Magical Mystery Tour

I am off to Sydney today. Every post this week, including this one, has been prepared in advance.

What that means is that any new news will have to be added separately by Mr Ewen.

Go for it, Ewen!

Training is still on Monday! Training is still on Thursday! Organising each session has been delegated!

You have been told. There is no excuse to slacken off!


A girl. Yes it's Charlie.

Twist and Shout

Having just returned home from the High Noon meet, I am impressed by
.the parent (Paul Torley) who runs with his child. At 5 minute 1500m pace
.the effort put in by Ken, Katie and Amanda, who each had honest, all-out runs in the 3000m despite a strong headwind in the back straight
.my ability as an M60 being able to run a fast first lap and then being able to finish the race without dropping away. At last!
.the volunteers like Jill, Kevin, Neil, Bob, Rosemary, Bryan, Trish who come out just to help.

The next High Noon meet is on July 27. The track events on that day are:
12:00pm sprint hurdles
12:15pm 60m
12:30pm 100m
12:50pm 800m
1:05pm 200m
1:20pm 3000m (run & walk)

Speedygeese today:
3000m
Ken 11:36
Katie 11:51
Amanda 12:35

1500m
Geoff 5:19

400m
Joel 56.3

Speedygeese at the Gold Coast
Marathon
CJ 3:40.05
David Webster 3:52.00 (half-way 1:35)
Roger 3:55.32
Strewth 4:12.36

Half Marathon
Mr Strewth 1:42.19
Allrounder 1:48.00

10k
Ewen 45.15

Birthdays over the next few days include Mandy Chew, 50 tomorrow, and Peter McDonald, 55 on Tuesday, entering new age groups.

My Monday monitor a day early is:
last week’s target: 100k
achieved: 64k
year 2008 total to date: 2316k in 27 weeks
this week's target: nil! I am having my mid year break.
weight: 64kg ▲

Yes I am having a week off and I expect to stay fit and well as I will be doing a lot of walking which won't count towards weekly distance run. But isn't it nice to have a break when you are not sick or injured?

I am going away but this blog will keep ticking over. I have prepared six days' posts in advance. So if any new news happens, you will have to add it for me.

Ken (Monday) and Neil (Thursday) will look after training at Parliament House and Dickson Oval respectively.

I am so looking forward to seeing Leeland live at the Acer Arena this Thursday night!

Daylight Saving in the ACT
It's official at last: daylight saving will begin the first Sunday in October this year, and end the first Sunday in April 2009.

Face twisted with agony.

Finally a reminder of the agony of the marathon, and why the 1500m is so much easier. (One day I will convince myself of that!) Photo by Roger Abbott.

Act Naturally

"Where do you work?" "Austrayian Govment". "Where do you live?" "ACT, naturally."


True Aussies. Peter & Margaret McSpadden.

I Am An Australian. I Love My Country. …
You know you’re Australian if…..
1. You believe that stubbies can be either drunk or worn.
2. You think it’s normal to have a leader called Kevin.
3. When you hear that an American “roots for his team” you wonder how often and with whom.
4. You pronounce Melbourne as “Mel-bin”.
5. You believe it makes perfect sense for a nation to decorate its highways with large fibreglass bananas, prawns and sheep.
6. You call your best friend “a total bastard” but someone you really, truly despise is just “a bit of a bastard”.
7. You think “Woolloomooloo” is a perfectly reasonable name for a place.
8. You’re secretly proud of our killer wildlife.
9. You believe it makes sense for a country to have a $1 coin that’s twice as big as its $2 coin.
10. You understand that “Wagga Wagga” can be abbreviated to “Wagga” but “Woy Woy” can’t be called “Woy”.
11. You believe all famous Kiwis are actually Australian, until they stuff up, at which point they again become Kiwis.
12. You know that certain words must, by law, be shouted out during any rendition of the Angels’ song "Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again".
13. You believe, as an article of faith, that the confectionary known as the Wagon Wheel has become smaller with every passing year.
14. You still don’t get why the “Labor” in “Australian Labor Party” is not spelt with a “u”.
15. You believe that the more you shorten someone’s name the more you like them.
16. You understand that “excuse me” can sound rude, while “scuse me” is always polite.
17. You understand that “you” has a plural and that it’s “youse”.
18. You know it’s not summer until the steering wheel is too hot to handle.
19. Your biggest family argument over the summer concerned the rules for beach cricket.
20. You still think of Kylie as “that girl off Neighbours”.
21. When returning home from overseas, you expect to be brutally strip-searched by Customs - just in case you’re trying to sneak in fruit.
22. You believe the phrase “smart casual” refers to a pair of black tracky-daks, suitably laundered.
23. You understand that all train timetables are works of fiction.
24. When working on a bar, you understand male customers will feel the need to offer an excuse whenever they order low-alcohol beer.
25. You get choked up with emotion by the first verse of the national anthem and then have trouble remembering the second.
26. You find yourself ignorant of nearly all the facts deemed essential in the government’s new test for migrants.
27. You know, whatever the tourist books say, that no one says “cobber”.
28. And you will immediately forward this list to other Australians, here and overseas, realising that only they will understand.
(from The Sydney Morning Herald , Australia Day, Jan 26, 2008).

