Stir crazy.

It is my policy to avoid politics. Except - this is all too much.

People should stop denying Trump is insane. He is insane.





I guess I am angry because I have had to stop running this week. So, I am thinking about other things.

All the recent speedygeese race results

Lake Tuggeranong Stakes 6k 20 February
3. Warrick Howieson 33:59
4. Nicole Bruce 39:04
7. Carolyne Kramar 41:02
8. Roger Pilkington 38:03
13. Peter Thomson 30:04
15. Michael Thompson 29:47
17. Ewen Thompson 39:36
18 finishers

AMRA Black Mountain Run-up 2.6k 20 February
Louise Sharp 18.13
Craig Wurtz 18.44
Sue Bowden 22.22
Caroline Campbell 25.57
21 finishers

YCRC Summer Series #4 Weston Park 5k 20 February
13. Peter Thomson M55 23:18
15. Craig Wurtz M50 23:46
22. Gabrielle Brown W50 24:58
25. Sarah Pau W45 26:03
26. Maria O'Reilly W60 26:10
28. Roger Pilkington M55 27:06
32. Vanessa Palmer W45 28:29
35. Ruth Baussmann W65 28:53
37. Mick Charlton M65 30:17
42. Ewen Thompson M60 31:05
43. Caroline Campbell W75 31:22
46. Carolyne Kramar W50 33:13
49 finishers

BBQ Stakes 6k 21 February
3. Roger Pilkington 40:21
18. Sue Bowden 34:21
23. Carolyne Kramar 43:31
37. Craig Wurtz 31:11
40. Peter Thomson 30:06
42. Ewen Thompson 34:24
46. Bronwyn Calver 34:03
47. Caroline Campbell 42:29
50. Jodie Davis 48:10
54 finishers

ACTMA track 22 February
3000m Pennington
2 Kathy Sims W65 13:48
7 Nigel England M55 12:01
9 Rod Lynch M55 12:18
11 Ruth Baussmann W65 16:51
12 Margaret McSpadden W70 18:33
13 Craig Wurtz M50 13:22
14 Dale Moore M55 14:28
15 Roger Pilkington M55 14:39
16 Ewen Thompson M60 15:36
18 finishers

800m
M50 Damian Rutledge 2:39.76 73.4%
M55 Rod Lynch 2:48.79 73.6
M55 Nigel England 2:51.43 70.8
M50 Craig Wurtz 3:05.53 64.3
M55 Dale Moore 3:55.74 51.9

Spiral 6
2 Roger Pilkington M55 11:16
5 Nigel England M55 10:24
6 Craig Wurtz M50 11:32
9 Damian Rutledge M50 12:18
11 Ruth Baussmann W65 13:42
14 Rod Lynch M55 10:29
15 Ewen Thompson M60 14:24
16 Margaret McSpadden W70 16:48
18 finishers

Customs 5k 23 February
2 Carolyne Kramar 33:44
5 Colin Farlow 19:22
10 Yili Zhu 24:13
11 Roger Pilkington 27:57
12 Caroline Campbell 31:49
14 Ewen Thompson 32:25
18 finishers

Ginninderra 5k parkrun #302 24 February
36 Jane Lilley 23:08 W45 **New PB**
77 Chloe Miller 25:59 W11
78 Eliza Lilley 25:59 W11 **New PB**
88 Jason Roberts 26:35 M45
91 Celina Miller 26:50 W35
131 Ruth Baussmann 29:11 W65
132 Geoff Moore 29:12 M65
286 Brendan Belcher 1:00:03 M35
288 finishers

Tuggeranong 5k parkrun #261 24 February
12 William Barlow 20:06 M35 **New PB**
17 Nigel England 20:33 M55
32 David Clarke 21:54 M55
118 Ewen Thompson 27:36 M60
257 Maya Smith 36:30 W10
258 Pieta Smith 36:30 W40
392 Kerron Clare 56:27 W50
417 finishers

