Fraser Darcy

State 10,000m Championships and my birthday!

Logan’s Run is a 1976 American science fiction action film^[5] directed by Michael Anderson and starring Michael York, Jenny Agutter, Richard Jordan, Roscoe Lee Browne, Farrah Fawcett, and Peter Ustinov.

I’ve pulled that directly from Wikipedia and even left the footnote reference in there for extra effect. For those who either weren’t around in 1976 or have no pop culture about them this next excerpt from Wikipedia will help clarify it’s relevance.

It depicts a future society, on the surface a utopia, but soon revealed as a dystopia in which the population and the consumption of resources are maintained in equilibrium by killing everyone who reaches the age of 30. The story follows the actions of Logan 5, a “Sandman” who has terminated others who have attempted to escape death and is now faced with termination himself.

If you’re still a little slow and haven’t put two and two together, I turned 30 on Saturday this week and as such am now watching over my shoulder for a Sandman. Not really, but you get the point. There’s a lot of thoughts I have about birthdays (see list below) but turning 30 has sharpened my more reflective ones. Did I make the most of my 20’s? Would I have done anything differently? How do I want my 30’s to look? Or is looking at my life through the perspective of time based around the Gregorian calendar even a wise thing? What even is age? How many dog years am I?

Thoughts I have about birthdays in general:

• How important do you have to be so that everyone else organises your birthday party? Someone does it for The King I assume. If someone organised a party for me it would be a ‘surprise’ party. Why can’t they just tell me they’re organising it, why should I have to organise my own birthday.
• Birthdays are funny because really, I shouldn’t need a day a year to live how I want to live and enjoy myself. I should, and do try, live how I want to live every day of the year. If anything birthdays are a hassle to that. I have to spend extra time saying thank you to people wishing me a happy birthday.
• Gifts on your birthday are nice. They are either; things you have asked for (good), things you didn’t ask for but need and hate buying yourself (great), things you didn’t ask for and don’t need (ok). The last category opens you up to an interesting phenomenon on birthdays where you have to react appropriately or may feel guilty for not liking your present. This ‘game of reacting right’ is also played during the singing of Happy Birthday and when being presented with a cake.
• Lastly, my favourite part of my birthday is alerting people unaware it’s my birthday to the fact it is my birthday. It’s like you’re about to tell a story to your friends but instead of being unsure if it’s a good story or not you can be certain they’ll get around it; they have to, it’s your birthday!!!

So having sat down to start writing this on my birthday, and deviating from the usual weekly recap, here are some more thoughts on my birthday and not just birthday’s in general.

Thoughts about my birthday and turning 30:

• I had a pretty good run through my 20’s. Highlights include:
  • Paddling Bass Strait, around KI, over to Pearson and Neptune Islands
  • Completing uni with first class honours
  • Completing a few trail ultra’s
  • Becoming an Australian champion and competing in World Champs
  • Doing two ski seasons and becoming a ski patroller
  • Owning a Subaru Outback
  • Working in outdoor ed through it’s ups and downs.
  • Buying a house in Quorn
  • Working as a teacher
  • Getting good at climbing
  • Getting even better at running
• The world is not always perfect though and some lowlights/regrets include:
  • Not getting more serious about my running sooner
  • Deciding to not go back for a third ski season during COVID and starting the decline of my skiing career (which did mean I could kick start my climbing career)
  • Procrastinating my work experience requirements throughout uni (but with that came the benefit of doing more outdoor trips)
  • Being too frugal and at times not investing in myself enough (for new shoes, climbing trips etc.)
  • Chaotically having to shift work around during COVID.
  • Selling my Subaru Outback
• It’s also nice to reflect on what I was doing around my birthday in the past. Here’s 2022’s birthday-era blog and 2023’s post.

So there it is in dot point form. A snapshot of my 20’s. There’s a few things missing out there but you get the picture. If a sandman was to come and terminate me at the age of turning 30 I feel like I would’ve given life a pretty good run. That’s the attitude I’d like to also continue with for the next thirty years. Being 29 I felt like I was approaching the 30’s as the ‘end’ almost. However now I am 30 I realise that was an over exaggeration. Despite that melancholic feeling of turning 30 I did get a good reminder of the glory days of my 20’s this week on Thursday. Before we get to what happened on Thursday let’s rewind and start on Monday.

