NOT racing

Two very big races were on at the end of August - The National Cross Country championships and the Perth City to Surf. And I didn't race either...

Not due to injury, not due to lack of fitness, not even due to being far from the venue...
I was a manager for the WA State School Sport cross country team in Adelaide and so knew I'd be missing Perth's biggest race and probably wouldn't be able to race the national event either.
From my experience last year as a team manager I knew how long and tough race day could be - as a manager not a competitor. And with this knowledge I decided not to enter and to devote my time to helping the next generation of WA runners on their big day.

Being unable to find a registration page on the WA Aths website MAY have also played a part in my decision but mainly it was to concentrate on my 14/15 boys and the rest of team WA.

As it turned out I was extremely jealous of all the athletes coming in to the finishing shoot caked in mud from the brilliant South Australian course. However I managed to get a few good photos (Stuart Caufield 27th and Brandon Hargreaves 3rd in the Under 20s Men's 8km, to the right), lose my voice cheering on friends and freeze my fingers off clapping in athletes.
And then the next day had to endure the messages of great runs from the guys back home in Perth running the C2S. Last year I finished 6th (3rd West Aussie) and was hoping to run at least 30 seconds faster now that I know how to race the tough course... good thing there is always next year.

Now its just back to work and look for a few short races to keep me motivated until track season starts to wind up in December. Holding off injuries and maintaining the mileage is the goal for the Spring and then we're off to Kenya for an adventure in November.

I'll check in with you all again soon,
 Thanks for reading.

Gotta run
 :-) Marc