Gungahlin 5k parkrun #230 24 February
150 Lisa McDonald 30:25 W40
152 William Arthur 30:38 M65
174 Margaret McSpadden 32:03 W70
294 finishers

Burley Griffin 5k parkrun #90 24 February
30 Craig Wurtz 22:03 M50
86 Kelley Horan 25:35 W55
120 Jennie Blake 27:24 W60
123 Michael Horan 27:33 M55
155 Caroline Campbell 29:24 W75
311 finishers

Queanbeyan 5k parkrun #43 24 February
28 Vanessa Palmer 29:54 W45
54 Justine Caines 38:59 W45
81 finishers

Goulburn parkrun #3 24 February
202 finishers

Batemans Bay 5k parkrun #95 24 February
41 Victoria Hennig 36:03 W55
50 finishers

St Peters 5k parkrun #317 24 February
6 Bernardo Palma 18:41 M30 **new PB**
336 finishers

ACTMA Handicap Weston Park 6k 25 February
3 Ruth Baussmann W65 35:14 **silver**
5 Jennie Blake W60 35:05
20 Craig Wurtz M50 34:14
21 Nadine Morrison W45 31:18
25 Mick Charlton M65 39:04
27 Nigel England M55 27:07
30 Caroline Campbell W75 37:58
32 Roger Pilkington M55 38:03
37 finishers

ACTMA Handicap Weston Park 3k 25 February
6 Cathy Montalto W65 16:00
12 Jill Pearson W60 15:16
27 finishers


Caroline and Sue

“It Wears Me Out”

Song of the week, from Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees.
At https://youtu.be/n5h0qHwNrHk


“This machine will not communicate”

Deluge

Pictures by Lisa taken this morning in Lyneham.



I didn't run a soggy Coombs parkrun trial run. I didn't run a drenched Masters handicap. But I was away from home when water started flooding our lounge room. Fortunately my wife was home and saved the day.

30 Day March Plank Challenge

I will try this one (plus other abdominal exercises). For the first 15 days I will probably do it twice in the day. Then we'll see how easy the second half becomes.



My record plank so far is about 200 seconds. But that was a couple of years ago when I was fitter.
Anyway I may have to resort to such exercises more frequently, to give my calf and Achilles time to repair.

This week’s speedygeese training sessions

Sunday 18 February long run report [Jen]: To start I should say that I wasn't actually at the long run today. There will be no guarantee that this report is actually very accurate and indeed most of it will be made up. William Barlow did provide me with with some notes thankfully.
It was a brisk morning at the start of the run when 12 runners sprinted away from Tuggeranong McDonalds vowing never to come back. They had only waited out the front of Maccas for a short while, but it didn't take long from watching the clientele coming and going to know that it was a place to be avoided.
Graeme had created a very pleasant course on nice trails over Urambi hills and along the Murrumbidgee to Point Hut and back.
I'm not actually sure if anyone got lost but apparently they made a good effort to try. Narelle did her best to stop their efforts of "extra exploring" by yelling out directions whenever she could.
Those running today were: Jinny, Susan, Narelle, Graeme,William, Martin, Brownie, Sue, Matt, Paul as well as first-timers Rowan and Richard!
Everyone ending up running anywhere from 15k to 22k (even if they did risk their life and limb by doing laps of maccas to achieve the further distance)
There were no major falls although Martin did try to roll his ankle at the 1k mark. Luckily didn't do a good enough job of it and kept upright so that he continued and finished the rest of the run.
Lucky thing as he tends to be the one that many of us rely on to keep us going and remain upright on the running front!
It was a great turn out for a lovely run when many of us were absent doing various other events.
Lots of us were at Jimmy’s sprint marathon relay at Fadden Pines. Only to be greatly disappointed to find out that the Wooden spoon prize was no longer on offer. A sought after and obtainable goal for many.
Ruth and Dave were away for the Huskisson Triathlon (Dave coming second in his age group).
Jen Blake was in NZ winning her age group in a tough half marathon (Shot over moonlight marathon)
Shiree was doing UTA training - 32 hilly ks (with Kristy and others) after running up and down Tennent the day before!
Thach and Jason were off doing the "big canberra bike ride" both involving their children in the event. (Jason backing up after a 3 hour rogaining event the night before!
So basically a bunch of over achievers really.
See you next week on our Sunday long run which will include doing the Coombs park run trial somewhere in the middle of it. 🤓

