
58 Stephanie Pfohl 25:06 W40
86 Ruth Baussmann 28:19 W65
169 finishers

Tuggeranong 5k parkrun #199 17 December
25 Bronwyn Calver 22:59 W45
27 David Clarke 23:23 M55
37 Ewen Thompson 24:01 M55
241 finishers

Gungahlin 5k parkrun #166 17 December
17 Andrew Simpson 21:13 M45
106 Margaret McSpadden 30:54 W65
172 finishers

Burley Griffin 5k parkrun #27 17 December
75 Caroline Campbell 27:52 W70
167 finishers

AMRA Tour de Ridges 21.2k 18 December
43. Jen Bright 1:57:04
72. Craig Wurtz 2:15:09
78. Sandeep Chandra 2:18:08

AMRA Tour de Ridges 15.3k 18 December
12. Sarah-Jayne Miller 1:13:46
15. David Clarke 1:16:59
20. Giles Lamb 1:21:20
48. Ewen Thompson 1:38:47

AMRA Tour de Ridges 10.6k 18 December
3. Isaac Muscat 47:00
39. Nicole Bruce 1:18:58

Next update in 2 weeks' time.
Also by then I will have completely overhauled the "portrait gallery" slideshow at the top of this website.

How Pieta finished one Tuggeranong parkrun:

Message In A Bottle

We're off to Bombo beach this week - if you want to message me, a bottle might work...

Song of the week: "Message In A Bottle" - by The Police
From https://youtu.be/MbXWrmQW-OE

playing up

speedygeese at the rose garden

Photo by Ewen

Suzie

Rumour has it that Suzie will be returning to Canberra from Darwin soon...

speedygeese training and Canberra's sunset.

Thursday 8 December at Parliament House: attending were Brendan, Jen, Liz, Nicole, Peter, Sandeep, with me watching them run 10 or 12 Rose Garden 200s.

Sunday 11 December Joel and Andrew would have trained at Stromlo Forest Park on the grass.

On Monday 12 December we were back at Parliament House, where I watched on while the others ran continuous 2 and 3 person relays, the short loop to the south of the rose gardens. It was warm so we broke it up into 2 sets of 12 minutes. Attending were Andy, Colin, Dave, Ewen, Fiona, Garry, Gary, Giles, Isaac, Jen, Mick, Nicole, Pieta, Ruth, Sarah-Jayne, and Sandeep.


Sunset at Manuka Oval. Living in Canberra as we do, we have to put up with these sunsets from time to time.

speedygeese race results

YCRC Women’s 6k Jogalong 4 December
Nadine Morrison 28:08
Cathy Montalto 33:30
Caroline Campbell 37:33
Thea Zimpel 38:29
67 finishers

AMRA Mt Ainslie 2.3k Run-Up 6 December
12 Craig Wurtz 16.21
19 finishers

Lake Tuggeranong Stakes 6k 6 December
Peter Thomson 30:25
Roger Pilkington 34:08
Ewen Thompson 34:40
Sandeep Chandra 38:20
Nicole Bruce 38:20
16 finishers

ACTVAC Track 8 December
3000m
M50 Craig Wurtz 12:12.81 69.8%
M55 David Clarke 13:32.92 66.1
M55 Roger Pilkington 13:50.39 64.2

800m Higgins/Pennington handicap
4 Colin Farlow M55 2:28 82.0%
6 Kathy Sims W65 3:15 82.7
15 Ruth Baussmann W65 4:03 67.6
16 Roger Pilkington M55 3:28 59.2
17 finishers

Spiral 7
2 Margaret McSpadden W65 18:12
3 Roger Pilkington M55 13:59
9 Craig Wurtz M50 12:09
11 Ruth Baussmann W65 16:33
12 finishers

Customs 5k 9 December
Peter Thomson 21:30
Ewen Thompson 29:00
Caroline Campbell 29:30
12 finishers

Ginninderra 5k parkrun #240 10 December
32 Brendan Belcher 22:25 M30
43 Bron Sparkes 24:18 W40
69 Geoff Moore 27:04 M65
72 Gary Moss 27:19 M65
76 Thea Zimpel 27:51 W30
77 Ruth Baussmann 28:08 W65
162 finishers

Tuggeranong 5k parkrun #198 10 December
6 David Clarke 19:30 M55
38 Bronwyn Calver 22:25 W45
50 Ewen Thompson 23:46 M55
52 Liz Simpfendorfer 23:52 W55
117 Peter Thomson 28:47 M55
253 finishers

Gungahlin 5k parkrun #165 10 December
14 Andrew Simpson 20:53 M45
109 Margaret McSpadden 30:37 W65
161 finishers

Burley Griffin 5k parkrun #26 10 December
16 Craig Wurtz 20:56 M50
156 finishers

In the Deep Space Mountain 10k on 11 December, Isaac was second outright in 46.42:

song of the week... with arms wide open

Song of Week: "With Arms Wide Open" - Creed
From https://youtu.be/99j0zLuNhi8
A favourite since 1999.