How Do You Do It?

Tony in the 8k cross country.

How we trained
Five by 600m on six minutes, Bronwyn, Caroline, quick-off-the-mark Charlie, slow-off-the-mark Jodie, Miranda, Neil, with me supervising. It was chilly. We "just do it" despite the conditions. Then Jodie & Bronwyn go off to footy training where it's even colder.

New Lights at Dickson
It's great having lights at Dickson track! I have a theory how their installation was planned.

Pin the Tail on the Donkey
(1) Print an aerial map of the track, e.g. from Google Earth.
(2) Take the map to a children's birthday party.
(3) Use the map for a game of "Pin the tail on the donkey".
(4) Where the tails get pinned, put up a light pole.

Spin The Bottle
(5) Each child who pinned a tail, spins the bottle.
(6) The direction the bottle points is the direction the lights on top of their pole will face.

What's the Time, Mr Wolf?
(7) When it's "dinner time", the new lights will be turned on. It's still not dinner time.

How Do You Do It?
This was the first Beatles recording, back in 1962. But they never released it! People of my vintage and older will remember who did. Some of these people will be wearing pacemakers, others like me will be pacemakers, happy to set the pace for their friends.

Races coming up
Saturday 5 July: Mill Creek 6k (Narrabundah) 1pm
Sunday 6 July: Jogalong 6k (Weston Creek) 9am
Sunday 6 July: High Noon 3000m, 1500m (AIS) noon of course!
Saturday 12 July: Googong Half Marathon 21k (Tin Hut) 11am


Despair #2


("Labor"? Only in “Australian Labor Party” is it spelt without the "u", and I don't know why).

A Day In The Life

Speedygeese at the Gold Coast this Sunday:
Marathon - CJ, Strewth, Roger, David Webster
Half Marathon - David Baussmann, Allrounder
10k - Ewen
Best wishes! May the sea breeze push you to a fast time!

Cooling down at Ainslie



Training runners for 3000m
Some say “work” is a 4 letter word, but isn’t “play” also a 4 letter word?

Even though my life is all play, I stick pretty much to a routine still, which makes it easier to get everything done. Specially the running.

A typical Thursday consists of Thursday morning (a) reading and writing, (b) running for an hour or so in North Belconnen. Thursday afternoon (a) a break: doing the crossword, having a nap, watching a DVD, whatever; then (b) writing up the run, and (c) more running out in North Canberra, ending up with a (c) coaching session at Dickson oval. Then dinner and a glass of wine...

I read the news today. Oh Boy.

Because my target racing distance is the 3000m, I try and run between 90km and 120km each week. My week is a careful balance of hard training, tempo training, easy training, and rest. And because I am an M60, the rest is an important part of training, as important as the training sessions are.

I can train as hard as anyone, but more recovery time is essential.

Not a lot more recovery; everyone needs recovery; it's important to plan recovery days and active rest whatever your age and ability.

And because I need longer recovery, I do about one less long run a week, and one less speed session a week, than I used to thirty years ago.

I also have a couple of longish breaks each year. One is in July: next week I will do little or no running (but lots of walking). So my weekly total next week might be 10 or 20k instead of 100k.

The other break I have might be around Christmas or January. I leave some flexibility here to have the break at the hottest week of summer; or to coincide with a trip away, although in recent years we have stayed in Canberra over the holiday period and family have come here.

I like the sentence in http://championseverywhere.blogspot.com/2008/07/7208.html today: "Schedule your recovery or your body will schedule it for you." That's it!

Despair #1
(For your amusement over the next few weeks)

Help!

I don't think one hair dryer will be enough.

