A new route

Yesterday morning Oscar and I set off for our regular 10 km run but this time with a twist.

We started with the regular path via our estate and the wetlands but instead of continuing down the boring bike path we turned left and followed a main road.

This way has a few more hills and the scenery is a hundred times better. Oscar tried to get in a paddock that had some sheep in it so I will have to put him on the lead for that part in the future. Best of all it is a gravel/sandy surface instead of the concrete on the bike track. I realize how much the change of surface would affect me when but when I got home my legs weren't nearly as sore as running on concrete.

We arrived back home in 55 minutes flat. Was held up for a little while by an old man (who had a striking resemblance to Santa Clause) who wanted to pat and talk about Oscar. I guessed 55 minutes with the delay is close to my 10k time.

10 kilometers was confirmed this morning on my bike.

The family and I are heading off to the Gold Coast QLD in the morning. We are staying in a place in Miami and I have packed my running gear. Much to my wife's annoyance I plan to put in a few k's in the area.

I will post more when I return in around a week and a half.

Stay safe all.

My other pastime is Country Fire Authority. Here I am showing Prep aged kids over one of our trucks.

Bloody Trains

Yesterday the wife and number 2 offspring had to go to the Children's Hospital for a check up. My son was born with 1 club foot and had it operated on to straighten. He is 6 years old now and fairly active. For the last few years we have had to make a yearly trip to the Children's for a progress report. The doctor gave him a thumbs up and said we can make our next appointment in two years woohoo.

As I stated in my profile I am a Train Driver. I am on leave at the moment and one of the perks of the job is a free, state wide travel pass for my family and I. To save a few dollars on tollways, petrol and parking we caught the train from Narre Warren to the hospital yesterday. Even though I am an employee I found the reliability of the trains very disappointing. The forward journey to the city arrived in Melbourne 10 minutes late and the return journey was delayed by at least 20! The trams where no better after one of them broke down! It is no wonder regular commuters get so frustrated.

We went to a friends place for a BBQ last night. They live 6 kilometers away and I have always wanted to run it. I set out with a 20 minute head start on the rest of the family in the car and was making great time. It is a hilly path with a gradual incline followed by a steep decline for the first 3 k's. A flat section following a busy road for 2 km's (why do young men in "P" plated cars feel they have to shout out to runners?) . Then a decline followed by a incline to get to their place in the last 1 km. I left Oscar at home for this one because it was a bit warm. I didn't realise it was over 30c till I got to their place absolutely stuffed. It took me 32 minutes and I was thrilled that I beat my family in the car. Our friends think I am absolutely nuts! I felt the effort deserved an extra sausage for dinner.

Training partner, Oscar. 

This is me at work. An electric train driver hence my user name.

1st Blogged run.

This morning I set the alarm early at 0650 for my regular morning run. When I say regular I mean every 2nd day. I have a 10 kilometer running path that takes me from home in Narre Warren Sth to Hampton Park Victoria and back.
I usually run with my dog Oscar. He is a black Staffordshire Bull Terrier who absolutely loves my new found fitness regime. We tend to have the path to ourselves so I usually let him off the lead to do his own thing. He does understand if we see other people, especially dogs he has to go back on the leash. He is not at all aggressive, more than likely to lick someone to death. But he does look mean. Most people I pass either adore him or are scared of him so we try not to freak people out.
The first couple of k's are pretty boring, we follow the footpath through my newish housing estate (about 10 years old).
At 2 km we pass a horse paddock that has a couple of Shetland ponies residing. Oscar gets excited here and always has a good look. Biggest looking "dogs" he has ever seen.
Around the 4 km/20 minute point it gets a bit more interesting. We cross over a series of bridges spanning a waterway. It is quite wide with a large variety of waterbirds too look at. I see this as just under the half way mark and am settling in well.
The next 4 km's are usually pretty gruelling. I run along a concrete bike path that has absolutely nothing to look at. I feel I lose a fair bit of time here as sometimes I am not doing any more than a shuffle. Might look at changing that route a little.
8 k's I can make a decision. I can either head home and cut it to a 8.5km run or push on the extra 2 k's. Today I did the extra.
I follow the bike path a bit further. You can see to the end of 1 km here and it is not a bad stretch. I then round the corner and try and push myself hard for that last kilometer home.
Completed that today in 54 mins. I have done this a few minutes quicker before but currently I am on a low calorie diet so am prepared to lose a bit of energy and time.
At the start of this year I gave up smoking and ballooned out to 115 kilo's. That really freaked me out so I have been exercising ever since. I have got my weight down to 105 but have stalled on that for the last few months. Last couple of weeks I have started a low calorie, liquid diet. Replacing 2 meals a day. Today I woke to see 101.5 on the scales and I am thrilled. I hope to get to 90 kilo's so I am not carrying the extra weight for running.
Well that is more than enough typing for today. Time to give the one fingers a rest hehe.

In the beginning...

Well where to start.

I have been a member of the www.coolrunning.com.au site since September 2005 and have been considering this blog thing for quite some time. After reading Speedys blog at http://speedyrun.blogspot.com/ I thought I should give it a go.