good choice of parents!

Happy Birthday Miranda! 57 today! Sadly Miranda is out of action with a torn cartilage, but the good news is it's a minor tear which should take only a couple of weeks to heal.
And ... Pam Faulks joins the W50s today.

Last night's speedygeese training was great fun despite the dark and the cold. First of all we had seven running early; Christopher, Helen, Jennifer & Maria did only the early run and then left; Craig, Ruth & I doubled up (I even ran a couple of extra kms before the early run), and joining us for the main session were Andrew, Bronwyn, Ewen, Geoff, Jodie, Karen, Katherine, Rachelle, Richard, Steve, Susan, Tim, , Warrick, Yelena & Yili. This gave us three teams of six to repeat the session we did last week: 20 minutes of short sprints in a continuous relay with three runners in each team running at the same time. And the relay teams stayed more or less together, well matched.

More photos from the Women's and Girls' Fun Run

The warm-up. Suzie, Annette, Kaaren.


Amanda leading a pack of youngsters through 1k


Natalie Archer, Paul & Susan's daughter, finishing the race. Natalie ran 9th in 19:30, and second in the 15-18 age group. That is a good choice of parents, if you want to be a runner!


Helen doing EVERYTHING to stay clear of Michelle towards the finish. That's a great run Helen; Michelle has been ahead of me in recent races!

The Rad & Rae show!

What's on this week: (updated Mondays)
Monday 12 April: Parliament House 4:30pm jog, 5:30pm speedygeese interval training
Wednesday 14 April: 12:15pm BBQ Stakes 6k handicap
Wednesday 14 April: 5:45pm Parliament House, easy run, usually about 12k. [edit: 5:30pm this week]
Thursday 15 April: Dickson 4:00pm jog; 5:30pm speedygeese interval training
Friday 16 April: 12:15pm Customs 5k handicap, Stage 88
Saturday 17 April: 9:00am I run from the Discovery Centre with a group of students
Saturday 17 April: 1:00pm ACTCCC Stromlo Forest Park 7.5k
Sunday 18 April: 7:00am I run from the Canberra Zoo. 30k or less!

Women’s and Girls’ 5k Fun Run speedygeese results:
11 KATIE FORESTIER 20:03 F40-44 1st
17 HELEN LARMOUR 21:18 F50-54 1st
18 MICHELLE WELLS 21:21 F35-39 2nd
25 HEIDI JOHNSTON 21:44 F35-39 4th
26 JENNIFER BRIGHT 21:45 F30-34 3rd
28 RACHELLE ELLIS-BROWNLEE 21:51 F35-39 5th
31 AMANDA WALKER 21:58 F40-44 3rd
35 KAREN JUST 22:13 F25-29 4th
36 MARIA O'REILLY 22:13 F55-59 1st
44 CATHY NEWMAN 23:06 F45-49 2nd
62 SUZANNAH GYE 24:05 F30-34 8th
67 RAE PALMER 24:19 F60-64 2nd
119 RUTH BAUSSMANN 26:46 F55-59 3rd
184 MARGARET MCSPADDEN 28:38 F60-64 7th
409 SHARENE HURNEN 34:47 F40-44 52nd
1073 finishers

here's a link to all the times: http://results.au.eventdirector.net/Default.asp?EventID=3924&Refresh=Y


Rae warming up!

Rad warming up!

Rad still warming up!

I think Rad wasn't leading the warm-up, I think it was a woman on the stage. I think.

Katie flying at 1k.

Katie was the first W40+ and ran right on twenty minutes, a great time on this course, and eleventh fastest overall.
More photos to come. Click on any photo to enlarge.

faceplant on facebook

AMA Masters Track races on video
Worth a look - Ken's finish to the 400m final in Perth saw him perform one of the best (worst?) face plants imaginable as he crossed the finish line. The video is on the speedygeese facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=287488711234. Other videos there are Ken's fabulous 800m run, Katie's brilliant 1500m silver medal, and the finishing speed of Tony as he too wins a silver medal in the 800m but also an ACT record.

National Capital Marathon
From http://www.canberrarunner.com.au/festival/info.php: Canberra Road Running Festival: No postal entries after 16th April will be accepted. Online entries will be accepted until midnight 29th April. Late entries for all events for the Marathon and Half Marathon may be taken at the Expo on Saturday afternoon from 2-5pm. Late entries for the Marathon and Half Marathon may also be taken on Sunday morning from 6am. Late entries for the fun runs may be taken at the start of the races from 1pm on Saturday.

