M +1

I am writing this on Thursday 14 April. It's been a bit of a traumatic week. Last Sunday I ran and walked a marathon that didn't turn out the way I expected. I was hoping to run 3:35 to 3:45 and finished with 4:38. I wasn't too upset as the previous day I'd finally met a lady who is quite an inspiration to many people.

I wrote 'M +1' about her and then found out the following day there'd been a mix-up on the course which meant she'd run a short marathon and 50k. The effort she put in on the day was worthy of the Australian record that should have been hers. The following is what I wrote on 11 April:

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How can you be so proud of a person you've only just met the day before? I didn't see Luckylegs cross the finish line yesterday to establish a new Australian 50 kilometre record as a W75. She wasn't supposed to be that fast. Griffin said "She's in the hall".

I followed him in and Luckylegs was sitting on a chair. It's hard to remember, but there was a photographer and maybe one other person talking to her. A handful of volunteers were busy packing up the venue. She had just run a personal best. Faster than her W70 Australian record! We had a short chat then Griffin helped her back to the hotel.

The previous day at the Expo I'd arranged to take Luckylegs for a ride on 'Mizuki'. That's my Suzuki GSX1400. I borrowed Mal's spare helmet which luckily fitted pretty well. It was just about a perfect day for riding. We took off to take a look at the marathon course.

That was a little tame so we rode that nice section over Scrivener Dam then out to the summit of Mount Stromlo. We stopped to stretch the legs then rode back via Parkes Way and Kings Avenue Bridge. It was a fun ride and Luckylegs was an excellent pillion. What a lady!