Monday 19 February at Parliament House: 20 minutes of 3 person zig zag relays, then 5 or so minutes of 2 person. Present: Bron, Dom, Mick C, Miranda, Jinny, Ruth, Colin, Rae, Bernado, Vanessa, Jen, Isaac, Pieta, Warrick, Lisa, Craig, Christopher, me supervising, and I saw Adrian and Richard and Daniel there as well.

Thursday 22 February at Stromlo Forest Park saw a smaller number run the km intervals, while Thach and Ryan hit the cycle tracks before joining in the warmup 2.5k. I ran a few token kms, and Jen, Isaac, Jennie, Colin and Andrew ran 3 x 1km, and Sandeep ran 4 x 700m.

Just a few of the speedygeese

Bill Arthur - promoting a fund raiser for the NTA

Contact Bill at https://www.facebook.com/bill.arthur.9

Simon’s Cat - Paws and Chores

From https://youtu.be/UL9LnPa-3A4

All the recent speedygeese race results

Lake Tuggeranong Stakes 6k 13 February
1. Warrick Howieson 31:56
2. Sandeep Chandra 32:05
6. Nicole Bruce 41:07
8. Peter Thomson 29:40
9. Ewen Thompson 37:13
10. Craig Wurtz 30:19
13. Roger Pilkington 33:06
14. Michael Thompson 30:49
16. Carolyne Kramar 45:14
20 finishers

YCRC Summer Series #3 Telopea East 4k 13 February
15. David Clarke M55 17:09
18. Craig Wurtz M50 18:15
19. Louise Sharp W35 18:26
23. Peter Thomson M55 18:48
28. Sarah Pau W45 20:49
36. Mick Charlton M65 22:55
43 finishers

BBQ Stakes 6k 14 February
5. William Barlow 28:04
20. Jodie Davis 48:42
21. Roger Pilkington 33:04
40. Craig Wurtz 31:47
44. Jason Lewis 34:26
45. Peter Thomson 31:28
50. Bronwyn Calver 35:37
51. Ewen Thompson 37:09
54. Caroline Campbell 46:43
60 finishers

ACTMA track 15 February
3000m
M55 Roger Pilkington 14:54.90

10000m Championship
M55 Nigel England 46:21.46
M60 Ewen Thompson 50:33.28
M55 Roger Pilkington 52:22.95
W65 Ruth Baussmann 57:49.47
W70 Margaret McSpadden 65:47.87

Customs 5k 16 February
3 Caroline Campbell 31:44
5 Peter Thomson 23:37
6 Roger Pilkington 33:23
10 Yili Zhu 24:00
13 Craig Wurtz 25:14
15 Colin Farlow 19:41
21 Bill Arthur 49:07
21 finishers

Burley Griffin 5k parkrun #89 17 February
42 Craig Wurtz 22:28 M50
97 Elizabeth Bennett 25:43 W55
307 finishers

Ginninderra 5k parkrun #301 17 February
25 Gavin Mongan 21:54 M35
34 Emma Adams 22:53 W45 **First Parkrun**
65 Bron Sparkes 24:27 W40
87 Geoff Moore 25:46 M65
88 Jill Pearson 25:48 W60
311 finishers

Tuggeranong 5k parkrun #260 17 February
15 Nigel England 20:18 M55
65 David Clarke 23:54 M55
140 Ewen Thompson 28:06 M60
349 William Barlow 50:46 M35
373 Kerron Clare 59:41 W50
383 finishers