Today would have been a miserable day for running, I couldn't face running in the strong winds off the snow, so I will save my energy for tomorrow!



It is a glorious day for enjoying mother nature at her most intense! Blow winds and crack your cheeks!


Gary, Amanda, Ken & Katie cooling down at Ainslie, having raced the short course, waiting for the long course runners to arrive.

I did however in the gym this morning achieve a particular quad stretch I have never been able to do before! I am getting fitter!

Hello Goodbye

Training Goes Underground.
Welcoming spring weather on 30 June was a little premature; we now have strong cold winds, dark clouds scudding across the sky, intermittent rain; and all the little lambies have stopped sproinging down grassy hills and are huddled with their mummies. Last night at Parliament House Ewen and I got caught in the rain as we suffered our pre-training 7k. We seemed to find more road crossings where we had to stand and wait for cars than we usually do. Then back at our cars for a quick change of clothes and we were ready do our hill-sprints. Surprisingly ten others turned up: our group consisted of Amanda, Emma, Ewen, Gary, me, Joel, Katie, Ken, Neil, Rachelle, Ruth & Yelena. There was no complaint when it was decided to do our training underground in the shelter of the car park rather than venture outside, as even if the rain might have stopped, it was dark, cold and windy and miserable, and slippery under foot. So we ran loops of the car park for our warm-up then improvised hill sprints up its western side; the surface is even and smooth and not very steep, and visible! But it's bitumen. Fortunately no idling buses and not many cars; one taxi driver was annoyed to have to drive 5 metres further than he wanted to, but just one was very good for Canberra and its aggressive drivers. And of course a couple of disgusting smokers, but you just hold your breath.

Hello Spring, Goodbye Spring. I don't know why you say goodbye I say hello.

Preparing to run at Ainslie - speedySelf, speedyKen, speedyKatie.


Some get the niggles out of their calves; some yawn as they save energy for the sprint to come; some pray for a good run.

Joel & Yelena Pearson


from Yelena's facebook page.

Neil at Mt Ainslie


Neil receives his 150 runs t-shirt. Mt Ainslie photos by John Kennedy.

taxman

My training progress
last week’s target: 100k
achieved: 100k
year 2008 total to date: 2252k in 26 weeks
this week's target: 100k including a 1500m race on Sunday
weight: 63kg ►◄
song of the week: "Readyfuels", by Anberlin, from "Blueprints for the Black Market".

"We’re running hard tonight.
And it feels so good!
You're holding on ...
And it feels so right.

Readyfuels:


So it's tax time, 30 June already. Half the year has flown. Was it a taxing run at Mt Ainslie yesterday? No – the course was great, there were only a few rocky bits, and the weather was perfect.

Speedygeese at the ACT Masters Athletics monthly handicaps yesterday:
Mount Ainslie 9.3k
2 Adam Robinson M35 51:11 53.7% Gold
5 Miranda Rawlinson W55 53:48 69.9 Bronze
16 Colin Farlow M45 36:45 82.9
26 Bronwyn Calver W35 46:28 69.0
27 Kathy Southgate W50 38:04 96.1 !!!
33 Rod Lynch M45 37:26 82.3
43 Christopher Lang M55 51:22 65.1
53 Rae Palmer W60 49:10 81.8
71 Mick Horan M45 42:35 72.4
72 Alan Duus M60 50:13 69.1
78 Margaret McSpadden W60 60:24 66.6
84 Peter Hogan M60 54:14 63.8
85 Mick Charlton M55 56:12 58.9
91 Tony Booth M70 55:13 69.6
94 Caroline Campbell W65 56:35 75.2
95 Charmaine Knobel W55 54:02 70.4
101 finishers

Mount Ainslie 4.5k
8 Gary Bowen M50 18:59 76.6% Bronze
12 Cathy Montalto W55 22:00 78.7
17 Geoff Moore M60 18:14 86.0
22 Amanda Walker W40 20:24 72.8
28 Ken White M50 18:39 80.0
38 Katie Forestier W40 18:54 79.6
44 Neil Boden M55 21:19 71.8
64 Annette Sugden W45 25:51 59.3
69 finishers

I didn’t feel I was going very fast, but 86% for me is excellent. However it pales into insignificance compared with Southy’s 96%! These percentages are all relative to the world age standard!


Maria, Helen, and Charlie weren't running at Mt Ainslie, but here they are at Cooleman Ridge two weeks ago.

