Training Log Archive: Mess Engineer

Time and distance approximate.

Mt Sugarloaf was one of my favourite locations and since the April Storm damage the road has been closed and both Orienteering Events and Cross Country Events have been cancelled.

So parked car on the opposite side of the road and walked up the hill to see what the damage was.
Dramatic but not as severe as I expected.
Road reduced to one lane as half of the other lane washed away.
Not worth driving the long way on dirt road to get around this patch.
Assume it is closed purely due to public liability and legal risk reasons.
A big shame as Mt Sugarloaf is a beautiful place to visit.

From Miscellaneous

From Miscellaneous

From Miscellaneous

Running club novelty event. Distance a guess.
Wooter-O using an OpenOrienteeringMap.

25 controls varying from 10, 20 to 30 points.

Had to take a 'selfie' on phone to prove that you were at the described feature on the map.
Examples .... Lane 6 at the baths, in the community garden, next to the "Naked Foot" sculptures.

Maximum points was 1000.
I think the top was 860.
Our score equal last at 540 points visiting 13 controls but getting every bonus we could think of.

Bonus 'scavenger' 50 points with various challenges such as :
1. Selfie next to a Christmas tree
2. Selfie doing a creative 'Woot' (where you hold your hand around your eye like an owl)
3. Finding something orange. In my case a sweet left on the ground next to a bin!
4. Selfie with a Wooter not involved in the Challenge
5. Selfie with a pack of at least 10 Wooters

Teams of 3 to 5.

Only walked it in a loop from the dog beach to Harrys Cafe' de Wheels and then through the mall, around to the Newcastle Baths and up to Fort Scratchley. Picnic afterwards but I hadn't organised anything so I went home.

Very creative, fun and something completely different.

C • who was the mapper? 2

Volunteer Barcode Scanner at Maitland Park run.
Never volunteered before. Listened to lots of the processes.
Helped set-up from 7 am and left around 9:30 am.
They had ample helpers and 3 barcode scanners so under no real pressure.

People having barcode attached to their shoe laces gets to be a bit of a stretch but only a few people did this.

C • selfie stick for scanner? 1

Picked up the new MRI and X-Rays for right ankle with a report outlining the state of repair.

Despite X-Ray at John Hunter on the day it occurred, and a followup 2nd X-Ray at Greenhills shortly after ..... it now appears according to report I HAD partially fractured my ankle.

Still googling all the technical terms and won't see specialist until sometime in January.

Manning the barbeques at the Work Kids Christmas party at Edgeworth Steam Trains for 1 1/2 hours. 5 barbeques going simultaneously so lots of sausages, steaks and onions. I left around 2 pm.

7:30 am and then 8:40 am
MRI and X-ray of right ankle to review healing progress in the last 480 days (that long .... I can still remember it clearly) and to determine if there are any remaining medical options

Still can't do ab work. Struggled to do planks even on my knees. I hope this is not permanent.
Had two separate opinions that it's not a hernia but it still may be a tear.

Route 1P 2G 1S 2H 1U 1T 1R 3B 2K 1L 3D 1N 1M 2L 1K 2M 1G 2C 3C 1E 1D
for 21 Controls / 33 Points (1 point x 12, 2 point x 6, 3 point x 3) in 43:17.
Bad option going east.
Was at the 25 minute mark between 1M and 2L so knew I was in trouble for getting anything on the western side.

Didn't intend to include 1R 3B but was only 5 minutes in when I got to 1T so decided to add.
But it was almost 10 minutes back to 2K so it was a bad idea.

Absolutely died in the heat.
Gave up on the way to 1D and walked from there and said "screw it 2D".

Didn't see the final top score but this will be my lowest percentage of year to date. Hip/groin not happy and neither was its owner.

C • You're as silly as me! 3

Jingle Bell Relay at Athletics Ground.
Something completely different.
More than 5 different Newcastle running clubs fielding 7 teams of 25.
I was in team of 25 Wooters each doing a 400 m lap so 10 km in total.
I was position 12.
I didn't drop the baton or stumble which was a bonus.

Attending specialist about hip/groin at 4 pm and got clearance to continue running but need multiple MRI to work out what is going on. It hurt during the warm-up but not that much during the actual sprint.

C • I'll match that - 2

Fallen stick collection in front and back yards.
Need to have another round down the bush with fallen branches.