Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Headed out with Jenny (who's over here for a workshop this weekend) late in the day for what was a bit of a token-gesture run for both of us - in my case after spending 12 hours trying to fend off jetlag, in hers after a day spent sitting in a conference room. Naturally this wasn't an especially energetic run but I did feel better for it, at least for the next hour or so. Took in the Chandler and Fairfield bridges; the former is becoming a bit more complicated to access as the construction work gets more advanced.

The fending off jetlag part was more or less successful (in as much as it's 8.30 and I'm still awake), although I did create random sequences of letters by falling asleep into my keyboard on three separate occasions while I was writing the Australian Championships report for the Australian Orienteer. I didn't have quite the same chance to avoid jetlag as one of my colleagues who's at a workshop in Oklahoma this week - within a couple of hours of her arrival the tornado sirens had gone off (somewhat to her disappointment, it was dark so there was nothing to see).

Travel day. Not the easiest of long hauls I've ever done - both flights were full, there were many long queues (an hour just to get into the transfer area at Abu Dhabi), and at the end of it all my bag was just about the last one off - but made it home.

The timing of this flight was a bit different to most times I've done this route, which means it's the first time that I've really had a good chance to see the incredibly stark mountains on the Oman/UAE border properly (from the air). Also got to see the land where the route clips the southern tip of India (looking surprisingly dry) and crosses Sri Lanka (showing some evidence of the landslides I've been writing about).

Also interesting, flying over both in the middle of the night, is that the lights of Istanbul are far brighter than the lights of Adelaide.

C • lights of Adelaide 4

Last run in Geneva, a bit later than planned after sleeping in later than I'd planned on (obviously my watch alarm isn't loud enough). My plan today, as sometimes on long runs here, was to head for France, the target being Veyrier and a track which went on the far side of the border for a kilometre or so. This particular route takes you past one of the quirkier spots of Geneva - the Jewish cemetery which straddles the border. (There's a reason behind this - denominational cemeteries have been banned in Geneva for centuries, but the law doesn't apply to cemeteries which have the majority of their area in another canton or country).

As is often the way with this particular border, it wasn't obvious that you had crossed it (just a couple of marker stones if you knew where to look, and a small Republique Francaise logo on the dogs-on-leads sign - even the yellow Swiss walking track markers continued across the border). I couldn't help thinking, though, that there was a time 75 years or so ago where for some (not least some of those buried in the aforementioned cemetery), that few hundred metres would have been a matter of life and death.

This wasn't a brilliant run - never really got going, although flowed a bit in the last few kilometres. Still handling the climbing reasonably. Had originally been thinking of 105 minutes, but with the late start and an Achilles which was starting to play up a bit, I was happy enough to cut it off where I did and not try to do an extra loop.

On the way back tonight. I hadn't realised when making plans that tonight is the start of school holidays, with predictable consequences for the efficiency of the airport.

Didn't sleep terribly well last night and felt very sleepy indeed after getting up in the morning. Could have tried to battle it out anyway, but had the realisation that if I did this at lunch instead I could do one of my favourite Geneva runs, up onto the hills at the back of Pregny. I wasn't completely sure this would work out - lunchtime runs haven't been that great for me in the last year (and hitting a 2km climb straight out the door even less so), but it worked out fine - in fact it's probably the best I've felt grinding up long hills for ages (albeit a bit slow). The views from the top were as good as always, and it's always a marvel to find a spot as rural as this only a couple of kilometres from the UN headquarters.

The local paper had a headline about the Swiss National Bank throwing billions into the fire. I thought they might have been getting stuck into the bank's management of the exchange rate or something like that, but in fact they meant exactly what they said - it was a story about the destruction of superseded banknotes.

Planned today with intervals in mind but back was playing up for the first time in a while (maybe a different office chair hasn't worked miracles after all). Seemed to have settled down a bit by the afternoon.

As previously noted, the WMO office is next door to the newish (and very discreetly signed) premises of Japan Tobacco. You probably won't be too surprised to hear that there are more lunchtime smokers outside their building than there are outside ours.

It would, perhaps, have been more fitting for this run to be somewhere in the Swiss Alps, but this was a reasonable substitute, seeing the peaks of Mont Blanc and its neighbours silhouetted against the first light as I headed out, then seeing the first sun shining against the Jura on the other side of the lake from the higher parts of the Cologny ridge. Getting there involved a long climb which was a bit of a slog, on a day which wasn't an altogether smooth run, but made it up OK in the end. Quite a bit longer than originally planned but the destination was worth it.

On the way down, I took the street which runs across the Cologny slope about two-thirds of the way up. This has spectacular views and what would undoubtedly be spectacularly expensive real estate - $10 million would only scratch the surface here. I've since found out that amongst those who own property on this particular patch are the Onassis and Kellogg families, Tina Turner and the former Italian royal family. (The Italian royal family is one of several European royal families who never got restored after the turmoil of World War 2 and the lead-up to it, although Bulgaria's King Simeon went into democratic politics post-1989 and served a term as an elected Prime Minister).

C • Italian monarchy 1

Most obscure sight of my Paris wanderings: a plaque marking the former location of the Embassy of Texas. (Presumably this dates back to Texas's short-lived 19th century existence as an independent state).

Didn't feel particularly energetic or awake this morning, and knee was also a bit iffy. After a certain amount of procrastination and a false start of sorts, I decided a bit of rearrangement of the week was in order (it's probably not such a bad thing not to be flying home on Friday with wet swimming gear anyway).

That was before getting the latest news from home. After seeing that, the next few hours in general, and the swim in particular, passed in something of a daze. (As many of you know, Bruce and I go back a very long way - he was my original junior coach, among other things). Can only hope for the best of outcomes (and at least the conditions are favourable, and will stay so for a couple of days).

Then it was back to an afternoon partly spent writing, once I could concentrate enough to write, and partly spent watching the news coming out of Portugal and Ireland getting worse and worse. (I'm assuming that the Australian media has only noticed the Irish part). For the second time in a few months, a Portuguese bushfire disaster feels particularly close to home - this time because it appears that the WMOC 2008 forests are amongst the many which are going up in flames.