October has gotten off to a crappy start for me. I was in fine form and had a nice little 6km race this coming weekend all set to knock off my 6km PB; but alas, I've succumbed to a chest infection and have to sit at home all forlorn-like and "keep warm" and "rest well" and other such bah humbug nonsense.
Oh well, at least I have the pleasure of following everyone else's running adventures here; doubly pleasing because EG is in fine writing fettle too.
While reading with increasing enthuasiasm of my fellow RCers efforts to get into shape for forthcoming races, and their dreams of greater goals and glory ahead, my own running has screeched to a halt as a lingering chest infection puts all thoughts of ... well, anything strenuous at all on the back burner.
Additionally, tomorrow I start a spell of jury duty, further eating into my free time and generally disrupting my schedules, such as they are.
None-the-less I'm getting great enjoyment reading everyone's postings here, not the least of them EG's, and am itching to get back out there myself, especially as the weather warms up here as we head into another glorious Aussie summer.
Further motivation comes from the World Masters' Games, being held this week here at Olympic Park in Sydney; the train stations in the mornings being full of incredibly fit-looking older people. I had toyed with the idea of entering this myself (it being open to all comers), but am glad now that I didn't, given that the chances of me making it once around the track at the moment without raising the heart rates of watching paramedics, are remote.
Still, I'm confident that within a few days I'll be rid of this wretched lurgi and will be back out there hitting the pavements and trails and maybe on occasion the treadmill too.
Meanwhile, the rest of you - keep posting, please, it's immensely interesting and tremendous fun reading everyone's exploits, not the least of them the respective training of the rapidly approaching clash of the Titans: SP -v- EG at the Crawley 10. It's going to be a ripper duel!
Slow improvement on the health front - feeling better and getting out and about but still not able to run, which is frustrating. Still, I'm on the way to being healthy again so just a little patience required.
Jury service today turned out to be an anti-climax: half a day of sitting around in the jury room reading my book and drinking their horrible cheap coffee and then suddenly we were discharged; no longer required and exempt from jury service for the next 12 months; and "thanks so much for coming and for your patience today". Oh. How dull.
So, no dramatic murder trial or busted train robbers (do people rob trains anymore?) for MLCMan... instead it's back to work. Rats.
(13-10-2009, 05:21 AM)Mid Life Crisis Man Wrote: Slow improvement on the health front - feeling better and getting out and about but still not able to run, which is frustrating. Still, I'm on the way to being healthy again so just a little patience required.
Jury service today turned out to be an anti-climax: half a day of sitting around in the jury room reading my book and drinking their horrible cheap coffee and then suddenly we were discharged; no longer required and exempt from jury service for the next 12 months; and "thanks so much for coming and for your patience today". Oh. How dull.
So, no dramatic murder trial or busted train robbers (do people rob trains anymore?) for MLCMan... instead it's back to work. Rats.
Hopefully some running news soon...
Bad news on the jury front. I've done it once, about 20 years ago, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a 2 week paid holiday from work for which I received generous expenses, quite apart from being entertained by the emotional theatrics of the court and the polite argument of the jury room. Hope I get the chance to do it again.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
Finally beginning to shake the last vestiges of this chest infection that lingers like an unwanted bottle of cheap tequila ... am hoping to finally get out for a run in a day or three ... probably three, as I've two days back at work before another trip back to Adelaide for a week or so.
For now though, it's sit back, enjoy a refreshing ale and await the news from the ... Crawley 10.
(18-10-2009, 09:28 AM)Mid Life Crisis Man Wrote: For now though, it's sit back, enjoy a refreshing ale and await the news from the ... Crawley 10.
Aye, and there's the rub.
I've scrambled out of bed like a child on Christmas morn, dashing down stairs to my virtual Christmas stocking ... but lo! No trace of soot nor Santa! What foul villainy hath prevented tidings of this great event?
I shall slope off to bed to await the news, much as we await the sunrise in this bleak & frozen colonial outpost ...
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
(18-10-2009, 10:52 AM)Sweder Wrote: I shall slope off to bed to await the news, much as we await the sunrise in this bleak & frozen colonial outpost ...
Aye, as our esteemed leader says, "The sun never sets on planet RC".