Marathon pacers. If anyone can help me find pacers I would appreciate it. Information about the pacers is on the website.

Race result: CCC Winter series 4k at Regatta Point - just 48 finishers, no speedygeese this time, they are saving their energies for today's WAG Fun Run.

Let's get together before we get much older

song of the week: “Baba O’Riley” by The Who

One of the all time greats and still a favourite of mine. In this live version you can see how energetic The Who were. Fabulous.

“- and don't forget, tomorrow is national typewriter day, so buy a ribbon” - Shaun Micallef.

I had a run around the lake today with my ANU friends, taking them further than they have been before, and saw many other friends on the run; Bronia, Robyn, Debbie, Warrick, etc etc; plus these three, Jen + Ruth + Ewen.

It was good to see so many out around Lake Burley Griffin on a Saturday morning taking advantage of the beautiful still sunny weather.

A lack of colour

Training last night at Dickson consisted of anaerobic intervals on the whistle - 60 seconds on/off, then 50, 40, 30, 40, 50, 60, 50, 40, 30, 40, 50, 60: a twenty minute continuous session with ten minutes total running hard, ten minutes total running easy. Participating were Alan, Amanda, Brett, Bronwyn, Caroline, Cathy, Craig (who ran 12k+ first with me), Janene, Karen, Ken, Michelle, Nadine, Ruth, Victoria & Yelena. For those interested, at the end of the twenty minutes Nadine had got the furthest followed by Michelle and Karen, with not that much between all three.

Smile

Brett running downhill on the green green grass of Stromlo.

Me ditto. Do not adjust your set. Actually I think I look better in black and white than I do in colour.

And I think I will take my camera to the Women's and Girls' Fun Run on Sunday (seeing as how I am not eligible to run!) So, girls, wear your best clobber and remember to smile!

barefoot on the grass

I thought Jodie may have invented this at Monday night training; [edit: Bronwyn was the inventor]; then I see bus-loads of schoolchildren doing it; and now it's picked up by Hungry Beast. Is it time to form a new sporting club, with a name like "The Capital City Rollers"?



Maybe next Monday at Parliament House we will all give rolling on the grass a go.

Yili leading Warrick at Stromlo

Where we train, when it comes to green grass, suitable for comfortable barefoot running for example, I would now rate a couple of areas at Parliament House first, Dickson oval second, and Stromlo a distant third.

I see my third place at the last Vets handicap, which was at Stromlo, has pushed me back two groups to group 40. Gary's second place, in a time 40 seconds quicker than mine, has pushed him one group back to join me in group 40. What-the-? Where's the respect for older and slower? ;)

I need to get fit so I can at least see the field when I run the Vets handicap at Majura on Anzac Monday holiday, even if I don't catch anyone. But I will see you at Dickson tonight on the grass. Barefoot is an option, someone will be running barefoot on the grass, does anyone else want to join her?

(S)he's back!

BBQ Stakes 31 March
Gary 26.33
Emma 27.00
Helen 27.46 (first place)
Roger 28.32
Caroline 36.14
Sharene 41.23

Jogalong result 4 April
Caroline 32.47
Sharene 37.06
91 runners, down on numbers because of Easter.
This Sunday's Women's and Girls' Fun Run should be good!

What I'm currently reading: I have re-read Fragile Things, despite having hundreds of un-read books still.
What I am currently watching: Two DVDs this week so far; Ponyo (for the first time) recommended, Fight Club (for the first time) not recommended. Next I might watch Up again, I didn't get to see Up In The Air, it's now gone, hoping to get to see Micmacs as I loved Delicatessen/City of Lost Children/Amelie/A Very Long Engagement and this one's next!

Yes (s)he's back. (S)ee link.