There's a Place

First place, to be precise, for Adam Robinson in today's Thomas Series run, for the second time I am told; and third place for Miranda in the same handicapped race.

Third place too for Gary in the Frylink Series race.

A place too on the ACTMA committee for Miranda, newly elected Secretary. Paul Archer is the new Treasurer.

Cross Country - who we raced


Start of the 8k cross country championships. Tony (long sleeves) and I (red shoes) are in the foreground.

Ewen in the 12k


Chasing Jim

Mick in a tactical race in the 12k


Not that Ewen's chase wasn't tactical as well.

Dear Prudence

Tomorrow morning 9am is the June monthly handicap at Mt Ainslie. I hope more photos are taken; I have made use of quite a few of John Kennedy's Oakey Hill photos!


Prudence, Kathy S, Rachelle, Pat, Jill and Rod at Oakey Hill last month

If all goes as expected Miranda will be Secretary after tomorrow. I wish her well; last time I was on Main Committee, Prudence was President and I was Vice-President and it was a lot of work! Fortunately "everything" can be delegated.

How Thursday went
Before training at Dickson I ran up to Ainslie-Majura: it is only a short distance to the ridge and the start of the Majura Pines; I will make this a regular run from mid-July. I tried to take the shortest route back, to see how far it was, but "got lost": the dip at the bottom of the following picture was supposed to be a straight line!


Training were Matthew, Bronwyn, Neil, Al, Jodi & Colin running 5 x 600 on 6 minutes; David, Ruth, Rachelle and I jogging around.

I ran the same 600m interval session on Friday at Stromlo and averaged 2:21. I was feeling exceedingly sluggish. Until I got into it properly. Miranda kept me honest.

Both sessions were handicapped starts so that the faster runners started later.


It is still June! Bring on Spring!

Beatles Titles
There are plenty more; I won't run out for a long time yet. Let's see how creative we can be with the more "difficult" ones? "Dear Prudence" for example wasn't a problem, was it?

won't you come out and play
it's a brand new day

Ask Me Why

37 (No expense spared. Cut out cardboard castles and coconuts)



“Outdated Imperialist Dogma”!
Why? This follows up my son turning 37. And parodies (both sides of) conflicting world-views.

ACT Masters
Read the latest (July) Vetrunner. Then please contact me with any and all thoughts about our name change. In particular I would like to collect any good reasons for staying with "Veterans". Don't let those who have already spoken speak for you, the arguments put forward are less than convincing! So far. As you will see.

I also need to monitor whether there is a groundswell of opinion for or against "Masters". If you don't tell me now, don't grumble later on about not being asked!

If you read Vetrunner and still don't know why we want to be Masters, ask me why. I am really very approachable.

Banned for four matches.
'Aint serious sport strange? "England one-day captain Paul Collingwood has been banned for four matches after his side failed to bowl their overs in the required time in Wednesday's one-day international against New Zealand." What next, a jail term? Don't ask me why sport has got to this.

Let's relax and enjoy it. I like Allrounder's motto: "Jack of all, Master of none". Yet we enjoy "mastering" our sport, as best we can, with the help of those around us. And we are masters of our sport in comparison with those who are "Jack of no trades". We enjoy becoming skilled athletes, via friendly competition and social interaction. Now that's all good!


Rod, Colin, Geoff S & Peter at Oakey Hill. In the background you can see Kent, the M60 cross country champion, in the white cap. All these Oakey Hill photos are by John Kennedy (which is why he isn't in them!)

Carry That Weight

Ideal weight. Margaret running at Oakey Hill.

Comments
In response to a Cbox comment: if you want to read or write comments on posts in this blog, please wait and let the whole page load before you open up comments. Otherwise all page loading abends and you will have to start again by refreshing the page. It's a fault in the way I have implemented in-line comments. I guess.

Facebook
I am having fun making friends on Facebook. I like Facebook now because there are short music pages for fans of various singers and bands, some of which even have samples of their music or links to video clips. Another thing I like is you can chat to friends when you are both on-line. Lots of my friends are on facebook. I also have a few photos up there and will add some more if/when I have time.

Weight
After yesterday's post where I confessed to having been 13kg heavier than I am now, I wonder if I should be getting my weight lower than its present 63kg? No, not right now, because (a) it is too cold at this time of year! I should wait for summer when it is easier to lose weight. (b) I am doing two gym sessions a week which should be building muscle, and c) no way am I going to restrict my diet at any time. I will keep on running long and if my weight drops a kg or two over the next few months, so be it.