(18-10-2009, 10:52 AM)Sweder Wrote: I've scrambled out of bed like a child on Christmas morn ...
Now, Mr.Sweder, according to my "Daylight map" (thanks be to the Gods that provideth ye iGoogle apps), you posted that excitable missive well before dawn, Montreal time...
Are you really human, or some bizarre nocturnal alien that likes running up and down mountains and throwing conferences and exhibitions together in far-flung parts of the globe?
A fabulous Giger piece there mate, taken from his 1979 collection. Having created the ultimate bad-ass movie monster the Swiss maestro was unable to stop churnng out these airbrushed incarnations for many months. An undoubted genius, and mad as a box of frogs.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
(19-10-2009, 10:04 AM)glaconman Wrote: You were flying a couple of weeks ago MLCM. So this chest has come at a bad time. You got any planned races/targets on the horizon now it's shifted?
No - I had a race planned in Canberra but was crook for that and haven't planned anything else yet. I've got a busy schedule for the next 3 months and probably won't be able to fit any races in until February at the earliest. The loose plan is to aim for a sub-2 half sometime next year.
Meanwhile the enforced rest has been frustrating and less than helpful, but such is life. All is not lost, as they say.
How's the chest now MLCM? Hope you are well on the road to recovery and that you have been able to get out for a mile or two. You seemed to be pretty fit before the lurgie hit you so hopefully it won't take you too long to get back up to speed again.
(23-10-2009, 01:22 PM)stillwaddler Wrote: How's the chest now MLCM? Hope you are well on the road to recovery and that you have been able to get out for a mile or two. You seemed to be pretty fit before the lurgie hit you so hopefully it won't take you too long to get back up to speed again.
I am nearly over the thing (nearly 3 weeks later!) but still have gammy ears, so it persists even now. I feel great though, and would be out running but instead I'm doing 10+ hours in the garden and around the house each day to get my old Adelaide home in good order to go on the maarket in the new year. Big job, little time you see. Consequently I'm too flaming exhausted and sore to contemplate a run at the mo.
When I get back to Sydney such pressures will be off and I'll squeeze in some running then.
OK so after 8 days of digging out tree stumps, moving plants from one part of the estate to another, digging holes and filling them in again, demolishing chook sheds, pruning trees, clearing rubbish and all the usual heartbreak and mayhem that goes with landscaping and general gardening in what is a very large garden (nearly a half acre block), I've finished for the time being and tomorrow morning return to Sydney for some R&R back at (paid) work.
The upshot of all this is that I'm tired, sore and injured and haven't run at all (except to stop the dog digging up the transplanted gladioli and orchid bulbs, sorry, tubers). I could have run - I could be out running now, but that would have seriously cut into my down time (ie drinking time) and generally reduced my quality of life, so I haven't.
Truth to tell, I'm really not focussed on running just at the moment as instead I focus on renovating a property that's 1,400 kilometres from my new home, and all the infinite number of related problems associated with such a process. I'm not good at focussing on more than one thing at a time, it has to be said, so apart from keeping tabs here, my only real link with running is to say "I should be doing that" whenever I see a runner in the street.
However, we'll see what my return to Sydney brings in the way of motivation and inspiration. I may pull on the running shorts yet.
However I have to get there first. I'm flying with the ultra-cheap Tiger Airlines*. Last (and only) time I flew with them we boarded on time but then sat on the tarmac for an hour, supposedly due to a "computer problem", but I suspect this was code-speak for something else. Last week one of their flights was delayed for three days (I am not exaggerating!) because one of the cabin crew was sick and they could not find a replacement. Duh. How this can happen is beyond my understanding. So tomorrow morning will be, um, interesting.
OK alright, uh huh, that's it, it's done, that's a wrap. MLC Man is gone and out of here.
(28-10-2009, 12:25 PM)Mid Life Crisis Man Wrote: I'm not good at focussing on more than one thing at a time, it has to be said
I hear you brother. Even eating my lunch and typing this message is abit of a challenge for me.
Running is supposed to be one of those anytime-anywhere-anyplace activitities. But for me the reality is that routine helps establish running patterns. And without being settled I find it hard to progress.
Hope it all goes to plan. Sounds like alot of work. But then Sydney is a wonderful place to live.
Shocktober!
