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

December Review

It's the December review.

I spoke to soon about being the last lockdown notes, although it's more like lockout notes now:

• The new summer 'covid normal' got revealed
• It's much worse than the one promised in September after 28 days virus free
• The new rules run until the end of January before any further review
• The first cases from hotel quarantine inevitably arrived
• The media wasted no time to incorrectly claim 'the streak is over'
• A new outbreak kicked off in North Sydney
• Borders starting to get shutdown again, Victoria probably too slow to react
• NSW response was very light compared to the recent SA response
• Only 'suggest' ideas like wearing masks
• While SA couldn't even leave home to exercise at one point
• NSW continuing with single figure cases but starting to spread to different locations
• The same headline in the news every day
• NSW fireworks
• Closely followed by the SCG test match
• NSW outbreak made it's way to Victoria - the streak is actually over now
• Many changing restrictions for people returning from various areas of NSW
• But if you get in before the deadline you often get to avoid the rules, defeats the point
• Massive delays for:
• People waiting at the NSW border to avoid getting locked out
• People waiting to get tested in Victoria
• Back to masks for all indoor locations, could have been worse

Back to the usual.

More of the same running, finally got back to do some track sessions instead of always doing a weekly long 8-10km training session. Depending on how this current outbreak goes we were on track to have parkrun start again on January 16. Other larger events aren't looking as promising, as some planned for February and March are being cancelled already.

At long last got to retire three pairs of shoes - 600, 700, 975 kilometres represents over six months of activities. Started on two fresh pairs, felt a bit more comfortable but not as much as I expected. Having the same clothes and shoes repeated every day can be a bit draining, so any change is still good.

More of the same for shares too, I was having a great week at one stage only to lose 6% of everything on Friday, pretty painful.

The premier league is pushing on despite escalating virus numbers in England and numerous breaches by players and staff. I haven't had any interest in the NBA so far over the first couple of weeks of the season, maybe after the NFL playoffs are done. Watching a few overs of nightly BBL is more practical given the time zone issues with American sports.

A small amount of action in the to do list:

• Holiday
• Did not plan in advance due to possible border issues - turned out to be a great idea
• Since ACT or NSW were not practical, decided on a short SA trip instead
• Running calendar
• Certainly haven't committed to any events, but had a look at some options for 2021
• Yearly reviews
• Made a start on those

It hasn't shown up in the corporate directory yet, but apparently got promoted to manager before the end of the work year, so that was a good result but should have achieved it sooner. It's probably going to take a while to move up to senior manager and beyond.

That's it for this month.

• Books
• None
• Movies
• None
• Music
• None
• TV
• Alice In Borderland
• Japanese show with English subbed voices, was a bit weird
• The story was good, not sure if a season two is planned, seems possible
• 6 out of 10
• Survivor South Africa season 6
• Good up until the end, then no deserving contestants were left
• 8 out of 10
• Survivor South Africa season 7
• Haven't finished yet, but frustratingly poor gameplay by most contestants so far
• 3 out of 10
• The Flight Attendant
• A good idea, but far too much going on
• I didn't like all the inner dialogue of the main character
• 5 out of 10
• Video Games
• Xbox One
• Red Dead Redemption 2
• Finished the main story, but then it just keeps on going !
• I really didn't enjoy the constant negativity and downward spiral of the main story
• 6 out of 10

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.