Two of our stars from Perth

Katie and Ken, running just ahead of Cathy-with-a-C at Stromlo.

speedygeese in the AMA Masters Track Championships Days 3 & 4

SUNDAY
5000m
Sims, Kathy W58 2nd (silver) 21:11.75 ACT W55 record
Forestier, Katie W44 1st (gold) 19:49.02
Kingston, Janene W45 2nd (silver) 20:58.49
Booth, Tony M71 4th 24:14.38
Pilkington, Roger M51 8th 20:21.81

400m final
White, Ken M56 3rd (bronze) 60.89

MONDAY
8k Cross Country
Forestier, Katie W44 1st (gold) 34:31
Kingston, Janene W45 2nd (silver) 38:31.5
Sims, Kathy W58 2nd (silver) 38:24.9
Pilkington, Roger M51 8th 36:41.9

speedygeese final medal tally:

GOLD (2)
Katie Forestier 5000m, 8k cross country

SILVER (9)
Janene Kingston 10000m, 5000m, 8k cross country
Kathy Sims 800m, 5000m, 8k cross country
Tony Booth 800m
Ken White 800m
Katie Forestier 1500m

BRONZE (1 2)
Ken White 400m
[Edit] Tony Booth 8k cross country!

Tony Booth at Stromlo

Congratulations once again to everyone who competed in Perth at the Masters. It was a very successful meet and you should all be very proud of your achievements.

Meanwhile back in Canberra ACT we had our Monday night training at Parliament House. Being Easter Monday, more than usual ran the early run: Andrew, Craig, Ewen, me, Jennifer, Miranda & Ruth. Then we were joined by Caroline, Christopher, Jill, Katherine, Neil, Warrick & Geoff for a session where we ran in teams of six; three in each team running at any one time; short sprints for twenty minutes on a triangular course around the flagpoles below Parliament House. Very anaerobic. It seemed strange that it was getting dark by the end of the session but that is something we will have to become used to.

speedygeese in the AMA Masters Track Championships Days 1 & 2

What's on this week: (updated Mondays)
Monday 5 April Parliament House 4:30pm jog, 5:30pm speedygeese interval training as usual. And we will wish Andy a happy 51st birthday
Wednesday 7 April 12:15pm BBQ Stakes 6k handicap. I was going to run this, but now I have a dentist appointment. Again. So instead, all being well, ...
Wednesday 7 April 5:45pm Parliament House, easy run, usually about 12k.
Thursday 8 April: Dickson 4:00pm jog; 5:30pm speedygeese interval training
Saturday 10 April: 1:00pm ACTCCC Regatta Point 5km
Sunday 11 April: 9:00am ACTCCC Women's and Girls' Fun Run Stage 88 Commonwealth Park

AMA results Friday and Saturday
FRIDAY
10000m
Kingston, Janene W45 2nd (silver) 44:32.81
Pilkington, Roger M51 6th 42:35.34

800m
Sims, Kathy W58 2nd (silver) 2:48.25
Forestier, Katie W44 5th 2:36.20
Booth, Tony M71 2nd (silver) 2:48.94
White, Ken M56 2nd (silver) 2:18.53

SATURDAY
1500m
Sims, Kathy W58 4th 5:45.43
Forestier, Katie W44 2nd (silver) 5:13.68, a 6 second PB
Booth, Tony M71 5th 6:00.71
White, Ken M56 4th 5:06.2
Pilkington, Roger M51 7th 5:35.37

400m heats [edit: this result is a fiction created by the organisers; there were no M55 400m heats held!] White, Ken M56 qualified for the final, equal-2nd fastest 61:00. It serves as a warning - are you master of the computer system, or is the computer system master of you?

Lots of silver, and stay tuned for Sunday's results.... but I was right about Sunday being the best day.
The first speedygoose gold medal of the championships was won on Sunday by Katie in the W40 5000m.
And Kathy Sims ran ~21:12 in her 5000m, chopping ~6 seconds off an Anne Young ACT W55 record that  Anne set in 1992.

Kathy in the 5000m in Perth. Photo by Bruce.

Good Friday, Better Saturday, Best Sunday?

No official AMA Track championships results have turned up on the AMA website yet, but I see that Roger and Bruce have been posting some of the Perth results in their blogs.
A highlight of Saturday was Katie's 6 second PB in the 1500m to grab the silver medal. I don't have the other 1500m results yet.
Sunday may turn out "best" with the 5000m races scheduled, featuring our Kathy, Katie, Janene, Tony & Roger.

Janene at Stromlo

Janene has been enjoying the Masters Championships in Perth, especially all the PBs!

