Crookwell
was a nice town to be waking up in. It just has a good vibe about town.
Todays
run would be taking me to the village of Taralga that boasts some of Australia’s
earliest history. I heard that the local pub did some fantastic meals and
promised myself that if today went to plan and I felt a little like
socialising then me and Vickie would go there as a 1000km
celebration
The
only problem today was that my run was going to be a little disjointed as I needed to be at the
Crookwell Primary School for 12:15 to give a presentation at their assembley.
I
left the Showgrounds for the first part of my run. The idea was to run as many
KM as possible this morning and then for Vickie to pick me up at 11am to get
back for a shower and be at the school on time. Vickie decided to run a few KM
with me this morning. She was surprised at my pace even though I’ve been tired “do
you run at this pace all day” she said to me. I was a little surprised to,
thinking that I had slowed down a hell of a lot over the last month and have
adopted this kind of BNT shuffle!
Vickie
went back after the first 3km and I picked up the pace a little more in the
hope to knock as much off as possible before the presentation.
It
was a relatively flat country road, I only saw three cars for the whole morning
which was nice. Being on sealed roads makes me nervous as normally they’re
busier.
I
noticed a lot on signs up protesting against the wind turbines I had seen only a
few days before. Not sure why they are so bad if we are using natural power,
but I guess if they are thinking about covering the land in them it could be an
eyesore. Not sure of the polictics, but as I mention in my blog for that day, I
don’t really know which side of the fence I sit on.
It
wasn’t long before I heard the ‘toot’ of Vickie in the Mother Ship behind me,
she was a little early and I decided to knock off 3km more before calling it a
morning.
The
drive back in to town was glorious; the day had really brightened up from the foggy
start and going by the feeling of my face, I had been caught out and got
sunburnt!
Vickie
had me trim the beared, apparently the caveman look isnt a good one for primary
schools and the local paper!
I
hadn’t prepared for the talk, and really, what the hell do you talk about to a
bunch of 5-11 years in the country, would what I was doing be inspiring to them?
Or would they think I was just another wierdo from the city, that to them was
another world so far away.
Vickie
had put together some notes for me, as a guide as to what to speak about. The
idea was to talk about some of the interesting things I had come across in particular
anaimals, kids love animals right? And would kids who grew up on farms think
that the most scariest animal I have come across on my travels was a bull……no
sorry bull(s)!
It
was a nice little school, neat and tidy and for the best part quiet. We met
with the principle who lead Vickie and I to the staffroom and we both giggled
like kids when she left us with a cuppa tea and we had our hands in the biscuit
tin!
We
were picked up and escorted to the assembly room by the school prefects and I
smiled thinking back to the days of school that are now so long ago!
We
were first up, I say we as I dragged Vickie up there for some help in dealing
with what I thought was the hardest audience I have ever had to stand in front
of.
The
reality was that it was fun! The kids were interactive and wanted to ask so
many questions. I hope that if I have inspired just one to go and do something
perhaps unamaginable or to shoot for their goals than my job was done. But the
real truth was that they had forgoten all about us as soon as they hit the
playground!
We
hung around for a coffee and a yarn afterwards. I could have sat there all day
enjoying the country life, but I still had 23 km to get done and the day was
fastly coming to a end.
Out
I was on the BNT once again only 23km to get done. It was a dirt road all the
way into Taralga, undulated but pretty flat, my only hope that it wouldn’t go
through cattle land without fences.
No
one for an hour, not even a car. Until I saw a dog in the distance. Was it one
of those wild ones I had been warned about for the last 2 weeks? Or was it a
farmers dog that was protecting the house? Either way I hoped it was friendly.
I slowed down to a jog and as I got closer a walk. It was a farm dog and a
friendly one at that
The
last 8km in to Taralga was a tough one, my right glute had been a little sore
over the last couple of days and today it decided to be a real pain… well you
know in the……….!
The
sun was starting to set and the temperature dropped quickly. I just needed to
run the last 3km in to town and the day was over.
The
pub was great. I had a giant T-bone with all the trimmings possible! It didn’t however
fill me up and we went back to the Mothership and Vickie knock me up a
sandwich. I have always eaten a lot, but running marathons day in day out gives
you this hunger sometimes that you just cannot tame. I don’t think anything of
munching down a family size bag of chips or a couple of those large bars of Cadburys
and that’s after dinner, on top of all the other snacks I have to eat!
The
good news for my nutritionist Alan McCubbin and my waist line is that I’m not
putting weight on, nor am I really loosing any. Like all things in life there
is a balanace. Logging some serious milage, means knocking down some serious
calories and at the moment im enjoying the two.
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