I can’t believe how good I feel ~ no hint of stiffness or soreness, the legs were no doubt a bit tired on Sunday, but hey! What the heck, they’re like that for no apparent reason at other times?!
Bit of a moderate night sweat – I’m interested in ?vat_man’s experience of night sweats after hard efforts (he’s talking 100’s of k’s, but still relevant methinks). Tasks around the home took up much of the morning, and then the cricket (was meant to) start . . . Although I had mislaid my radio and spent rather too long looking for it, I headed off on the F600 for a long overdue cycle. It was the last day Bob was filling in the office for this week-long stint, so I asked him where he was planning to run today. If I could meet up with him, great, but I wasn’t going to plan my day around it.
I threw his digital camera in the handlebar bag as I left, (wish I knew what the cricket score was though!), and rugged up with leg warmers and a lightweight long sleeve jacket. Less than a kilometre from home, I saw a wonderful young echidna on the side of the bike path . . . he was quite dark and looked very lively. I was screaming downhill at the time, and it took me a while to stop and rest the bike up against a rail, take the camera out and trot up the path in search of him. He had gone to ground, or maybe I didn’t look far enough up the path.
The rest of the cycle down the Bindubi bike path and along the lakeside from Black Mtn Peninsula to Acton was uneventful, except that I was so cold that I could only think about turning around and warming up riding uphill! There was a stiff breeze, causing serious waves (about 8” high, but rolling, real waves nevertheless) to slap against the western shore of the beachlet between Acton and the NMA. I saw Nigel C just past here and remembered that it is his birthday on Wednesday. Must remember to acknowledge it at Customs on Friday.
Straining against the headwind near the Commonwealth Bridge underpass, 3 roadies rode past me in the other direction, the last one yelling “Hi Carolyne” as they rode past. Just ahead was the familiar figure of Bob and his choppy running style. I pulled the camera out, but the strong wind meant that we were sodden from the spray of the Captain Cook Memorial Jet which should have been turned off today! It was drenching, and riding alongside Bob on the gravel / mud I ended up looking like a legitimate MTB rider with mud caking the rear of the bike and my conspicuous yellow leg warmers.
It was lovely chatting to Bob as he ran around the Lake, although as he was nearing the Merchant Seaman’s Memorial I saw something under a tree ahead. I thought it looked like another echidna, but figured that this was just after this mornings close encounter. A possum? A large squirrel did cross my mind (I was so excited when I first saw squirrels in Washington DC when I first ran. Within an hour, “bloody squirrels” was more the sentiment). I rode over, and dropped my bike, grabbing the camera on the way. It was an echidna, lighter in colour than my morning friend, but stuck out in the middle of Commonwealth Park on thick lawn, not at all suitable for digging in. I took a couple of shots, and he kept following me, pecking at the yellow toe of my cycling shoe. An aggressive nesting starling kept buzzing him and I as we were under it’s tree, but the friendly echidna just waddled off across the grass, swinging it’s ample backside from one side to another with an amazing swagger. Bob had interrupted his run to look too, and he had never seen one in such a central location before.
Canberra, you’ve got to love it!
Resuming our run / ride across Kings Avenue Bridge, and then Bob showed me a gravel trail around the base of (New) Parliament House, seemingly unused. Back to work for him over Commonwealth Avenue Bridge and over Parkes Way at Acton. I continued back home via the bike paths through the inner north and Bruce. It had warmed a little, but not enough to do anything more than unzip the long sleeve top open ‘a bit’.
All up, a very cruisey 29kms over nearly 2 hours. Bob and I were able to catch up on lots of news and the plans of each over the next few weeks; we are looking forward to our (!joint) ‘trip to the country’ to do the Wagga Tri-ants Duathlon at the end of the month together. After snapping on the TV when I got home to see a replay (was it earlier in the day? No! Yet another wicket falling (Boucher), making it 8fa. Bob rang me as soon as he got out of the shower and logged on to Cricinfo to tell me the score in case I was still cycling. As he told me, Vittori went for a duck, and the World XI weren’t long for this match.
Dressed to go for a run, but started cooking up some bits and pieces in the fridge for Bob and didn’t get out.
It was very good though; so here’s a rough summary.
Bit of a moderate night sweat – I’m interested in ?vat_man’s experience of night sweats after hard efforts (he’s talking 100’s of k’s, but still relevant methinks). Tasks around the home took up much of the morning, and then the cricket (was meant to) start . . . Although I had mislaid my radio and spent rather too long looking for it, I headed off on the F600 for a long overdue cycle. It was the last day Bob was filling in the office for this week-long stint, so I asked him where he was planning to run today. If I could meet up with him, great, but I wasn’t going to plan my day around it.
