Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

For the first half this was the same old, same old, a steady but not especially inspired exploration of some residential suburbs of Noumea (via a fairly convoluted route because not many of the back streets link together). That part of the route was designed in the name of being reasonably warmed up before hitting the day's (and week so far's) major climb, a couple of solid kilometres up the Ouro Toro hill at the back of where we're staying. Much to my surprise, I suddenly learned how to run up hills again about a quarter of the way up this climb, and held that strength together to the top before embarking on a fun descent down some sometimes rough and ready bush tracks through dry but thick vegetation (no potential maps here). Ended up as my best run for several weeks, at least.

One semi-derelict house I passed had a banner on it 'Not For Sale' and the name of a clan - not sure if this was to do with indigenous land rights or not. Things have settled down a fair bit in this part of the world since the conflict of the mid- and late 1980s (although four people were killed - I'm not sure how - during a protest last year on one of the outer islands against, of all things, increases in airfares to Noumea; not sure whether or not this is an advance on the incident a few years back in which Afghanistan's transport minister was beaten to death by a mob at Kabul airport after a flight was delayed). There's a referendum due in 2014 in which the options will be the status quo, greater autonomy or full independence; the talk is that the second option is the one most likely to get up.

And part of dinner discussion last night was that one of those present had recently performed duties well above and beyond an aunt's call of duty - taking her nieces to a One Direction concert (or more precisely, to scream outside a One Direction concert they didn't have tickets for). I'm still trying to work out exactly what responsibilities I will have as an uncle but I think we can assume they won't involve whatever the 2025 equivalent of One Direction is (even if Cassie has a daughter at some point in the future). Really, if the stories my mother (who was 13 in 1963) are anything to go by, the reaction of the relevant demographic now doesn't differ significantly from what their grandmothers were doing when the Beatles and Rolling Stones turned up.

C • 1963 4

C • Ouen Toro 2

Managed to hold myself back in the conference-food-consumption department during the day and was rewarded with a run which, after the first few minutes, picked up where this morning left off - it's always a bit slower in the dark, but felt smooth and the hill towards the end passed almost effortlessly. This morning was clearly worth a lot for confidence; hopefully it's an indication that a corner has been turned.

Pretty windy tonight, especially on the exposed eastern side of the peninsula. One positive aspect of this is that the drip which was landing on the pipe outside my window last night will become someone else's problem tonight.