One all time great; and another.

I was at St Mary's cross country course in the mid 1960s, watching the great Ron Clarke win the Australian Cross Country championships by a very big margin. He was awesome!

Ron Clarke


St Mary's was next door to Adelaide's Flinders University where I studied from 1966 to 1968. While I was there at Flinders, I went on a couple of training runs with John Farrington; John was on staff. Later when I ran my first marathon, which was conducted at Richmond, NSW, it was John Farrington who won it; again by a very big margin.

This is the only photo I can find of John Farrington.

Today's Ginninderra parkrun photos

Parkruns are always fun
It was a great day for running 5k once again


32 Brendan Belcher 22:25 legs a bit heavy after Thursday training


43 Bron Sparkes 24:18 happy happy


48 Stephanie Pfohl 24:49 rejoining us any day now


51 Joanna Belcher 25:05 a very close relative of Brendan's


Today I met Steph's friend 63 Debbie Lovett 26:23 New PB


69 Geoff Moore 27:04 still alive and kicking


72 Gary Moss 27:19 running well


76 Thea Zimpel 27:51 probably still recovering from last Monday's feast


77 Ruth Baussmann 28:08 fully recovered from the previous night's excesses (unlike her husband)

Zatopek 10k

Susan Hobson winning the 1989 Zatopek 10k. I was there cheering her on. She trained with me for four years. Note the low arm action.


Carolyn Schuwalow leading Susan in the 1991 Zatopek.

Stromlo Lightning Strike 10k Video

By Ewen
From https://youtu.be/whkwfYcDXfg



Video shows the start of the 2016 Stromlo Running Festival Lightning Strike 10k trail race held at Stromlo Forest Park on 20 November. The on course commentary is from Rob de Castella.

speedygeese training and partying

On Thursday 1 December we met again at Parliament House. Peter ran just the warm-up; Colin, Fiona, Gary, Jen, Colin, Ruth ran Rose Garden 200s; I attempted one and decided to opt out.

On Monday 5 December we held our Christmas dinner at il Figaro, Kingston. Thirty people attended, namely Sandeep & Kavita, Dave C, Ruth B, Vanessa & Brett, Rae & Alex, Gary & Coralee, Andy M, Jen + Richard + Isaac + Laura + Daniel, Thea, Nicole, Pieta, Colin, Yuan (new!), Joel & Yelena, Ewen, Bron + Lola + Dom, Susan, Jenny & me.



It's Joel (front right)'s birthday today, 33 years old! And Yelena will be 35 this Friday. Happy Birthday!

how the speedygeese raced this week.

ACTVAC Track 24 November
400m
W30 Thea Zimpel 1:29.18 55.0%

1500m
M50 Craig Wurtz 5:48.12 70.4%
M55 David Clarke 6:21.45 67.7
M55 Roger Pilkington 6:49.88 62.5
M55 Ewen Thompson 7:27.96 58.1
W70 Caroline Campbell 7:30.65 88.3

3000m
M50 Craig Wurtz 12:24.19 68.7%
W30 Thea Zimpel 15:40.60 53.8
W65 Ruth Baussmann 16:25.30 75.0

5000m
M55 Roger Pilkington 24:42.70 61.9%

Lake Ginninderra 7k handicap 29 November
14 finishers

Lake Tuggeranong Stakes 6k 29 November
Peter Thomson M55 29:47
Sandeep Chandra M30 33:23
Ewen Thompson M55 34:12
Roger Pilkington M55 34:47
14 finishers

YCRC Spring Series #4 5k Stromlo Forest Park 29 November
9. Peter Thomson M55 21:12
12. Craig Wurtz M50 21:55
13. Rohan Pitchford M50 22:15
23. Ewen Thompson M55 25:48
24. Sarah Pau W40 26:22
31. Tori Hennig W55 28:53
33. Vanessa Palmer W45 30:37
38 finishers
Note – times adjusted as official times were incorrect

ACTVAC Track 1 December
One Mile
M55 David Clarke 5:50.15 77.7%
M50 Craig Wurtz 6:04.22 71.0
M55 Ewen Thompson 7:42.43 59.3

Customs 5k 2 December
Giles Lamb 21:44
Peter Thomson 21:48
Craig Wurtz 22:11
Ewen Thompson 29:10
Caroline Campbell 30:05
12 finishers

Ginninderra 5k parkrun #239 3 December
27 Andrew Simpson 21:25 M45
71 Bron Sparkes 25:21 W40
73 Brendan Belcher 25:43 M30
113 Ruth Baussmann 29:46 W65
114 Geoff Moore 29:47 M65
175 Jill Pearson 44:32 W55
195 finishers

Tuggeranong 5k parkrun #197 3 December
7 David Clarke 19:20 M55
24 Bronwyn Calver 22:34 W45
49 Ewen Thompson 24:19 M55
86 Peter Thomson 26:37 M55
227 finishers

