Training Log Archive: jennycas

Afterwork shuffle in Sheps, because I was curious to see whether the creek was flowing yet - well, it was and it wasn't. Still completely dry by the archery butts at this stage but gurgling merrily oceanwards less than 1km upstream from there, which implies a cloudburst up the hill east of the railway line.

Put one foot in front of the other. Repeat. And so on.

After a full-on day at work (the next month is not going to be fun), trailed Zara & Fern to the redwoods - stopping every so often to collect a green tape as we'd not had anyone available to check the controls once they were out on Monday and therefore nobody brought in the tapes.

Warm wet water from above and from below.

Squeezed this in before a pharmacists' dinner meeting for which I had spent far too many evenings on writing a talk to present (at least it was well received, but still seemed like a lot of work for a free feed, although the food was good).

Absolutely dead after 6 hours on my feet @schools' champs (only half as many kids entered as we had hoped for; we had over 300 in 2016. In the end we got twice as many volunteers - this event would not be possible without retirees - as we'd at one stage feared we were going to have available, so all went smoothly) but it was too nice an afternoon not to go for a run, especially as I've basically spent the last couple of weeks sitting on my bottom doing event stuff.

Knew that my legs wouldn't want to go up the hill but made them do it anyway because I wanted to check out a track I'd never been on before, at the far/upper end of Waite; the 'Sheoak Loop' contours around amongst quarries high above the freeway gulch and then comes back down the ridge over Brown Hill. Going up required lots of stretching/breath-catching stops but the views over other, now green, hills from the ridgeline was definitely worth it. As was all the effort which Tyson and I put into schools' champs - we're a bit disappointed that our controller wasn't particularly proactive, but oh well. It's possible though that Tyson went above & beyond the call of duty by getting the kids to sing Happy Birthday to me at the presentations!

Spent too long on election-watching with G last night so needed to get up at 6 to bag schools' champs maps (heat-sealering reminding me of preparations for Aust Champs 2010 when we had to do many many hundreds of map bags) and then headed to Bridget's training. It was a beautiful sunny day up in Mt Crawford forest and I enjoyed the open hilltop where I could sometimes actually see other people around me when they were running uncertain of the rock detail because some things are a bit weird up there at times. Took a couple of experimental route choices through the green (NB: do not do that again) on the longer legs and then he second part was in pine forest which had been the final controls for the 2018 Aust Long, although not quite so runnable now due to some thinning and by the end my foot was hurting from the rough stuff, but this was the longest orienteering course which I've done since last July, and should mean I'm ok to get around a similar distance at Twigham next month.

Headed straight from there to Belair to put out all 54 schools' champs controls, didn't get the last ones out until well & truly after dark (what's with 5.17 sunset, a month before the shortest day already?) but at least I'm pretty sure that the two police cars cruising around the interior of the old decommissioned golf course weren't looking for me. Bagged the remainder of the maps after dinner, and that was my birthday done.

I'm tentatively prepared to say that a change of government was a good birthday present, although the proof's going to be in the pudding, as the saying goes, and the victors would do well to remember how little of the primary vote they actually got, and how much they owe to the two-party-preferred voting system and to those candidates from whose preferences they benefited. (Anyway, certainly I'm glad to see the back of the coal-fondler! As for good ol' Clive, I do wonder whether he now considers his $70 million in advertising to have been well spent...)

C • Two party preferred 11