Thursday, November 22, 2007

Nothing

The M50 10,000 metre PB will have to wait. I'd received a text message from Strewth before leaving home saying "are you still going to run in this?" It had been raining fairly steadily all afternoon. I replied that I was going to race and hoped to see her out there.

On the 40-minute drive to the track the rain was easing. The temperature was pleasantly cool – about 14°C (57°F), a relief from the 32°C (90°F) days we've been having lately. I was looking forward to the 25-lap race and had worked out a pacing plan of 1:47 per lap.

As I turned into the AIS carpark my heart sunk. Apart from one car, it was empty. The meeting had obviously been cancelled. I walked up to take a look at the track but the gate was locked. Roger and Maureen arrived. We had a chat for a while before going home. I was disappointed, but at least (touch wood) there's another race on 10 January.

20 comments:

Hamburglar said...

Those Canberreans don't like the rain hey. That's really disappointing.Keep training and you will smash it on 10 Jan.

Bruce said...

I didn't think it rained it Aus! Not bad netballers though, well done on the world champs win.

Hey i'm tagging you buddy, check my blog for the details.

Tesso said...

What?!?!?! Its just water!

What a shame, sounds like the cooler conditions would have been perfect.

Oh well, just think, by January you will be even faster.

Superflake said...

Thats a shame. You'll be in heavy Six Foot training in January. I couldn't run 1:47 per lap, too hard to add up. You should run faster and make it 100secs, heaps easier to count.

speedygeoff said...

Apologies from your lap scorer, I did not dare attempt to drive to the track from here. "Nothing" is right, I heard nothing about whether the track program was going ahead or not. But as there was a flood of water here in Holt, there was no way I was driving through it to Bruce, even if the 10,000m was going ahead.

strewth said...

And that's the really weird part - how did all those other runners know not to turn up? I heard "nothing" on the radio and could just watch the rain pounding down outside. It's good that you messaged me or I would have felt guilty not being there! The temp would have been ideal - so much cooler.

speedygeoff said...

Much ado about "nothing". HA HA HA HA HA!

TA and the Gnome said...

Bummer! Sounded like perfect conditions to me. Ah well... :-(

Gnome

Robert Song said...

We Queenslanders may not like the cold but we still run in the rain. If it would only rain though. Sounds like it would have been nice conditions for a 10k.

Anonymous said...

Bummer!

But at least now you have some more time up your sleeve.

Cheri

plu said...

Well we all know what it is like to prepare for a run- it would be hard to take. Yep bring on January and running in the heat.

Plu

speedygeoff said...

The 10k has been rescheduled for 6 December - see ACTVAC NEWS. Good thing too because it is a pain going through all the preparations for a big race then having it cancelled.

Ewen said...

Tesso, I think if we Canberrans lived in Melbourne or FNQ where it's always raining we'd just keep on running. We've been in drought for so long we're averse to getting wet.

Speedygeoff, that's good news. I'll run the rescheduled event, although I'm inclined not to bother tapering and aim for a warm evening on 10 January.

Flake, I'm not doing heavy 6' training this year - just track training/racing and a couple of longer runs. Hadd fitness should be enough.

Grellan said...

Thats tough Ewen. Was any reason given for cancelling the race.

Rachel said...

Bummer not racing. Those Canberrians are lame! Except for you of course ;) I'm sure you would still be running if it was 2 degrees :)

Anonymous said...

HI Ewen, I showed up too, hoping to un a fast 10K. Conditions were perfect for a fast 10k (I thought) - light drizzle of rain, cool temps, and only light winds. Perfect! After all the hot days, it was so refreshing to get some cooler temps.
Alas, the place was deserted except a sign at the front gate. I left. I really felt like running though - I was rested and mentally right for a 10k. So I came home and ran my local 10k on cycle paths as fast as I could, alone.
Oh well, I don't think the sprinters and field eventers would have thought the conditions were so great, and especially the officials would have found it pretty miserable.
I plan to be in Sydney on the 6th with the All Schools team, so my next attempt at the 10k will have to wait til Jan. Lets hope for a cool day !
Southy

Stephen Lacey said...

Bum!

Surely you could do a slight taper for the 6th December?

Steve

Lulu said...

What a shame... hope another opportunity isn't too far away.

Samurai Running said...

That was a shame Ewen. Those conditions sounded alright. 14 degrees Cool and damp it's the perfect environment for growing moss too but at 1:47 per lap you could have been fairly certain not much would have gathered(on you).

Just don't do any "Hadd" training in those conditions ;)

Anonymous said...

sorry about that. did you go home and put 10,000 m of jam on your PB?