By the way, for runners who need to lose weight, a drop of any more than 2kg in a month is not healthy.

Kangaroo
After my mention of kangaroos on Tuesday, I ran around the trails behind the Pinnacle and saw only four kangaroos when in the past there have been oodles of them. Noticing the signs warning that poison had been laid for rabbits, and to keep dogs well away, I wondered if "accidentally" the kangaroos were being poisoned too? I have never seen so few around there.


Makes you wonder ...

This Boy

BBQ Stakes today: cold and windy but sunny.
me 25:21
Roger 26:08
Helen 27:45

Strewth tagged me:
How would you describe your running ten years ago?
I wouldn’t. Oh yes, ten years ago, I remember it well. I couldn’t run at all between May and September 1998, and as a new M50 I put on 18 kg in weight in that short time, going up from 58 kg to 76 kg. I have not fully recovered from that set-back. I’m so glad you asked!

What is your best and worst run/race experience?
Best would be winning the Canberra Marathon in 1978 in a new ACT open record. Although close would come winning the combined schools mile in 1965 for Adelaide Boys High School in front of the whole school and all the colleges at Adelaide Oval.

The worst I can think of – and I don’t keep a record of some things - might be when I interrupted a family holiday in Streaky Bay (South Australia near Ceduna) so that I could travel to Brisbane for a National Cross Country race because NSW had picked me as a reserve, only to finish dead last on a miserable waterlogged course. I did run other National Cross Country races with average results, but never that terrible.

Why do you Run?
I am still not dead therefore I run. I run because I love the freedom of running. When I was seven years old I spent most of 1955 in bed. Six months of not even being allowed to get out of bed is frustrating and taught me patience and determination at the same time. And being sick again two years and again twelve years later with the same illness, reinforced in me this determination to be an overcomer. I run because I was so close to dying back then, and because I treat every day as a new day to be celebrated, every day as a bonus, because of those experiences. And debilitating illness is not somewhere I want to go to again for a while. I run therefore I am (still not dead).

What is the best or worst piece of advice you've been given about running?
Best advice I have been given: Percy Cerutty once said to me: “Soar like an Eagle”! Up until now I know how to coast like a goose; I am counting on forty more years to get to an Eagle’s heights. What a motivator!

Worst advice: Over thirty years ago, maybe thirty-five, Canberra coach Darryl Cross said to me: “Why are you still running? Why don’t you give it away?” Ha ha ha! As if! What? A motivator?

Tell us something surprising about yourself that not many people would know!
Anything? Um, ABOUT me? I’ve probably said already that I won a state wide mathematics competition in 1965. This is the same year I was the SA combined schools one mile champion. So what haven’t I said? I think I have said everything, directly or indirectly. OK, some obscure trivia. At High School and University I was a movie fan, and went to see Taylor & Burton’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” at the movies, on five separate occasions, I liked it so much. Clink, clink.

Now I tag 5 friends: I choose the speedygeese who read this and don't have blogs of their own. If that's you, please, please, email me now with the answers! Hopefully at least five will.

Thanks Strewth

Free as a Bird

The speedygeese were flying again around Parliament House last night - hill sprints on the western side, where night time visibility is somewhat better than any of the alternative locations. Running were Ewen, Ruth, & Caroline, who gave the hill sprints a miss but warmed up with us then ran longer, and Cathy, Christine, Colin, Emma, Gary, myself, Helen, Joel, Katie, Ken, Mick H, Neil, Rachelle & Yelena who did the hills.


Michael W, Jeni and Caroline getting trophies in the March Handicap.

Coming Events
Wednesday 12:15pm BBQ Stakes Woden. For me, another shot at running a consistent 25 minutes for a hilly 6k, and a chance to catch up with Roger, Helen & Charlie.

Saturday 1:00pm Goorooyaroo 8k Horse Park Drive (towards the Federal Highway end). An excellent course if you like long hills. It's the ACTCCC's novice championships and I will be there officiating. I will be going for a long run from there up towards Mulligans Flat ("Flat". I don't think so!), probably after the race, if you want to join me for a great nature run assuming the new Gungahlin suburbs haven't scared off all the wildlife. There are/were many different kinds of birds inhabiting this area.

