BUSY SCHEDULE IS EVEN BUSIER THAN A BUSY BEE

It all seems easy for professional runners in so many ways doesn’t it. Have coaches meticulously plan out on track events and training patterns, and have a manager who’s only ever interested in a bigger slice of the pie organise off track appearances somewhere where the runner probably doesn’t know where the venue is, let alone where they want to actually be. They’ll all tell you it isn’t all beer and skittles doing it all for modest amounts getting by week to week on results alone.

Compare this to the types of schedules that I have for myself coming up over the next month or so. Sure there’s the usual routines of training early in the mornings a number of times a week before earning a few dollars working (certainly far from enough to exceed the proposed debt caps, but this blog isn’t going all political so this is a discussion for another time). Throw in commitments on Saturdays to football and mapping out the running schedule and anything associated with these events and I can tell that readers out there will think I’m whinging. WHY WOULD I WHINGE WHEN I’M THE ONE SETTING OUT THE SCHEDULE?????

So lets take this week for example, working from Monday the 19th of May to the next Monday the 26th. There is naturally a full week of work to get through, nothing new when you take your leave at the very start and very end of the year save for the big marathons around the country where an extra travel day is essential. There are 3 early morning training session planned, keeping in mind that there is only 2 months until the Gold Coast Marathon which I plan to enter in this pay cycle. There is a matter of booking accommodation for a couple of upcoming trips, one of which I will outline shortly. All this in itself looms as a packed week, yet this seems normal compared to what is coming on the weekend.

On Saturday my football commitments will take me to Tannum Sands, about a half hour to the south of Gladstone and about 2 hours south of Rockhampton where I am based (all by road and assuming there are no roadworks). After playing what may be 2 games of football on the Saturday (depending on how many players show up, always a lottery for this trip more so than Gladstone), it will probably be straight to bed at 10PM for a 4AM wake up call which to be honest is something I’m used to on a Sunday given the number of times I’m required to work from 6AM on a Sunday morning. But instead of sliding into a work uniform it’s off to the other side of town to compete in the Rocky River Run, where I am completing their half marathon event from 6:15AM which in reality measures about 350 metres shorter than the distance, not that anyone complains. With all of the requirements including bib pick up, warm up and baggage drop amongst others, I will need to complete the run well before 8:15AM, for I am required to be on a flight to Brisbane not more than an hour later en route to the Gold Coast to watch even more footy. Therefore I’ll most likely have to pack any gear (supporters apparel, a change of casual clothing, mobile phone charger and a towel) on the Saturday morning, ensuring that I’ll need to keep this baggage small enough to use as carry on baggage. I will also need to check in for my flight before I start the run on Sunday morning via my mobile phone, for traffic around the venue will mean I probably won’t have enough time to check in conventionally at the airport in time for departure.

Sounds like a hectic Saturday and Sunday doesn’t it? Well compare that to the schedule that is likely to happen on City2South weekend in Brisbane a few weeks later (15 June). With no mailing out of bibs for this event unlike last year I will need to fly down to Brisbane on the Friday to collect, although fortunately a day of leave has been booked for this purpose. It will be likely that I will be staying in Brisbane overnight unless a return flight on the Friday is cheaper (it generally is NOT), meaning that I will have to book a room for 3 nights instead of the 2 that I anticipated. Then on the Saturday morning, I will have to take a return flight to Rockhampton, organise transport to Yeppoon (a half hour’s drive to the East) to fulfill football commitments, then race back to the airport for the (already booked) flight back to Brisbane for a few hours kip before the event at 7AM on the Sunday morning. Nothing like getting those frequent flyer miles up now isn’t there!

Fortunately this is about as rushed as it will get. There are no football commitments for the majority of the remaining events for the year, and I’ve informed the footy club about my unavailability for City2Surf weekend in August with a mid afternoon departure and evening arrival into Sydney. At least I should be relaxed about everything except if something goes wrong which I didn’t anticipate. But I suppose we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

By the way, for those interested I now also have an Instagram account, so follow me at http://instagram.com/mhjeffrey027, where unlike most other equivalent accounts, you will see pictures that aren’t selfies with randoms either off either arm or providing the photobomb of the century, or for that matter pictures of semi-healthy dinners I wouldn’t touch if my life depended on it.