Monday, October 15  

No Applause Until You Know All The Facts

Yesterday, my family and I entered a fun run - The Golden Door Salt Village race, which is part of The Golden Door Fun Run Series, wonderfully well organised by the guys and gals at Corporate Challenge.

My wife Mel ran the 5 km (3.1 miles) race with our daughter Laura (16 yo) and son Jack (15 yo).

I ran the 10 km (6.2 miles) race, as did our son Harry (13 yo).

Anyhow, here's how we went.

• Laura won the 16-19 yo category for the 5 km
• Harry came 2nd in the 16-19 yo category 10 km race (he was too young for any other category)
• Jack came 3rd in the 13-15 yo category for the 5 km

Mel ran great and achieved her goal of finishing the race and running all the way (it was her first ever running race - at the age of 42!).

I ran slow (like an old 40 yo should), but managed to beat Harry.

Laura Is In Training

Laura was running the race as part of her training to do the run leg of the Noosa Triathlon on November 4 (I'm doing the swim leg and Jack is doing the bike leg).

Laura also made the district team in cross country running this year.

Sounds Like Bragging......Errrr, Nope

The above probably sounds like the ramblings of a proud father. But it's not really.

You see, I've just told you that my daughter Laura:

• won her age category in the 5 km fun run yesterday
  
• made the district cross-country running finals
• is training to run the 10 km run leg of one of the world's biggest triathlons

So you're probably thinking "Man, that Laura must be athletic. She must really be a terrific runner!"

Here are some other facts you might want to know:

• Laura was the only 16-19 yo girl in the race yesterday- she could have taken a day to finish and she would have still won
• Laura made the district cross country finals by finishing 8th in her school cross-country race - of the 100 girls in the race, only 8 actually ran
• Laura has never run 10 kms before (I think yesterday was her longest run ever) and her goal at the Noosa Triathlon is simply to finish

Take Action, Stuff Happens

When you take action, stuff happens. Laura isn't a great athlete by any stretch of the imagination. But she has a go.

And even if having a go doesn't result in winning a medal, she benefits so much by keeping fit, keeping healthy, having some fun, being disciplined, setting and achieving goals, and gaining a respect for what she does.

Having said all that you would not be able to prise the winner's medallion away from her with a crow bar!

Cheers

Brendon

P.S: To top off a terrific race, the major prize draw was 5 nights at a luxury heath spa here on the Gold Coast valued at $2,500 - all entrants went into the draw.

"And the winner is............ Brendon Sinclair."

I went up and collected the prize, gave it to my wife and have been placed firmly in the good books for at least 1 month!