Wednesday is BBQ Stakes Day. The forecast was not good, and it would wise to give if a miss in the heat of the day. However, defying logic, I am slowly getting close to my 100th run of the Stakes. So what? Friar has run over 1,100 of them! (and he has the T-Shirts to prove it).
That's one of the things you see, I did my first BBQ Stakes in 1991, when I worked at Woden. However, I moved to work in the City and training tended to be based there. Then I got sick, and yadayadayada, runs were very occasional at best.
However, since my 'comeback' in 2004 I have been much more consistent. So I am running slowly, but nearing first base in the BBQ Stakes hierarchy, a 'free' T-Shirt! After 15 years, in which time I threw out all my running records and gear thinking that I would never run again, I want the (lousy) T-Shirt!
I rode the shopping trolley down there, leaving a few minutes before Bob and expected him to catch up with me very quickly. I got a crick in my neck checking over my left shoulder with the expectation of seeing him any minute now. I was locking up my bike before he arrived. Woo Hoo. Good that we're not competitive.
I thought that I 'should' go off my correct, although never changing handicap of 12:15. I hit my watch 15 seconds early when I thought that another runner (much taller, faster, younger, better looking, maler than me) left at 12:00 minutes and I thought that we were at the same time. Even with the 36* temperature, I thought that I would be OK. I went as hard as I thought sensible, and seemed to maintain my position in the small field of the day. Bob went flying past after I had run about 2 1/2km, and while I made an indecent suggestion to him as he huffed past, I assumed that he went off early.
The strangest thing happened nearing the 5km mark. I wished the run was over and I wanted to stop. I didn't of course, although walking was very tempting. I rationalised that the sooner that I finished, the sooner it would stop.
I made it to the end, somehow, a little unsure of my time as I had stuffed up my watch, but I think that I rocketed over the 6k course (I'm being facetious) in 32:16. The two consolations were that I was quicker than last week, and the first eligible runner over the line finished in a gross time of 41:56, two and a half minutes after the usual winning time.
I didn't bother to put on a jersey to cycle home and didn't care how I looked, the sweat wouldn't stop. Fortunately, the heat kept people away and I didn't see others, and the skies opened as I had two kilometres left before home.
A quick bite, and then Bob and I caught a session of 'Good Night, and Good Luck' an excellent biopic about McCarthyism.
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