Note
(rest day)
Well, since everyone seems to be reflecting on their year, maybe I'll go one better and recap 15 seasons of running 21s (elites on and off, but more on than off - I think.) I am deeply thankful that the requirement to qualify for elites by getting 3 gold credits in a year has been scrapped. Basically, I would achieve this, but then be too far down the elite results to get enough credits to stay in elites, but then drop back to 21A for the next year, then scrape into E for the year after, and so on. Actually, I think that since this no longer happens, all the elite girls are running faster and stronger, and there are so many more of us - which means that my results are no better, but they feel like more of an achievement because of the effort required. (Don't know if it plays out this way in the men, somehow. They get to do a lot more pack running than we do, by the sound of it.)
Oh yeah, and 15 years ago the Southern Arrows didn't exist. It's fair to say we've had peaks and troughs (and sometimes I've been part of the trough) but I can't imagine belonging to any other NOL team, that's for sure! Reuben and Ben and Tyson before me have built it up with a lot of determination, and produced the best uniform in the country. Right now I think it's a team that people are proud to be part of, and that's great. We just need to do a little (a lot?) of work on getting together a decent junior team. That's why I think I'll try coaching instead of managing for a change :)
Note
Sad day all the same. George tells me that our favourite Fudge-cat got skittled on the weekend and he had to bury her yesterday :( Smudge and Tiger are a bit confused about what has happened to their mother. Still, I guess it was tempting fate to have 3 cats - managing to keep 3 of them out from under the wheels of passing cars for 5 years is probably equivalent to having one cat for 15 years. And now we are no longer in breach of the local council's proposed 2-cat maximum.