Gungahlin 5k parkrun #229 17 February
77 Janene Kingston 24:46 W50
160 Lisa McDonald ~30:05
172 Margaret McSpadden 31:03 W70
192 Carolyne Kramar 32:06 W50
266 William Arthur 41:21 M65
316 finishers

Queanbeyan 5k parkrun #42 17 February
1 Bernardo Palma 19:08 M30 **New PB**
37 Justine Caines 35:55 W40 **New PB**
79 finishers

Goulburn parkrun #2 17 February
28 Dale Moore 25:36 M55
243 finishers

Batemans Bay 5k parkrun #94 17 February
21 Victoria Hennig 28:11 W55
51 finishers


Lisa enjoying parkrun

Too much too young

Song of the week – Muse - New Born.
From https://youtu.be/qhduQhDqtb4

In the long run

This week’s speedygeese training sessions

Sunday 11 February long run report [Dave]:
The speedygeese were in usual form this morning, with Sandeep setting a new benchmark, getting lost before the run started. Unfortunately he didn’t know there were two Kaleen shopping centres. 😂 He still arrived before Narelle, who missed out on the group photo and almost missed the opening ceremony.
The celebrity for the opening ceremony was Shane’s best friend Scully, who was so excited to see everyone, with tail wagging (but not as psycho as at parkrun). Scully wasted no time getting festivities underway, opening the days activities by squatting in the middle of the group and proudly emptying his bowels (thanks for cleaning it up Shane). 😱 💩
Ruth had created a very pleasant course on nice trails through O’Connor Ridge for the short run and Bruce Ridge for the long run. With perfect weather, a good time was had by all.
Welcome to first-timers Brett, Nadine and Jess. 😊
It’s hard to say whether anyone got lost, especially seeing as I was near the back (after yesterday's intense runs), but there were rumours of various people turning up in strange places and crossing paths, as well as a large group running the wrong way around one of the ridges. Nevertheless, most seemed happy with their run.
Ewen, Shane, Scully, Jennifer, Brett, Nadine, Sue and Jess did around 18km. Giles ran from home and ended up with 25k. Narelle, Ruth and Lisa did 23k and Sandeep and James did around 21k. Graeme finished with about 20k.
Dave B, Susan, Margaret, Bron, Janene, Helen, Carolyne and I did the short version (about 13k, although I added a couple of km by heading for the wrong shops – at least Sandeep had an excuse as he hadn’t already been there 😂).
It wasn’t without incident, with Carolyne and Ruth taking a dive (standard procedure for Carolyne unfortunately). Plus Bron had issues with a very leaky bladder (photos omitted due to rating).
Next week some of us are doing Jimmy’s sprint marathon relay. For those who aren’t, Narelle has already created the routes.
See you next week. 🤓

Monday 12 February at Parliament House: Highlights included 3 year old Maya in a stroller being wheeled around the course by her mum with the assistance of 2 or 3 others up the steepest hill. We ran court 8 450m loops, 8 in total including the familiarisation jog at the start. Participating were Brownie, Ruth, Miranda, Bernado, Thomas, Warrick, Craig, Ewen, Jen, and Susan with Maya, while I supervised and Christopher walked in and out of sight.

Thursday 15 February at Stromlo Forest Park: Brownie, Isaac, Colin, Susan and Jen ran 3 x 1k with a 1k jog (and hydration) in between. I watched before limping home with an Achilles tendon which seems to be worsening. Thach enjoyed drills with Ryan and Emily. And many other runners were enjoying the short grass and cooling evening.

Sunday's run.

running on empty

Anniversaries.

I should have been busy today, I have to work out how to change ACTMA run/walk handicaps without breaking the system. But it looks like being delayed yet again as speedyJenny and I will go out to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Sorry Day; to celebrate Valentines Day; to celebrate the 15th anniversary of my retirement from the ABS; to celebrate my brother's 68th birthday; and to celebrate the demise of an awful deputy Prime Minister. And something else, to mourn the Eastern States' flagrant disregard for the need to release water into dying South Australian waterways. By the way, guess who is "water minister" and what state he comes from. Good news today would be his resignation along with the defeat of a motion to reduce the environmental water recovery target. Which gives us more to celebrate, should both happen today.