Gungahlin 5k parkrun #164 3 December
97 Margaret McSpadden 30:56 W65
166 finishers

Burley Griffin 5k parkrun #25 3 December
19 Craig Wurtz 21:56 M50
68 Caroline Campbell 27:51 W70
154 finishers

\
Last night's speedygeese dinner at il Figaro, Kingston. Thirty attendees.
Photo by Bron.

eternal flame

Song of the week: Eternal Flame, by The Bangles
From https://youtu.be/411peUCk854



"Do you feel my heart beating
Do you understand"

"What I eat"

Alex Ratelle ran 18 flat for the 5k at age 64.

team effort

...at today's Ginninderra parkrun

Ginninderra parkrun pram cam

This is amazing - William Barlow running the whole of the Ginninderra parkrun course pushing a pram - and videoing it - time, 20:50.With stats!

[I can see myself, and then Dave B, clearly just after the start.]

From https://youtu.be/e-jiIghf9Us

Today is a rest day from gym

I have been going to the gym most days and have cancelled out today. It is time for a rest day.
(I schedule something every day but rest about every 7 to 10 days as needed.)

However training is still on at Parliament House this afternoon.
(Watch out for protesters carrying red dye.)

And if you are coming to Monday's dinner, today is the last day to tell me.
(26 are attending the dinner as of this morning.)

speedygeese training

On Thursday 24 November at Parliament House Andy, Brendan (new), Gary, me, Giles, Jen, Lauren, Liz, Peter & Sandeep ran figure 8 intervals of 700m, each of which included 2 hills and 5 push-ups.

Sunday 27 November Joel and I ran at Stromlo, Joel doing some laps of short intervals as well as some form training,

Monday 28 November we repeated last Thursday’s session, Ewen ran early, then Colin, Ewen, Gary, Giles, Isaac, Jen, Pieta, Rae, Ruth, Sandeep & Vanessa trained while Dave met us but jogged elsewhere, and I needed a rest.

At Stromlo


Jen ran hard


Isaac ran harder


Jen got Deek's kiss

speedygeese race results

Lake Tuggeranong Stakes 6k 22 November
Sandeep Chandra 30:27
Peter Thomson 27:24
Nicole Bruce 36:23
Ewen Thompson 35:34
16 finishers

YCRC Spring Series #3 5k Black Mountain Peninsula 22 November
8. Craig Wurtz M50 21:33
9. Rohan Pitchford M50 21:40
11. David Clarke M55 22:06
13. Peter Thomson M55 22:28
20. Ewen Thompson M55 25:59
24. Tori Hennig W55 7:25
31. Ruth Baussmann W65 30:14
32 finishers

ACTVAC Track 24 November
Spiral 6
Craig Wurtz M50 10:08
David Clarke M55 11:08
Roger Pilkington M55 12:12
Ruth Baussmann W65 13:35
Ewen Thompson M55 14:21
Margaret McSpadden W65 15:25
18 finishers

Customs 5k 25 November
Peter Thomson 22:18
Giles Lamb 22:24
Craig Wurtz 23:16
Bronwyn Calver 24:25
Ewen Thompson 30:07
Caroline Campbell 31:25
16 finishers

Ginninderra 5k parkrun #238 26 November
14 Brendan Belcher 21:17 M30
41 Geoff Moore 23:40 M65
53 Bron Sparkes 24:30 W40
83 Thea Zimpel 27:15 W30
104 Ruth Baussmann 29:04 W65
177 finishers

Tuggeranong 5k parkrun #196 26 November
11 Peter Thomson 19:33 M55 **New PB**
59 David Clarke 24:45 M55
62 Ewen Thompson 24:55 M55
235 finishers

Gungahlin 5k parkrun #163 26 November
103 Margaret McSpadden 31:17 W65
162 finishers

Burley Griffin 5k parkrun #24 26 November
10 Craig Wurtz 20:49 M50
67 Caroline Campbell 27:47 W70 **New PB**
152 finishers

ACTVAC Handicap 6k Weston Park 27 November
5 Bron Sparkes W40 29:54 61.1%
15 Nadine Morrison W45 28:04 69.8
16 Margaret McSpadden W65 40:37 63.2
19 Peter Thomson M55 24:48 76.1
28 Kathy Sims W65 29:40 81.9
34 Bronwyn Calver W45 28:18 69.3
41 Mick Charlton M60 37:21 53.7
46 Ruth Baussmann W65 35:46 68.9
52 Craig Wurtz M50 29:44 61.4
53 Gabrielle Brown W50 32:51 63.5
55 Roger Pilkington M55 32:46 58.2
65 finishers

ACTVAC Handicap 3k Weston Park 27 November
5 Cathy Montalto W60 15:03 77.2%
22 Jill Pearson W55 15:01 71.5
40 finishers

Thommo racing @ Stromlo

New song by Birds of Tokyo

Song Of The Week: "Brace", by Birds of Tokyo
From https://youtu.be/EDhq6L-S624 (live)

Isaac sprinting home

In last week's 10k