He aint heavy he's a wombat......

Thought I might put a picture of one tough son of a wombat " Mona" on my blog today. This is a photo of the old man himself making the home run from Spion Kjope one of the very testing and tough runs at Falls Creek this year.... Having run this 14 mile course myself I know how bloody hard it can be. There have been times when the weather comes in and visibility is almost zero but I guess its these things that make you a runner and Mona was certainly that.

Its fantastic that he is coming to Perth in a few weeks to run a camp at Nanga. This is going to provide those who get along to it a great opportunity to not only run with this wombat of all wombats but a chance to talk with him. Having trained with him for long periods on some of the Australian teams I managed to scrap into I know that he will have some stories to share.

Falls Creek is certainly one thing I miss about being really fit. It was always great to get into the mountains and just train eat and sleep for 3 -5 weeks. In that time you did some fantastic session but you also got to do with some of the best runner in Australia with the occasional import thrown in.

This week is looking to be a bloody grind. Sunday was just hard from the word go. I went to a 40th and did not drink so that I would not be hung over for the Sunday long run. Drinking coke and water but still woke up feeling like I had been on the turps all night. parked at Victor Road gate and run across the river bed to meet with Courts, Tamblin and See. From here we went out along the lower pipeline to Kelly's climb picking up Nuttan along the way. Nuttan turned slightly before the hill. while Courts, See and Tamblin went on and up I turned at the hill base and came back along the upper pipe. Felling like absolute shit I decided to try and lift myself by chasing Nuttan hoping that at every turn I would see the man who defies anatomical reasoning by running without the use of knees. (He's got them , just does not use them).

At the point where I had decided I would run fast until I caught him even if it meant going further than I had intended Stew Denton, who was on his way out, informed me he was only a 100 or so meters ahead.. Needless to say I managed to catch him coming up past the water treatment plant. A small victory on an otherwise tough grinding outing.

Tonight was the same, while the young wombats were doing tennis I ran up the the old railway track to Coppin Road from Glen Forest. Again it was a mind game the whole way. While the subconscious was shouting to stop I was consciously saying to myself at the nest tee I will turn and the next tree I will turn but each time running on until eventually I got to the road. Angry with myself for being a weak bastard I pushed down the incline to get home a solid 2 minutes quicker than my effort going out.... Just a grind but still got it done.......

Why is it that sometimes the things we enjoy the most can also be the hardest. I know that I am getting fitter and putting the shoes on each day is a pleasure but boy oh boy if I miss that window when I feel like doing it , it just becomes an internal battle.....

I hope you won battle today......

Barrel on wombats.....