Sunday 9:00am Mt Ainslie ACTMA Handicaps. I haven't run a monthly handicap since January which means I am not eligible. In the short race, as I am in group 40 along with Katie 'n Ken, I think I will just run with them and give Katie back the point I owe her. Hang on, that won't work, I won't get any points anyway! After the race there's a special meeting with speedygoose Miranda nominating as ACTMA Secretary and friend Paul Archer nominating as Treasurer. The only wildlife other than speedygeese in this area are hundreds of kangaroos, providing they haven't all been shot while no-one was looking.

I'll follow the sun

Nothing but fog out there so far today. Drippy, soggy, coldy, foggy. But the sun will be out by the time 4:30pm rocks around and Ewen and I do our pre-training warm-up run at Parliament House. See you there at 5:30pm! Or you could even join us at 4:30pm if you like, but please be on time as we don't wait around!

speedygeese placegetters in the Canada Day Fun Run
10k Females
7. Kelley Flood 43.52
9. Helen Larmour 44.12
13. Bronwyn Calver 45.20
22. Cathy Newman 47.11
5k
Emma Adams 19:41
Ken White 20.06
Katie Forestier 20:12
Amanda Walker 21:43
Cathy Montalto 24:16

I cannot vouch for the accuracy of any of the times. Others ran and were not timed.


Kelley at Oakey Hill. She's good!


Emma last year


Katie last year

My training progress
last week’s target: 100k
achieved: 103k
year 2008 total to date: 2152k in 25 weeks
this week's target: 100k including a 1500m race on Sunday
weight: 63kg ►◄
song of the week: "Opposite Way", by Leeland, from the album “Opposite Way”.
For all these years
Doing the same old things
Hanging with the same crowd
And it’s starting to get crippling
You’ve never felt in place
And you tell yourself it’s all okay
But something’s different today
You want to run the opposite way

And it seems like you’re locked in a cage
And you need to find a way of escape
When everyone is setting the pace
It’s okay to run the opposite way

I will be seeing Leeland live in two weeks time! Yay! And Brooke Fraser too! Yay! Yay! I will be following the sun to Sydney for a week; however cold it ends up being there, at least it will be warmer than here!

This time last year I had run 2,226 km, and I am just behind that now; also I weighed 66.5kg, so I am a bit healthier now at 63kg. Also I was injured and had sore hamstrings right through until December, so it’s a brighter outlook now than it was 12 months ago.

And the days are getting longer.

Triple yay!

A Hard Day's Night

Belluci's


Where's the food?

I was the only one who partied on at Belluci's then ran in the championships the next day. But thanks Jeni and Maria for coming out to watch and cheer us on. Some of the speedygeese who did very well were Tony Booth in the M70s and Kathy Southgate in the W50s. Kathy was way ahead of the M60s in the 8k. Robbie Costmeyer is the only M60 who tried to go with Kathy early; I know not to. The race was two loops of 2.5k, one of 2k, and one of 1k, as I discovered a couple of minutes before the race started. The lowest point on the course, just before turning uphill into the strong wind, was exactly at the 1.5k, 4k, and 6k mark (the one spot). Kent Williams caught Robbie at 1.5k and I caught Robbie at 2.5k. After the first km I trailed Kent by 100m for the entire race; Kent might have pulled away another 20m over the last 800m. My 4k (bottom of the long hill) split was 16 minutes and my final time 33 minutes; that's more even than it looks. The other M60s: Robbie, Graham Burke, and Wayne Gregson were 400m or more behind me at the finish. Des Brown opted to run the 12k; actually I wouldn't be surprised if he simply turned up too late to run the 8k. If Des had run the 8k his time would have been a couple of minutes faster than Kent's was. No other M60 is in form at present, so what this all boils down to is that after May's half marathon and June's cross country, I am established as ACT's third best M60 runner. Moving up that "ranking" will be hard work, but that's the long term plan. I was pleased to keep 100m behind Kent in this run, and I would have caught him if I were able. But Kent will improve from here as he is probably not in top form. Des is in top form and pretty well unbeatable, for now.

Kathy broke 31 minutes!

Parties are nearly as much fun as running


Especially in such pleasant company. In this case, SpeedyJenny and veryspeedyRachelle! This is a previous party, not Friday's.

p.s. 8k result!

