Wild with unimagination

“Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.” Oscar Wilde

I'm catching out regular lurking Blog readers here by posting again within a week. At least my running is more consistent than my blogging.
Couldn't get more even: last four runs = 10k each.
* Thur 24/05 10k 5:45am Stanhope; temperature 4 degrees; wore gloves for first time in 2007; managed a weights session after work.
* Fri 25/05 10k 5:45am Stanhope; temp 2 degrees; thick gloves and long coolmax pants.
* Sat 26/05 10k 9:30am Stanhope - nice and mild! Managed another weights session in the afternoon.
* Sun 27/05 10k Blacktown Fun Run 9am.

This was a really enjoyable race (more runners comments here). It was part of the Blacktown City Festival and promised a fast course and well-managed event overall. It was.
I arrived at 7:40am to register - no waiting, paid the $10 (no late entrance fee here) and strapped on the velcro wrist race tag. Back to the car to thaw. Wandered over to the start to watch the start of the 4k, and hung around to see the finishers power home. The course was about 3.4k based on finishers' expectations of time.

I met Nite_time_runner as he headed out to do the 4k (and backup for the 10k). Met new CR Distant Line 70 who did the same, and also Mango, who finished the 4k in great time. At the start of the 10k I then met NTR's partner Mouse. It's always good to finally catch up with CR's with whom you have some degree of cyber interaction over a period of time. In some ways, it's like finally meeting a familiar author. Although I doubt I'll bump into Lindsey Davis, Steven Saylor or Amy Myers while running. Still, I have managed to correspond with one of these icons via the Crime Thru Time Yahoo Discussion Group. A digression.

As we were warming up I met a work colleague with whom I hadn't spoken for some months as he works in a totally different division and location. I posted a CR request for assistance on his behalf early last year: he wanted motivation and so to join a tri group. Talk about talent. He never really trained hard but managed C2S last year in 52 min. His training is now going well: with Asics Wests, and did the Tokyo marathon in Feb - his first ever and completed in 2:58. Wow. Today he came tenth in 35 odd minutes. His Wests colleague won in 31 odd.

Well, for mortals like me, I just enjoyed the run. I knew the course through running various parts of it from work over lunchtimes past. Only one tough hill. Funnily enough, it ends about 400m from my office. I wasn't tempted to go in.
Finished in 47:37 and felt good. NTR clocked 9.92k on his Garmin, so that's a 10k for mine. The best part was that I didn't have to push myself at any time. Even a swift sprint over the last 200m on the Olympic track didn't cause distress, so I was pleased with my fitness. It bodes reasonably well for future races, such as the SMC series later in 2007. And of course provides me with the motivation to do more of the 3k time trials each month.

Since this post is a record four days after the last, there's not much extra to add, except of course hearing about the Rudd's kitchen table conversation regarding Therese's plans for her domestic business. I bet the table was nothing like John Brown's desk.

eBay continues to intrigue, with Brady Bunch still the most prized win. Tesso, here's an example of it (there are a few on sale regularly). Mmm, good isn't it?
I also picked up a couple of Headsweats coolmax running caps - not to replace the CR ones, mind you, but as support to ensure my treasured CR caps last longer...

Well, on this happy day, I thought I'd finish with a story that should bemuse and perhaps entertain - only in Sydney...

"exit, stage left"

Not PC to our PC

This new HP computer is frustrating. Having had the old computer up to pussy's bow so much that we ditched it, we thought the new one would take us seemlessly into a new era. It's pretty good, but just occasionally it takes us back to the equivalent of the roneo-ed notes days. Messy. Still, sporadically unplugging then re-plugging the modem is a simple task. It does cop verbal abuse, though.

Running has been good to me since 15/05: 68k in 7 runs. For detail junkies:
* Wed 16/05 10k Clean Streets 6am; no 3k run Tesso - just too worn out that evening. Can't do June as I'll be in Melbourne for work. Oh well, at least The Tan will beckon me.
* Thur 17/05 9k Clean Streets 6am in heavy fog. Didn't bump into Holmes or Watson. Did run part of the way with Go Girl. She was looking strong, so I hope the Half went well.
* Fri 18/05 10k Clean Streets 2pm after work - preceded by 6am weights at the gym. Now that's bleary-eyed stuff.
* Sat 19/05 12k Bella Vista M7 to Kings Langley (while Son coached his unsuccessful U9/6 soccer team). He played a little later and won 2-1, and again on Sunday for a 3-1 win. Weights Saturday late pm.
* Sunday 20/05 8k 10am Clean Streets easy run - hey, it was Sunday and soccer beckoned.
* Mon 21/05 9k M7 south from Rooty Hill 12 noon. Good hitout at lunchtime, but no-one else within eyesight.
* Tue 22/05 10k Rouse Hill 6am
* Wed 23/05 Rest Day!

