Sunday, 20 January 2008

Woke up - or rather, got up - at around 8:30 am to soothe Madeleine who was hungry. Go into the loungerooom where Hamish is lying on the couch and says that Amelia is outside. Call Amelia in and her teddy is soaked, and her hands and feet along with it. Had been raining all night so can only imagine where she'd been in the backyard after getting up (i think just after 8:00 am). We really must close that hallway door at night-time. Luckily, there is no way she can escape onto the street and the backyard is very child safety friendly. Just wet.

Get ourselves over to my mothers and it is apparent that my lift to Ringwood will be right in the middle of everyone's lunch. Shane has been at me about upping my k's so I figure what the heck I will run to the venue, it being only 3.5 kilometres from where my mother lives.

So I run there and arrive at 2:15 pm for my first race at 2:45 pm to find my first 1600 metre race has been printed in the program as being at 4:25 pm. I wonder if this is a mis-print becuase my second 1600 metre race is scheduled to begin 10 minutes later at 4:35 pm. I check this with the stewards and unfortunately it is correct. The race moved between me receiving my mark during the week (and a 2:45 pm start), to this later start. A pretty poor effort from the VAL as on top of their high registration fee's, you have to pay to enter each race. So not great value for money this week

I am left with the decision to scratch from one or race both. I opt for the latter as at the end of the day, this pro thing is just good training for the real stuff at AV. So closer to my race, I go for another warm up, this time ten minutes and do some stretching until race time. I am off 150 metres for the Novice event, in a pretty small field. I start off well, before sitting behind a couple of guys through the second lap. I move off them and all of a sudden through the latter third and most of the fourth laps I am hearing my name in the race call. In the end, I did not have the kick that was required and I finished up in sixth place. Promising beginning

Afterwards, the legs are really heavy and I have literally eight minutes to my next race. I change tops and wander over to the start. Passed a few of the AFL boundaries on the way, including Adam C and Robbie H. who I lined up with at the start. We go to our marks and for some reason I am a better Open than Novice runner, as I have a tougher mark of 140 metres in the Open Mile Race.

I started off alright, but then the pace of the earlier race started to hit and it was a pretty tough progression through the next two laps. The third lap in particular I really dropped away and was coming (as I discovered later) second last for the last half of the event. Tried to pick up a bit through the last lap and was pretty much spent at the end. I found out later that some poor slow bastard was behind even me. A very slow ten minute warm down afterwards before Kylie picked me up

Anyway, it was pretty useful training. I must say the track wasn't quite up to scratch, nor the way it was marked out. At the 60 metre mark (or so), the ground was chopped up so badly that for 10 metres it felt like you were running through a sand pit. And at the 300 metre mark the flags suddenly do almost a right angle. When finishing a lap, crossing the start/finish line the track kinda veers off at a 45 degree angle

Apparently the president of Ringwood Cricket Club does not like these meets for what they do to the surface of the ground. In my opinion, the pro league should take the RCC president to task over the condition of the ground he presented to the VAL and their athletes. Shocker!

Anyhoo, that's enough griping. Long slow run tomorrow. I think I am up to an hour for the LSD and will probably do this one on my own before hooking up with Shane and the boys on Wednesday. AV Shield on Tuesday (second last round)

TOTAL DISTANCE = about eleven kilometres, including two warms ups and a warm down