Place First Name Surname Club Registration Time
1 Sarah McRae WH 240 29:12
2 Jessamy Hosking SCT 175 30:42
3 Kathy Southgate SCT 182 30:55
4 Jillian Hosking SCT 212 31:18
5 Hannah Flannery SCT 266 31:33
6 Kent Williams ACTMA 2023 32:40
7 Geoff Moore ACTMA 1332 33:04
8 Susie Sprague WC 126 33:11
9 Robbie Costmeyer ACTMA 2142 34:41
10 Wayne Gregson ACTMA 2295 35:34
11 Graham Burke ACTMA 1062 35:54
12 Pam Muston WH 241 36:29
13 Miriam McCarthy WH 244 38:15
14 Ken Eynon WC 148 39:30
15 Tony Booth ACTMA 1044 40:01
16 Clive Glover ACTMA 2631 40:08
17 Bob Chapman ACTMA 1089 40:52
18 Richard Hilhorst ACTMA 4981 41:08
19 Bryan Thomas ACTMA 1458 41:31
20 Dave Hobson WH 246 43:47
21 Bryan McCarthy WH 245 45:27
22 Jill Brown ACTMA 2532 46:56
23 Col Robbie ACTMA 3931 48:52
24 Anne Young ACTMA 1520 51:16
25 Lynn Williams ACTMA 2043 51:26

Just the ACTMA members in the 12k
Bruce Graham 4841 41:22 M45
David Hosking 120 43:06 M40
Martin Fryer 145 43:16 M45
Geoff Hawke 4743 44:49 M50
Trevor Jacobs 50 45:00 M55
Geoff Monro 218 45:40 M40
Anthony Kennedy 5166 47:52 M35
Milton Valentine 2566 49:15 M55
Peter Clarke 1984 49:51 M55
Peter Cullen 3622 50:50 M45
Mick Horan 2168 52:13 M45
Bruce Wight 4065 52:32 M40
Paul Archer 4766 53:37 M55
Neville Madden 1937 53:45 M50
Ewen Thompson 200 54:14 M50
Jim White 2086 54:42 M55
Ken Smith 4823 58:08 M50
Perry Blackmore 1 59:23 M40

Any Time At All

Pat & Gary at Oakey Hill


Bricks in the backpack? Handicapped indeed!

Today's 8k & 12k cross country championships - and it's fine and sunny after all, do come out and watch! - are not part of any long term strategy, I will just have a quick sprint around the 8k course, mindful of where my M60 rivals are, any time at all is OK. This race is just a diversion.

But the High Noon meets ARE part of a long term strategy, which is to get my 3k times well down below 11 minutes, and my 5k times below 19 minutes, eventually.

I will almost certainly run the 1500m in the next one. Here's the program:
High Noon Track Meet Sunday 6 July:
12 noon 3000m
12:02pm long hurdles 200m, 400m
12:10pm 60m
12:25pm 100m
12:40pm 1500m run
12:55pm 1500m walk
1:05pm 200m
1:20pm 400m

Meanwhile, I read the news today, oh boy, are you ever fat!
Health experts say Australia is fast becoming the fattest nation on earth. New figures suggest about a quarter of Australians are classed as either overweight or obese, about the same amount as in America. Professor Simon Stewart, from Melbourne's Baker Heart Institute, will present the study's findings in Melbourne today. He says Australia's obsession with sport has made it harder for people to accept that the nation has a weight problem. "I think we need to reflect on this fact that as we send our Olympians off to the Beijing Olympics," he said. "In terms of our sporting heritage and culture, if we had a fat Olympics, we would be gold medal contenders." One in four of you are fat! And even if you are "average", average is fatter than it used to be! I dare you to move, get up and get active, and get some of that lard off your large bottoms.

Meek and Mild. As If!


I was told that in yesterday's picture I look like Jesus. I take that as a compliment.

Jesus walked everywhere. And was not fat. And told it like it was.
My hero.

Get fit not fat! Look at and be inspired by the pictures of our training group members here and below, they are fit because they run, go forth and do ye likewise. Get up and get moving, in your own time, in your own time, any time at all. Right now would be good.

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Birthday
My son Nathan is 37 today. Happy Birthday!

Jenny and Nathan, 1971



Monty Python and the Holy Grail - script

ARTHUR: Old woman!
DENNIS: Man!
ARTHUR: Man. Sorry. What knights live in that castle over there?
DENNIS: I'm thirty-seven.
ARTHUR: I-- what?
DENNIS: I'm thirty-seven. I'm not old.
ARTHUR: Well, I can't just call you 'Man'.
DENNIS: Well, you could say 'Dennis'.
ARTHUR: Well, I didn't know you were called 'Dennis'.
DENNIS: Well, you didn't bother to find out, did you?
ARTHUR: I did say 'sorry' about the 'old woman', but from the behind you
looked--
DENNIS: What I object to is that you automatically treat me like an inferior!
ARTHUR: Well, I am king!