Yes!


No!


The choice is obvious, to me.

All the recent speedygeese race results

BBQ Stakes 6k 31 January
9. Roger Pilkington 31:21
37. Caroline Campbell 40:49
38. Craig Wurtz 30:10
40. William Barlow 29:00
44. Jason Lewis 33:07
45. Carolyne Kramar 45:38
48. Peter Thomson 31:21
50. Bronwyn Calver 34:33
52. Ewen Thompson 37:20
59 finishers

YCRC Women’s Jogalong 6k 04 February
18. Sarah Pau W45 34:19
53. Caroline Campbell W75 36:41
58. Nadine Morrison W45 28:57
59. Cathy Montalto W65 34:38
71 finishers

Lake Tuggeranong Stakes 6k 06 February
1. Sandeep Chandra 30:00
5. Carolyne Kramar 42:34
6. Roger Pilkington 30:34
7. Peter Thomson 28:36
8. Ewen Thompson 35:38
10. Michael Thompson 30:11
15 finishers

AMRA Mt Ainslie Run-Up 2.3k 06 February
2 Stuart Doyle 13.40
4 Monika Holmwood 14.22 **New PB**
14 Craig Wurtz 17.22
17 Louise Sharp 18.52
20 Caroline Campbell 25.04
20 finishers

YCRC Summer Series #2 National Museum 5k 06 February
9. David Clarke M55 20:47
14. Rohan Pitchford M50 21:49
15. Louise Sharp W35 22:24
16. Craig Wurtz M50 22:36
20. Ewen Thompson M60 23:44
23. Gabrielle Brown W50 24:11
24. Peter Thomson M55 24:46
26. Kathy Sims W65 25:22
27. Sarah Pau W45 25:36
28. Maria O'Reilly W60 26:04
29. Tori Hennig W55 26:18
35. Mick Charlton M65 28:44
39 finishers

BBQ Stakes 6k 07 February
2. Victoria Hennig 47:10
7. Roger Pilkington 31:20
40. William Barlow 28:33
43. Craig Wurtz 31:11
49. Peter Thomson 31:11
50. Caroline Campbell 42:56
55. Bronwyn Calver 36:23
56. Ewen Thompson 39:06
62 finishers

ACTMA track 08 February
400m
M55 Nigel England 71.83
M55 David Clarke 77.81

1500m
M55 David Clarke 5:34.67
W65 Kathy Sims 6:39.11
W65 Ruth Baussmann 7:49.64
W70 Margaret McSpadden 8:50.22

3000m
M55 Roger Pilkington 14:34.16
M55 Dale Moore 14:57.67

Customs 5k 09 February
3 Colin Farlow 20:08
5 Giles Lamb 21:48
7 Peter Thomson 24:12
10 Craig Wurtz 25:07
12 Carolyne Kramar 35:45
20 Roger Pilkington 29:06
21 Ewen Thompson 32:51
24 finishers

Burley Griffin 5k parkrun #88 10 February
35 Craig Wurtz 21:51 M50
54 Yili Zhu 23:24 M50
281 finishers

Ginninderra 5k parkrun #300 10 February
111 Kevin Miller 26:42 M40
113 Jason Roberts 26:48 M45
126 Chloe Miller 27:38 W11
127 Eliza Lilley 27:39 W11
128 Jane Lilley 27:42 W45
139 Celina Miller 28:20 W35
142 Geoff Moore 28:28 M65
348 finishers

Tuggeranong 5k parkrun #259 10 February
14 Nigel England 20:13 M55
23 David Clarke 21:16 M55
44 David Webster 23:11 M65
105 Kerron Clare 27:16 W50
382 finishers

Gungahlin 5k parkrun #228 10 February
38 Nadine Morrison 22:13 W45
94 Janene Kingston 25:28 W50
296 William Arthur 44:45 M65
336 finishers