I threw his digital camera in the handlebar bag as I left, (wish I knew what the cricket score was though!), and rugged up with leg warmers and a lightweight long sleeve jacket. Less than a kilometre from home, I saw a wonderful young echidna on the side of the bike path . . . he was quite dark and looked very lively. I was screaming downhill at the time, and it took me a while to stop and rest the bike up against a rail, take the camera out and trot up the path in search of him. He had gone to ground, or maybe I didn’t look far enough up the path.
The rest of the cycle down the Bindubi bike path and along the lakeside from Black Mtn Peninsula to Acton was uneventful, except that I was so cold that I could only think about turning around and warming up riding uphill! There was a stiff breeze, causing serious waves (about 8” high, but rolling, real waves nevertheless) to slap against the western shore of the beachlet between Acton and the NMA. I saw Nigel C just past here and remembered that it is his birthday on Wednesday. Must remember to acknowledge it at Customs on Friday.
Straining against the headwind near the Commonwealth Bridge underpass, 3 roadies rode past me in the other direction, the last one yelling “Hi Carolyne” as they rode past. Just ahead was the familiar figure of Bob and his choppy running style. I pulled the camera out, but the strong wind meant that we were sodden from the spray of the Captain Cook Memorial Jet which should have been turned off today! It was drenching, and riding alongside Bob on the gravel / mud I ended up looking like a legitimate MTB rider with mud caking the rear of the bike and my conspicuous yellow leg warmers.
It was lovely chatting to Bob as he ran around the Lake, although as he was nearing the Merchant Seaman’s Memorial I saw something under a tree ahead. I thought it looked like another echidna, but figured that this was just after this mornings close encounter. A possum? A large squirrel did cross my mind (I was so excited when I first saw squirrels in Washington DC when I first ran. Within an hour, “bloody squirrels” was more the sentiment). I rode over, and dropped my bike, grabbing the camera on the way. It was an echidna, lighter in colour than my morning friend, but stuck out in the middle of Commonwealth Park on thick lawn, not at all suitable for digging in. I took a couple of shots, and he kept following me, pecking at the yellow toe of my cycling shoe. An aggressive nesting starling kept buzzing him and I as we were under it’s tree, but the friendly echidna just waddled off across the grass, swinging it’s ample backside from one side to another with an amazing swagger. Bob had interrupted his run to look too, and he had never seen one in such a central location before.Canberra, you’ve got to love it!
Resuming our run / ride across Kings Avenue Bridge, and then Bob showed me a gravel trail around the base of (New) Parliament House, seemingly unused. Back to work for him over Commonwealth Avenue Bridge and over Parkes Way at Acton. I continued back home via the bike paths through the inner north and Bruce. It had warmed a little, but not enough to do anything more than unzip the long sleeve top open ‘a bit’.All up, a very cruisey 29kms over nearly 2 hours. Bob and I were able to catch up on lots of news and the plans of each over the next few weeks; we are looking forward to our (!joint) ‘trip to the country’ to do the Wagga Tri-ants Duathlon at the end of the month together. After snapping on the TV when I got home to see a replay (was it earlier in the day? No! Yet another wicket falling (Boucher), making it 8fa. Bob rang me as soon as he got out of the shower and logged on to Cricinfo to tell me the score in case I was still cycling. As he told me, Vittori went for a duck, and the World XI weren’t long for this match.
Dressed to go for a run, but started cooking up some bits and pieces in the fridge for Bob and didn’t get out.
It was very good though; so here’s a rough summary.
- Sweated Silverbeet in a little olive oil in an enamel cast iron skillet
- Threw in some slivers of (peeled) chorizo
- Crumbled reduced fat feta cheese on top in a light layer
- Zapped sliced potatoes in the microwave for two minutes.
- Beat a couple of eggs with loads of fresh ground black pepper
- Poured eggs over chard/feta mixture
- Lay sliced potato over the top in a layer
- Pressed down with an egg slice to ensure egg mixture through
- Finished off in a moderately high oven and/or under the grill until golden.
It was a ‘what was on hand’ kind of thing, so if I could have been bothered I would have tossed in garlic and onion first. Bob gave it the thumbs up by scoffing most of it at once!
Are you planning to post any of those echinda pics in your blog (hint hint)?
Very courageous run Flashduck! I wish I had been there to see you finishing and flapping your wings. I will make a special effort for next year, sounds like a great day.
GG
excellent pics...i wish i'd had a camera the day Hux found an echidna on our walk - i'm in the process of finding out if i can upgrade my phone without having to fork out too much money...
Great result at FF FD congratulations - I've had the night sweat thingos too, allegedly they are due to fat burning off but I don't know the where or why for.