A gnome of very little brain *

* with apologies to A.A. Milne (more later, but first...)


The first Striders' 10k for the year was a boomer! We arrived at 6:25 because TA was on marshalling duties, and the cars were already parked back to the roundabout where I normally park when I'm running late! I bet there won't be that many (331 runners) in mid-winter :-). When TA fronted up to the new volunteers' organiser, she found out that she was down for 40minute pacing duties! Given that her pb is 51:30 and she was volunteering due to injury, this was a tad unlikely. She nicely explained that, due solely to her injuries, she wouldn't be able to fulfil that particular role, and ended up on timekeeping instead :-)

I promised in my previous post to divulge my goal, but only after the event. Well, I'm relieved to be able to state that I had expected to do somewhere between 44 & 45 minutes, and that I actually achieved sub-44 (43:55 to be exact). Consequently, I am officially and uncompromisingly stoked! Scribbly didn't seem as bad as I remember, but the pull up to the top was just as gut wrenching as normal. Nicho had shot off at the start in search TA's replacement 40 minute pacer, so I got a suprise when I spotted him up ahead at about the 6 k mark. I gradually reeled him in, reaching him at about 8k. When he saw me he roared off like a scalded cat, setting himself about 30m ahead where he stubbonly remained for the remainder of the race, defying all attempts to catch him :-) Still, it was good for a pb for both of us, so happy days all round.

Today (Sunday) was also a good day, but kinda dumb as well (hence the Pooh Bear reference in the title). Because of the race yesterday, I had nominated this as one of my regular 'down' weeks, and so only intended to do 20k. Still, 20k is 20k, so I headed out to find the striders so I wouldn't get lonesome. Mistake number one was to turn left instead of right when I got to the highway, so I ended up in Turramurra instead of Wahroonga. Mistake number two was not having my glasses so I could read the map and work out where I was supposed to be. The corollary of 1 & 2 was that I arrived at the park just as the 6:10am group was leaving. By the time I found parking, grabbed my stuff & dumped the keys with the hosts, it was about 6:15, leaving me with a choice of either trying to chase them down or run by myself.

Given that the whole point of being there was to run with others, I set off in pursuit. Luckily, I was shortly joined by another strider, so at least the chase wasn't lonely. We finally got the 6am group after about 9k, but didn't get to the 6:10 group until about 13k (right at the 20k turnaround point, so, having caught them, they all kept going and we turned back). We did the entire chase at slightly over 5minute pace, and although we slowed back to about 5:20 pace for the remainder, the damage was done. Even though I've been in the skins all day, my legs are most uncomfortable, and I'm very glad that I have a rest day tomorrow. So much for my 'easy' week.

Total for week - 55k

sfG