I'm going to try to get to the Blacktown 10k on Sunday. The course is familiar - I've run much of it at lunchtimes' past, so expect to do about 49 min. Let's hope I can get out of bed and to the start.

Dumbdown Spectacular 2 promises drivel. Just look at this lineup. I wouldn't waste my money seeing any of these. Seriously. I mean, I wouldn't mind listening to "Ho Ho Ho It's Magic" but I can do that on CD. I never want to hear from Sam Fox, Racy, Supernaut or M again. I could tolerate Plastic Bertrand, but shudder to think what a 50 year old Punk Belgian must look like.
I think I'd rather see Monica Trapaga selling out doing Coco Pops ads than watch her brother sing "They Won't Let My Girlfriend Talk To Me". Even if Tim Finn wrote it (great line: "I'm crackin' down on your crackin" up"). Go speak to the sky about Rick Springfield...

Isn't politics fun?
We now see Honest John playing the Underdog Card with a vengeance. I mean on steroids. The government could be annihilated at the election. What's the bad news, HJ? I have three words for you: old, tired, outdated. I'd mention Work Choices but it seems The Ministry Of Love has eliminated that from our language.

Joe Hockey has tried the old "I wasn't the Minister at the time" line (wonder what Kevin Andrews says?). Joe still manages to spin it so that it really isn't anyone's fault. Certainly not the government's. Sounds a bit like the famous Rotten Apple In The Barrel defence, too: We underestimated what would have happened if we put in place a system that may lead to people trading away penalty rates without fair compensation. So, "the people" have been trading things away, huh? I feel Joe needs to go back to school and learn more about tenses. Especially the difference between active and passive. But then this reincarnation of Lou Costello knows all out being tense...

eBay continues to work for us. Mrs BB is very excited: we were highest bidder for the Brady Bunch boxed set (all five series, in a shagpile cover). And recently we picked up Magilla Gorilla, plus Scooby Doo series 1. All region 1, so lucky we bought a multi-region player some time ago. I've bought a few running items at good prices, but Les Miserables Dream Cast 1995 DVD continues to elude my grasp. Time to commit to an eBay bidding training course...

Having worked my way through all the library books I had reserved and borrowed over the past few weks, I'm now onto one I bought: Lindsey Davis' "Saturnalia". A great read, as are each of the 18 Falco novels. Good to know that human nature hasn't changed in 2,000 years, nor has our tendency to deplore it:
O tempora, O mores! (Cicero)

"Exit, stage left"

New Mizouse in this house

...along with a keyboard and new PC. Our 3 year old computer crashed with increasing frequency over the past two weeks. Time to fork out $850 on an HP special at Myer. Good value. The problem was before the purchase: trying to backup all the files etc from the old PC with about five minutes grace between crashing. Slight stress attack...

Still, here we are at day three, and all seems well. Time for a blog update.

Plenty of running since Anzac Day:16 runs for 157k. Here are some highlights.
* 28/04 10k extended to 16k when I bumped into Princess Odette at Stanhope and we did a Quakers Hill return. Good motivational chat.
* 29/04 8k with a finish at Rouse Hill Centenary Park for a 1k sprint of 4:25 min - happy with that one
* 05/05 10k Stanhope usual course PB (48 min vs avg 52 min)
* 12/05 10k Rouse Hill course with last 4k in 17:50 min. You may notice a trend: both fast runs have been on the last two Saturdays. They have tried to compensate for my nonattendance at West Met, due to Netball and Soccer. I miss the races, but the kids sport is more important.
* 13/05 10k Camellia to Meadowbank Park for Mothers' day picnic with Mrs BB, YD and Max. Good fun, although Max needed counselling regarding attempted greeting of anything that moved.

...edit Captain's Log 15/05/07 8:30 pm... internet link crashed Sunday night. Mrs BB spent next 24 hours on various tech support calls to ISP and HP. Fascinating. Evench-wahly (at the end) she got it fixed and we only had to fork out another $150 for the latest version of Norton which may have been the problem; something along the lines of incompatibility with new version of something or other. I never believe their stories. I'm sure we're just interrupting their D&D online games....

So, I can add a 10k Mon 14/05 run to the list, as well as a rest day today 15/05. Hoping to do 10k tomorrow morning and then the 3k Roxborough Park time trial tomorrow night - if it's not raining.

Feeling a little jaded after the events of the last few days, including an 11 hour work day today. No time for major reflections on political life. One comment though: I thought the ABC did a great job of "Bastard Boys" last night - quite balanced and an enthralling tale. Both sides appeared to reach agreement by reaching back to their Latin lessons:
Dura lex, sed lex

Apologies to my fellow bloggers for not dropping by recently. I hope to resume normal service shortly.

"Exit, stage left"