I see also that the AMA marathon championships will be at the Gold Coast this year. Pity I cannot go, I may have been ready for a marathon by the time July rocked around..

While all this excitement is happening in Perth, I am having a grandchildren-filled holiday! It's the bestest.

Jodie Davis ACT representative

Jodie has just headed up to the Gold Coast to represent the ACT in baseball.

From the ACT Baseball website http://www.act.baseball.com.au/default.asp?Page=64070:

ACT – Championships debut

Considering the ACT Womens baseball league has doubled in size in just four short years, it was only a matter of time before they were welcomed to the national championships.

Head Coach Greg Kent is in charge of the team which consists of a mixture of cricketers, softballers and baseballers.

The player to watch is nineteen-year-old Eliza Russell who is expected to shine behind the dish and also at third base.

Former state cricketers Jodie Davis and Suzanne Van Strein will add experience to the youthful team.

Official baseball championship website http://www.womens.baseball.com.au/

AMA results are coming through. I will (soon, in the next day or two) add times and places to the post a few pages down in which the list of names appears. Meanwhile a big congratulations to Bruce Graham for his outright win in the 10k, and to Janene Kingston for her silver medal, and Sue Archer for her gold medal in the same event. And then in the 800m, to both Ken White in a brilliant tactical run, and also to Kathy Sims, silver medals.  I should point out that the standard of competition is high, as are the number of entries.

good Friday

Training at Dickson resumed last night and was good too. Miranda & I started with an early 11k jog (we started at 4pm), Caroline joined us for the last 2k, then Bronwyn, Craig, Marlon, Michelle (pictured) & Yelena arrived and after our usual 5:30pm warm-up we ran a session of 12 x 200 fast, 100 recovery in lane 2.

Michelle at Stromlo

There's a world cross country write-up at http://www.athletics.com.au/news/news/2010/march/willis_the_best
Another great run by Benita.

Coming Events: I publish this because some lists I have seen recently are incomplete or incorrect.
Sun 4 April ACTCCC Women's Jogalong
Sat 10 April ACTCCC Regatta Point 2/5km
Sun 11 April ACTCCC Women's and Girls' Fun Run Stage 88 Commonwealth Park 9:00 am
Sat 17 April ACTCCC Stromlo Forest Park 7.5k
Sat 24 April ACTCCC Anzac Relays 4 x 3.6k Northcote Drive Majura
Mon 26 April ACTVAC Handicap Mt Majura Hackett
1-2 May Canberra Road Running Festival; including half marathon, marathon and ultra.

Here's a good new song from Creed. "A Thousand Faces".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2n_r-vfnDU

running around in eccentric circles

Brian: Look, you've got it all wrong! You don't need to follow me. You don't need to follow anybody! You've got to think for yourselves! You're all individuals!

Crowd: [in unison] Yes! We're all individuals!

Brian: You're all different!

Crowd: [in unison] Yes, we are all different!

Man in crowd: I'm not...

--Monty Python's "Life of Brian"

Yesterday as a group of runners, me included, headed up and over Red Hill and beyond, the discussion turned to our "special qualities", "uniqueness", "eccentricity" even. I thought our apparent eccentricities might be because we knew each other so well and could see each other's "distinct differences". I was reflecting too on how runners are seen by society, e.g. by journalists, as not conforming to what is expected of "normal" people; which journalists both like and dislike; like, because it gives them someone to point the finger at and talk (gossip) about; and dislike, because conforming is promoted as a virtue. It's a funny old world; surely those who lobby for conformity are the ones who are out of step; what a boring place this would be if we were all the same. Bring on eccentricity, I say; we are all different, yet there can be this inner yearning to be seen as no different from anybody else. We runners have overcome that to a large extent one would have thought; yet you still see groups of runners who follow the same conventions as each other, dress the same as each other, hang out with and enjoy the company of just their little clique, and feel uncomfortable with people who are a little different  even within the same training group. Sure, let's have a circle of close friends; but lest it become too eccentric a circle, let's also rub shoulders with a variety of people from far and from wide.

Pardon me if I didn't conform to an acceptable number of semi-colons in the paragraph above; I am feeling a little off-centre today.

Gary going for silver at Stromlo

Helen excelled at the BBQ Stakes by winning the 6k handicap this week.

Helen also plays a mean cello. How eccentric is that. Go Helen!

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!