Nathan


Note the Frank Zappa album cover in the background.

Little Nathan and his Dad


You may comment but don't necessarily expect a reply!

At training last night Colin, Matthew, Bronwyn, David, Neil, Jacqui, Miranda & Jodie ran 3x1km intervals, while Jeni, Ruth & I jogged around. The very light rain started just as we finished, & is still falling. We have had about 6mm overnight. For tomorrow's cross country championships, I wonder if my spikes still fit?

Certainly those trousers don't.

Roll Over Beethoven

Geoff Barker at Oakey Hill

While the world goes crazy, obsessing over John Howard Tributes to Gay Marriage and everything in between, you and I are the sane ones who don't worry about such concerns but only obsess over running, which is different of course. But my passion / obsession for music is just as great if not greater than my passion for running. For a start, I am using every Beatles song title in my blog titles (work your way back and see!) until either I run out of Beatles songs or they just aren't relevant anymore. (Can someone please tell me they had to break into their house via a bathroom window?) Old stuff such as Beatles music is sometimes good (if you ignore the production quality) but I am not so sure about Beethoven - his lyrics were crap, for a start. But speaking of lyrics, good lyrics make the song, which is why I often reproduce lyrics here. From the Graceland days of Paul Simon, to the brilliant writing of Death Cab for Cutie, it's the combination of word and rhythm which grabs the attention. And I now own Coldplay's "Viva la Vida" (I haven't listened to it yet) which may be the next big thing; it will enter the Aria charts at number one next week; a fascinating article on its creation and on Coldplay is in today's Canberra Times. Also in the Canberra Times is a glowing review of Death Cab's "Narrow Stairs", where the reviewer raves about my favourite song "Vineyard Fires". Maybe that will be the single to follow-up "I Will Possess Your Heart".

The Canberra Times also has an interesting article on Pilates and its origin. I have often felt Pilates is pretty stupid and the article reinforces that feeling. Still, doing Pilates is possibly better than doing nothing at all.

But I am not letting journalists tell me what to think. Song-writers, that's different!

On a completely different subject


Here is my song-writing daughter Mon, at a sound desk the other day, and her two daughters. Her son is running around somewhere.

p.s. My review of "Grapevine Fires" was on 2 June in http://geoffmoore.blogspot.com/2008/06/all-things-must-pass.html. And you can still hear it on the playlist on my side-bar. (But not in the office; you had better wait until you get home)

p.p.s. Coincidentally, I have now just been informed that small samples of Mon's CD are on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mon-Hall/48723790243?ref=mf . Songs composed, played, and sung by Mon, with a little help from her friends.

Getting Better

At BBQ Stakes today, Roger ran ~29:05, meaning he is back on track for the Gold Coast marathon. Ruth says she's getting better too, and is also planning to run at Gold Coast. Cathy has also had the odd set-back and is also getting better and is also running Gold Coast. In case I don't find space later, I had better wish you all the best now: Fly, Golden Geese, Fly! (Honk Honk). I will be off to Sydney for a week that day or the next AND WILL HAVE MY MOBILE PHONE WITH ME. (Hint Hint)

As Roger was the only runner there today I will look elsewhere for more results. And I don't have to look very far. Bronwyn did the Black Mountain run-up yesterday and ran a PB by 16 seconds. Could this be due to having a mini-rest? Resting is good for anyone, after a lot of hard work. Remember the Sabbath Principle! (Six days shall ye labour .... ). Another goose getting better!

This Saturday's 8k cross country should be great! ALL the speediest M60s in the ACT are running the 8k, hurrah! So whatever place I end up (3rd, 4th or 5th are all possibilities), it will be a genuine result. And some say it is going to be four laps of 2k. I hope so. Seeing as the women share this race with the over 60 men, I also challenge any of the women in our training group to finish in front of me this Saturday. The way some of you have been training, anything is possible!


Ruth at Oakey Hill

A reminder of when the ACT Championships are on:
Stromlo 8k (Men M60+ & Women) 12:20pm Saturday
Stromlo 12k (Men under 60) 1:00pm