The day after the McLaren Vale Half marathon. I pulled up pretty fine. Better than I did a week ago from the Melbourne 10km. I did my rehab exercises, went for a run and then did some strength work afterwards. The run was a classic injured-limping run where I tried to get as far away from The RunHouse but still within emergency walking distance back in case I had to bail. It ended up not too bad. It was a pretty cruisy day after that. Put together the blog. Had a nap. Recharged for another big week of trying to train as much as possible around a dodgy hip/leg.

Tuesday. RunAsOne session at 6:30. This time we were at a track for the first time this spring and it was great fun to be able to closely watch the people I coach a lot more. After that session I had my own session with the 9:30 gang and we also went to the track. I was still limping around a bit but had decided if I was going to race the State 10,000m Champs I needed to test myself out on a few laps. The others were doing 3 sets of 10*300/100jog which was incredibly too fast for me on a dodgy leg. I instead decided to do 400 steady-ish, 400 harder, 200 jog. Or in other words, 400 at an effort that felt a little harder than Sunday’s half marathon, a 400 at 5k/10k effort and then 200 very easy. It ended up being quite fun but also quite hard which was good as it meant I was humbled a bit for my ambitions towards Sunday’s race.

The pleasing thing about the session is that even with the 200m jog included I was running 3:22-3:25/km for the whole session. My leg felt ok during the reps as well. Still wasn’t the greatest power-wise but was ok enough to get going. By the end of the session and the end of the day I was feeling better about it though having pulled up relatively well.

Which did give me some confidence that I would be able to run 90 minutes to 2hrs on Wednesday and get somewhat close to normal training. But no, my hopes were too high and I ended up doing only 70 minutes with multiple stretch breaks. Still, this was now the fifth day in a row I had managed to string together an hour of running. More than I did last week in a row.

The week gets interesting here as well. I drove straight to Quorn after this run and ended up back home for the first time in four weeks. I knew I was pretty cooked at this point during the week as I had to stop when I got to Port Augusta for a little sleep in my car before the final thirty minutes home. When I did get home I was pleased to find there were no squatters in my house. I unpacked, sat on the couch and just felt relaxed to be at home in Quorn again. As much as I really enjoy my working and running lifestyle in Adelaide, Quorn is still a very, very hard place to beat for relaxation. I tried doing a few things that afternoon but couldn’t get any focus. Instead, I had a great nap, bought some groceries and cooked one of the better pasta dishes I’ve made in a long time having put in a bit more effort than: pasta + pesto + tuna. I needed a good meal on Wednesday night because Thursday was going to be a big day.

It started off like any normal day. Coffee, computer work, run. I managed 10km’s and felt pretty good. Got home, showered, breakfast, made lunch and then rocked up at the Quorn Area School for some orienteering work. This was the purpose for my trip back to Quorn. I had done about twenty minutes of preparation for the day (not that a heap is needed) and was pleased to find out Ms G and I were on the same page. We drove out to Melrose, I jumped back into outdoor ed instructing mode and had a great day letting the students wander around Melrose under the guise of ‘orienteering’. At the end of the day, it was back home to Quorn, a little bit of computer work starting to write some programs for RunAsOne and a bonus afternoon run. It was a real treat to do an arvo run for the first time in a week and especially so to do it on possibly my most favourite loop ever (that’s not just in Quorn but ever!).

The day wasn’t done yet though. I had to pack my things, have a shower, dinner and then attend the Quorn Swim Club meeting for which I am still the President. It was good to catch up with the swim club crew and we had a productive meeting to get everything organised before swimming season starts (and Quorn is in it’s element). After that meeting finished at 7:45pm I hit the road back to Adelaide for one of my latest departures back. And here’s where I reminisced about my 20’s. I loved the instances I would drive off on an outdoor trip either late at night or early in the morning, against the common practice of doing things. What, you’re driving all through the night to go skiing the next day? You’re working that program a day after being over there? The thrill of the adventure was enough motivation to push through the challenge of being tired. That thrill was powering me through once again to drive back to Adelaide late at night all so I could attend Friday’s 6:30 RAO session.

I had toyed with the idea of staying at The RunHouse before with Riley and this Thursday night/Friday morning turnaround was going to be the most sensible opportunity to experiment with it. So yes, at 11:30pm I rolled into Charles St and by 11:35pm I had unrolled my swag in the back room and was sleeping. Well not really sleeping but at least trying to. It’s always hard falling asleep after a drive sometimes which is strange because sometimes I have to fight off falling asleep while driving.

