Another busy week
Monday 6am an easy 8k run – 2pm travel to Springfield to make a banner for Brisbane Lions AFL side for their Perth game on Saturday, duration is 6 hours - 4 hours travel and 2 hours making the banner which is 16m wide and 5m high with letters 1m high
Tuesday 6am 6k fartlek set which included 6 x 1 minute sprints, 4pm walk 2k with dog
Wednesday 5am 6k hill session with one of my running clubs Moreton Bay Road Runners, 4pm walk 2k with dog
Thursday 5.15am 5k track session with my other running group Shena Dale Running, coach Shena being the physio for the Australian Indigenous Marathon program organised by Rob de Castella who was globally recognised as the worlds number 1 marathon runner of the 1980’s setting a world record and winning many events, 4pm walk 2k with dog
Friday sleep-in till 5.30am for a 9am 5hour15minute flight to Perth, 3pm walk the Pioneer parkrun course, 6pm attend a Brisbane Lions function with 3 of the young star players for question and answer session and photo
Saturday 6am perform the course check and setup at Pioneer parkrun and complete the undulating parkrun
Saturday 3pm Enter Optus stadium Perth and prepare the banner, 5pm meet, educate and assign roles to 25 previously unknown people protocols to enter and exit the stadium playing area , compliance with stadium and AFL protocols, raise and lower the banner effectively and ensure safely for our players as they run through and my 25 assistants, 9pm game finishes make a quick exit from seating area battling my way through 42,000 people and walking about 1.5k to meet an Uber for transport to Perth airport for the 11pm “red eye” flight back to Brisbane
Arrive Brisbane at 5.30am, drive to Des Connor junior parkrun located in the Brisbane suburb of Ashgrove and at 7.45am perform course check and setup along with other roles token sorting, packing up the gear, assisting results
Depart Des Connor and finally arrive home to Redcliffe at 11.15am, a quick hello to my wife, unpack, shower and travel to Suncorp stadium Brisbane to watch our local Rugby League side Dolphins play the North Queensland Cowboys in the National Rugby League competition
Great weekend as both my teams Lions and Dolphins won
My reason for completing Pioneer parkrun was because it was 58th parkrun launched in Australia. An unofficial parkrun challenge in Australia is the Iindex which involves completing parkruns launched in Australia in any order on the list and achieving the highest continuous launch number from 1 upwards. Eg if completed all launches from 1 (Main Beach) to 41 not 42 but completed 43 to 50, ones Iindex is 41 until 42 is completed then after completing 42 index would jump to 50 and so on
As 2 parkruns launched prior to Pioneer are now closed, Pioneer becomes the 56th doable parkrun on the Iindex list
Rain on Friday and a few early morning light showers did not dampen the enthusiasm of the local vollie team, RD Adrian, setup person Greg and event team member Nina and husband Sam and all other committed team members who engaged with tourists, encouraged participants along the course and shared their company at nearby Dome cafe for post parkrun brekky and coffee
Greg is an inspiration for all, as his enthusiasm performing 298 volunteer roles including 109 as RD and 376 completions masked his 83 years
The safe course surface is a mix of concrete, recycled rubber boardwalk and wooden boardwalk with several bridges and although the image of the course appears complex, it’s a simple to follow well marked and marshal supported 3 loop course. It is undulating and winding with some sections beside a road, beside a running creek, sections of boardwalk and a treetop walkway
For those participants who unintentionally walk to their transport with a finish token in their pocket the event team display an appropriate sign to trigger memory loss
Special mention to Nina who I chatted with for about 4k and husband Sam who are incredible examples of the Aussie parkrun family, extremely welcoming and generously provided me a Mongolian leather coin/card holder as a gift and also introduced me to their rather large friendly Bankhar breed dog who can cleverly crack open an egg and suck the content out without making a mess, genius dog
My day was topped off by watching my Brisbane Lions tough out a win against the West Coast Eagles who were strongly supported by their biased home crown trying to influence umpiring decisions and I sometimes wonder if I am watching the same game as other spectators around me
Gotta love a parkrun tourist adventure combined with a Brisbane Lions game
Monday morning my life re-commences simply by pressing the repeat button and enjoying more exhilaration and happiness