Queanbeyan 5k parkrun #41 10 February
2 Bernardo Palma 20:25 M30
11 Amanda Cook 25:44 W40
19 Vanessa Palmer 29:13 W45
45 Justine Caines 37:46 W40 **New PB**
66 finishers

Goulburn parkrun #1 10 February
25 Peter Thomson 21:42 M55
28 Chris Gammon 21:47 M55
54 David Baussmann 24:30 M65
128 Ruth Baussmann 28:40 W65
155 Brendan Belcher 30:53 M35
165 Margaret McSpadden 32:11 W70
182 Carolyne Kramar 33:40 W50
240 Ewen Thompson 38:57 M60
456 finishers

Batemans Bay 5k parkrun #93 10 February
17 Gabrielle Brown 24:28 W50
23 Victoria Hennig 27:06 W55
51 finishers


Run-of-the-week: Monika's big PB at the monthly Mt Ainslie run-up

New from U2

Song of the week: "Get Out Of Your Own Way" by U2
At https://youtu.be/_zu53yAoTJE

Eliza, Jane and friends at Ginninderra parkrun

New speedygeese, Eliza (on the right), Jane (second to the right)

Goulburn parkrun launch

My mate Jaemin won the inaugural Goulburn parkun. Good job! Thommo was the first of the speedygeese, finishing 25th. There were 456 finishers! But with a few Canberrans skipping their local parkruns, Ginninderra still managed to set a new record, 348 finishers, 23 up on last time. At Ginninderra I didn't make the first 100. So here are some Goulburn pics.


Oh look! A fruity Ruth at Goulburn.


It's a sign! Good try. Margaret, Carolyne.


There's Jo! Hey, Jo.


..and Ewen.

This week’s speedygeese training sessions

Sunday 04 February long run report [Dave]:
With a nippy 16 degrees and overcast conditions, 22 speedygeese headed off from Forde shops for the Sunday morning 7am ritual, this time at Mulligans Flat thanks to Jen Blake. Welcome to newbies Sue, Paul and Katrina and some returning including Margaret, Jenny M, Kelly, James and Monika. The usuals included Shiree, Thach, Janene, Sandeep, William, Browny, Jen Br, Giles, Ruth, Jen Bl, Ewen, Graham, Narelle and me. 😮
The lead pack set a cracking pace, helped by the course being relatively flat (thanks Jen). Monika and William were standout performers, followed by a few strugglers - Jen, Narelle and I. Narelle slowed up at the end with a stitch, while Jen was tiring and I’m just old. Monika even had time to throw in some chin-ups on the way. 😱
Thach, Giles and a couple of others were smart enough to slow down in the second half (and did I mention they got lost?). 😂
Ewen decided to make his run more interesting by adding 15 x 500s. Must be a new thing recommended by some famous coach – long slow run with fast bits. 🤔
It was nice to see Mick at the end as well as Bob, Carolyne, David B and Bron, who turned up for coffee. 🙂 ☕
Thanks for the run everyone. See you next week and don’t forget speedwork at Parliament House 5.30pm Monday and at Stromlo Forest Park 5.30pm Thursday. 🤓







Monday 05 February at Parliament House: 31 degrees and sunny meant that we headed for the shade of the Parliament House Rose Gardens again this week, and ran relays in teams of three and two. Present were Ruth, Ewen, Kelley, Giles, Colin, Pieta, Sandeep, Bron, Dom, Isaac, Jennie, Lisa, Mick H (new), Tori, Dave, Jen, Craig with me doing little more than watching.

Thursday 08 February at Stromlo Forest Park: Another warm night, the clouds came over just in time. Running 6 x 500m hill loops on 5 minutes were Janene, Sandeep, Jen, Isaac, Jennie, Nicole, and me doing the timing. No Gosling session tonight as it had promised to be hot.

A Day In The Life Of A Cat Owner - Simon's Cat

From https://youtu.be/fcjR93Jin4Y