Anyway I did get to sleep in the end before having to wake up at 5:45am, roll my swag back up, put it back in my car and pretend that I hadn’t slept in The RunHouse. I didn’t want to be ‘that guy’ who becomes known as the guy who sleeps at The RunHouse, well not yet until I write about it on fraserdarcy.com that is. But now everyone can see why I probably opted to sleep there (and save the 20 minute travel back to Blackwood and then back again in Friday morning all for a bit more sleep). After doing all that I then got stuck into a big day again. Just like old outdoor ed times, the show never stops. I rode the bike at the 6:30 session, got some valuable meeting time with a few people I coach, went back to The RunHouse, did some rehab exercises, went for a run with a short 4km tempo to test myself for Sunday (passed the test), went back to The RunHouse, jumped on the bike for the 9:30 crew, helped Adam and then Izzi with their sessions, back to The RunHouse, had some lunch (my once a week treat is to buy it from there) did some gym, went home for the first time since Wednesday morning, had a nap, did some programs, had a sauna, felt great, had a pizza, watched Austin Powers, bing bang boom, what a great day.

Then it was my birthday on Saturday! An even better day! I started off with a run in Belair for the first time in a while. My hip/leg pulled up pretty well, the weather was good and I had some good company. After that, coffee at The RunHouse (for free), home for some admin/work, received some presents and then spent the afternoon playing some frisbee golf with outdoor ed mates. Great arvo and I played better than last week.

That was it for my birthday really. I had pasta for dinner and relaxed in order to get myself ready for the State 10,000 Championships.

When I first thought about this race I had hoped to run under 29:45 and qualify for the National 10,000m Championships. After taking five days off and then getting back for Melbourne 10km that goal disappeared. In it’s place, I aimed to just run a good race where I didn’t die in the end.

To cut to the chase quickly, it mostly turned out like that. With the race starting at 9:40am under almost full sun on a 25 degree day it felt hot from the go. Not great for fast times but great for racing conditions. Off the front Jacob and two others went at around sub 30 minute pace. I was in a group with two others slightly back and we rolled through the first kilometre in 3:10. On track for 31:40 which is a bit slower than I would’ve liked but given the heat and my goal of running a nice even race I thought ‘fuck it, I’m running this pace and not any harder for a while, stay relaxed’. I did stay pretty relaxed and stayed on pace throughout the whole first 5km’s. It was nice having a few friends from RAO and Mum and Dad watching. It was also nice just getting to experience a new ‘event’ as this was the first time I had run 10km on the track.

As it got into the second half of the race one of our little group decided to head off a bit faster and I let him go. A fitter version of me would’ve been able to run with him but as I realised after this race I’m not as fit as I think I am anymore. Up the road one of the original three in the front pack had dropped back. By the last kilometre this runner had now joined my group and we had ourselves a race for 4th. We were still running 3:10/km’s and it felt bloody hard with a kilometre to go. At this point in a road race I’d kick off and try and run the last bit hard but with still 2.5 laps to go it was easier mentally to hold that effort for just the last lap. That strategy probably hurt me in the end as the other runner had a stronger kick and out sprinted me. I was able to take 5th place and finish in 31:32. Not terrible, not great either. Oh well, it was done. I was relieved to have finished the last race I was really keen to do for a few weeks.

Doing it at my current fitness level was maybe not the best idea but I was still glad I experienced what 25 laps feels like on a track. It’s almost like when you’re away on a climbing trip and even though you’re tired you still want to give a new interesting climb a go. It usually isn’t worth it but having at least ‘tied in’ it was good to get a feel for the event next time around.

After the race I pulled up pretty well I thought. Yeah I was a bit flat and felt cooked but my leg/hip felt good. I spent the rest of the day doing not too much until I went for a bike ride and then a hit of tennis. Attempting to play tennis was like my own birthday present to myself. It didn’t go well. I had no ability to run side to side and semi-collapsed on my leg at one point. Safe to say, waking up the next day, on Monday (today!), I really felt the effects of that twenty minute hit. Again, I was glad I tried it much like the 10,000m race. Just another humbling episode in how weak my leg is.

That’s about it really for this week in my life. It was a pretty good birthday in the end and I was glad with the way I celebrated it. The comforting thing I’m telling myself about my lack of big birthday celebrations for ‘the big one’ as some people told me 30th was is that I’m pretty fortunate to enjoy myself and be content with little. All I need for a good day is a good run (they’re hard to come by at the moment), a bit of music, maybe a beer and some friends and that’s it. Anything more is just complicating the matter.

Without complicating this blog anymore in this next week I’ve got a bit of work to get done, some more jogging hopefully and no races on the weekend for a while. Thanks for reading!