2020 Running Review

A unique year in running, 2021 is similar for now but with a bit more hope.

All events and parkruns were cancelled from March, and daily exercise was limited to one hour for some time also - not a problem except for the weekly long run. Being forced to work from home was much more convenient for daily running, definitely not looking forward to having to transition back to running from the office during lunch breaks.

The totals were well above previous years, and will be hard to match ever again.

• 4366.96 kilometres
• 3065.56 kilometres in 2018
• 333 hours
• ~230 hours in 2015, 2018, 2019

The few major events for the year were:

• January
• Rosebud Australia Day Run - 10km - 37:48 @ 3:49/km
• February
• Warburton - 10km - 37:46 @ 3:51/km
• March
• River Run Geelong - 10km - 37:40 @ 3:47/km

The Geelong race was roughly my best 10 kilometre result.

I just managed to reach 200 parkruns before that was suspended for the year - in Victoria.

• 13 events
• 52 in 2019
• 5 new events
• 13 in 2019
• 18:07 Birdsland Reserve
• 18:03 - Lilydale Lake
• 18:04 - Frog Hollow

The new parkrun events were:

• January
• Newborough
• Churchill
• February
• Berwick Waters
• Grand Ridge Rail Trail
• Warringal Parklands

The same goals from 2020 will roll over to 2021:

• 5km 18:00
• 10km 37:00 - 37:30
• 21km PB
• 4000+ kilometres
• Parkrun
• 10-15 new events
• 250 total
• Races
• 5 new events
• 2 interstate events
• 0 international events - probably

SA 2020-21

A short four day trip to eastern parts of South Australia - mostly spent inside a car.

• December 30, 2020
• December 31, 2020
• January 01, 2021
• January 02, 2021

SA 2021, January 02

Such a relief to only drive 2 minutes to the Naracoorte Lake parkrun this time. The course was quite a lot tougher than I was hoping for, a few steep hills on a solid clay surface, but a good area for the event and the big lake / pool next to it would be convenient for a recovery swim. One guy exploded off the start and soon was out of sight, but I noticed at a turnaround point he was slowing down, caught him at half way and finished a minute ahead - a very strange strategy.

Naracoorte Lake parkrun - the 'lake' is on the right

I packed up and left the hotel at about 10am, this timing losing a half hour due to the time zones. I stopped in Horsham after a couple of hours for fuel and something for lunch, but kept going further to Ararat before stopping to eat.

It wasn't five minutes out of Ararat and we were being flagged off the main road by three guys in vests that didn't look like actual police. No indication where we were supposed to be going, but I had the GPS on so I figured I'd get back on track eventually. The first part of the detour was some crappy road with loose stones going about 40 km/h, before finally getting on to some proper back roads, the speed limit was 100 km/h but the cars ahead decided to drive under 80 km/h instead. 

After making the most obvious turns north, east, and south we were back on the highway further along. I did check later and it appeared as though the highway was closed for an extended period of time.

The unexpected additional driving time without a break was a bit of an annoyance, as I was desperate to get out and move around by the end. Sounds like a good reason for a short detour around the Western Ring Road and a visit to the Nike factory ! An exhausting day of driving, finally finished at about 5pm.

SA 2021, January 01

Had to set a 6:00am alarm for my watch to allow enough time to drive 1 hour and 15 minutes to Victor Harbor for an 8:00am parkrun. There was no accomodation available close to Victor Harbor otherwise I might have booked somewhere nearby, but I was coming back to Murray Bridge anyway.

The Victor Harbor parkrun was one of the few running on new years day east of South Australia, the other option at Strathalbyn was about 30 minutes closer, but the course didn't look as good, and as a bonus this is one of the few "V" parkruns. I was planning to spend a bit more time in Victor Harbor, maybe go across to Granite Island, but it just didn't look there would be enough time when hotel check-out (11:00am) and early check-in deadline (6:00pm which I didn't realise at the time) were considered.

Having not run a parkrun, or any kind of running event, since March 2020 this was a bit of a unusual experience, but I managed to run a bit better than expected in 3rd place about 18:25. My only goal was to finish in the top 10.

Victor Harbor parkrun

The bridge across to Granite Island

I drove back to the hotel soon after, then packed up and drove to Monarto Safari Park, at least that was only 10 minutes away. Had another encounter with wildlife when some bird that looked like a parrot crashed into the side of the car on the way there, made a big thump but no dent.

The main feature of the safari park is a bus tour, not ideal during these coronavirus times and on a very warm day. There was about three stops along the way where you could get out and walk around, but I didn't want to line up for the bus each time so decided to do a full loop to start with.

Giraffes don't like the sun either

Zebras were too far away

Lions all sleeping

There was a good selection of animals in each of the fields, but you don't get particularly close to most of them, although there was a few lions right outside the bus at one point. After getting back to the start and having some lunch I walked over to the two closest locations with the chimpanzees and wallabies.

There is some kind of walking track that seems to follow the bus route, but the problem is if you walked to the first spot and then decided to get the bus, you'd have to go back around the entire loop again and see everything a second time - they don't run in both directions. It's a pretty substantial distance between each stop, like 1-2 kilometres, so I decided that was enough for the day. In summary, it was good, but would be better if the walking option was a bit more practical.

So back in the car for the afternoon drive, stopped at Tailem Bend and then a long session until about half way between Keith and my destination Naracoorte, started to get a sore back again. Made it to Naracoorte before the hotel deadline, got some drinks, then walked over to the nearby Subway. Incredibly they were out of bread, the one thing you wouldn't want to run out of, so had to go the Hungry Jack's beside it instead. While there was another BBL game on TV it wasn't being broadcast, disappointing.