Training Log Archive: GraceE

Oceania Relays, Gaerloch (Badja).
I ran 1st leg in a composite team with Tamsin and Laurina. Really fun course and a nice map scale (1:10000). c5 was a tricky one - diagonally down a slope and I took it carefully, maybe too carefully. Other than that I ran hard with good map contact and didn't have any issues. Fun! :)

I had a great weekend, mostly because I got to catch up with so many people, most of whom I hadn't seen for nearly four years! It is really so nice to be back :)

Australian Long Champs, Marginata (Badja).
Fun course in some classic Aussie terrain. I got off to a good start but faffed a little on the way to c5, my chosen route to the left taking me in sight of c6. Good through c6-9. On the long leg to c10 I took the right (as opposed to left) option down the fence line, which turned out to be a minute slower than going straight. I'm now so used to "avoiding the shit" that I forget that in Australia you always just go straight. Matt and I both made this mistake on this leg. I dropped 30secs at c13 where I caught Kathryn running around in the circle and thought I'd join in. Jo caught Kathryn and me in the open stuff at c18 and then I really really started to feel tired. I hung on to the others for the last bit but we all missed c21, me being the slowest to realise and relocate. Can't believe it was only just over an hour, I was so tired! Finished 3rd behind Jo and Lizzie.

Event: Oceania Sprint, Aust Long & Oceania Relays
 

Oceania Sprint Champs, Wombat Hill (Badja).
A super fun bush sprint, with most of the course in a tiny section of bush. Lots of granite boulders, some bare rock, clearings and some light green to make it a bit more tricky.
I set off safely to the first and focused on good map contact and flow from there. Was happy to hit c3 cleanly and then flowed through the next lot of short controls well. Was heaps of fun and really pleased to take the win :)

Bridge to bridge from J&C's place in Barton.

This is an old story now but I'm going to mention it anyway because I was proud of myself for acting on my instincts.
On Monday Matt and I were packing the last few things into our bags and getting rid of the remaining furniture. We also had a cleaner in for a few hours. During the morning some removal men came to take away our sofa and during their time in our flat I noticed my wallet was no longer near my coffee where I thought I left it. I madly ran around checking other places where I may have put it but couldn't see it and I was about 98% sure I had left it by my coffee. So I pretty much had to accuse the two removal men of taking it. It was quite awkward and I didn't really know what to do next. They obviously didn't own up to it. One or both of them said that I could search them if I wanted to. This was as good as a confession to me and it also told me that the wallet wasn't on them. So I thought they could have hidden it in their removal van when they had been down the first time to load the sofa. I walked down the stairs and out into the carpark, climbed into their removal van and hurriedly started looking for the wallet. I heard them come out the door but I kept madly searching, in between a stack of cushions and then in between each layer of a big pile of blankets. Then I found it, at arms reach hidden in the pile of blankets. I was mad but mostly just relieved because my wallet had all my Aussie bankcards as well as my British bankcards and it would had been a really bad time to lose them.
The moral of the story is to trust your memory and to act on your instincts, even if you might be wrong :)

C • welcome back 2

Arrived in Sydney. Caught the bus to Canberra at 8.30am. Picked up by Jasmine and Craig who we will be staying with for the next week or 4.

Still flying...

We finished packing, travelled to Heathrow and caught our flight to Australia at 10pm.