Training Log Archive: jennycas

Grumpy and in a hurry before a full day in the dispensary. At least the water wasn't quite as warm as yesterday, when I called it quits after 200m because I just couldn't handle the claustrophobic sensation of submerging my face into soup.

After a long day on my feet in the dispensary, parked on Sheoak Rd then ran up the hill to Lower Waterfall and back down via Echo Tunnel. Couldn't believe how lovely it was to be completely removed from civilisation! Saw a huge yellow-tailed black cockatoo sitting at eye level, while I was enjoying the solitude at the waterfall lookout. They fly over our place in Clarence Gardens too :)

Up Hillrise, tunnel X-over, enchanted forest singletrack, back through cemetery. Not too bad out (I knew it wouldn't make 39 today...) but I'm glad I don't live in Pt Augusta!

C • True at any temperature 8

Mitcham & back before work (urgh, 8am ward round) - saw a few nice gardens.

Still nice & cool along the creek and I saw a white-faced heron but there wasn't time to dawdle because we were going out to "brunch" at friends' and responsible for bringing the penguin waffles!

Christmas morning run! With Zara/Callum, B&S for a bit, Robin & Adrian at the beginning. Then I went home, made the house and dog look festive, baked a fish, took it over to parents' for lunch, took parents back to my place after lunch, discussed US geography, placed pieces of turkey & chicken & vegetables in the oven, went to airport to pick up Geoff, came back with him & we all consumed roast dinner & dessert, dropped parents home via all the suburban Christmas lights we could find, came home @10pm ready to collapse in a heap and received a t-shirt with the complete screenplay* of The Princess Bride printed on it. Best.Present.Ever.

*ok, maybe not every single word, but I've read through most of the shirt now and it's pretty darn close!

Just along the valley because I had agreed to subsequently accompany parents to church (full Mass complete with Nativity re-enactment, and the choir was pretty good - proper Christmas hymns; none of that Mariah Carey crap). I have a feeling that going to church on Christmas (or at any other time) is an activity more common among my fellow pharmacists than fellow orienteers...
*draws Venn diagram*

C • Church 4

Event: Big Foot Sprints XXI
 

An older-style hospital which had lots of smaller elongated (with arms & legs) buildings in parallel across a sloping parkland hillside, and a few patients sitting smoking on doorsteps wondering what we were all up to...

The prologue had starts at 30-sec intervals (only one course, over 70 entrants of all ages) and it was nice to actually catch up to and overtake some other competitors for once. Also I didn't feel too bad running (seriously, that's hardly been the case since Aust Champs) and felt like I got most of the route choices right although I can now see where I could have saved about 20 sec. Most importantly, was back in time to help G wrap Christmas presents for the in-laws - car bonnet made a good table :)

Under pressure of a real-time chasing start for the final (although I didn't realise that the times were to be added together anyway) and getting a bit hot from waiting around in the sun, I completely missed a shortcut through an L-shaped building - admittedly this gap was hidden under the control circle - and went the long way around which was 40 sec less efficient, so a whole bunch caught me, and then I got flustered and made a parallel-building error on the next leg so lost another half a minute, so they all went past me, and the remainder of the race was a bit of a slog in a chain of people, although there were still some good alternate route choices. Also impressive results by junior Shinglers!

C • The older Shingler (f) didn’t do too bad either. 4

Prologue - Splits

Sprint - Splits