My ultimate running goal race is to run a half marathon the year of (or before) my 40th birthday. Running a half marathon is going to be a challenge and will require some specialist running gear, both for the training and the race itself. So I set out to visit each of the three specialist running stores in Brisbane that I know. Yes, there are numerous Sports Power, Rebel Sport, Amart All Sports, etc., etc., stores, but these stores really cater to the mass fitness market, not the serious runner. Their gear is okay if you are trying to run 10 km, but not really up to standard once you get into endurance events.

First off, let me declare that I am biased — I am a member of the Intraining Running and Triathlon Club.

The three stores that I visited were the The Run Inn (Enoggera), Active Stride (South Brisbane) and Intraining Running Centre (Milton). All three stores advertise in running magazines such as Runners’ World and Run for Your Life. I visited the three stores with the particular aim of finding some running shorts that could hold a few GUs in some back pockets. My preference is not to use a running belt. I was also in the market from some anti-chafe cream and some running socks.

The Run Inn was a bit of a disappointment. Parking was difficult with no nearby street parking. They had two spaces in their driveway, but even this was difficult – a cautious driver would struggle to reverse out into two lanes of traffic queuing at the nearby traffic lights. The Run Inn web site states that it is an Asics specialist running store (read very limited range of other brands). It also has some 2XU gear too. I have to say, I didn’t get a particularly friendly vibe from the staff (I think they were the store owners?). Another couple with a child were in the store at the same time I was. It seems that their child had wandered off and separated the lid of a drink bottle from the bottle itself. After a brief search did not turn up the lid, the female staff person tried to make the couple buy the drink bottle. It seems that the lid eventually turned up and the couple bought a running shirt. Given that I was in the store with my two young girls, it was not a particularly good vibe. I bought a stick of Striderm, but will not bother going back.

Active Stride, while nicely presented, has a somewhat clinical feel to it. I have been in a couple of times and the staff are always friendly, saying g’day and chatting about upcoming events and the customer’s running activities. Perhaps they need some sales training to then make the link between the runner’s needs and the products in store? The product range is okay, but not fantastic. I have not yet bought anything from there, but I am sure that I will eventually given that I have a client just around the corner.

Intraining Running Centre, in my view, is the best of the bunch. It has a good vibe with people coming and going all the time. The store is well presented, without having a sterile feel to it. Numerous training groups leave from there throughout the week making the store feel like it is right in the groove for the active runner. The staff are great — helpful and friendly. They also have podiatrists and sports massage therapists operating from the store. Again, they have an okay product range, but I did not manage to find a suitable pair of running shorts. I thought they were the most likely to have them given their involvement in the Brisbane Marathon Festival.

So that leaves the question, “Where is the category killer running store in Brisbane?” The killer shop that stocks all the products of all the brands, including the speciality brands, such as Race Ready, and speciality gear, like comfortable marathon running shorts with pockets in the back?

I eventually ended up buying my running shorts from Race Ready over the internet. At Australia’s current exchange rate, it was not that expensive either when the cost of freight is included. No doubt I will comment on the gear when it arrives, and if it is okay, probably buy a couple of hundred dollars more gear from them over the next 12 months.

In the last eight or so months, I have got into running. This is a pretty good effort given that at the beginning of the year I could barely walk because of a back injury cause by trying to shift a marble-topped table in a restaurant!

20 years ago I used to do some running, but only as part of triathlons. My preferred sport was cycling. I could just struggle around a 1 km ocean swim without drowning. And running was only a little better. I seem to remember running a hilly 10 km in 50 minutes. Not hugely fast, but okay. In those days I weighed 60 kg, and I could not put on weight.

Spin forwards 20 years and I am now 20+ kg heavier. I started running as a way to lose some of the extra kegs while still exercising my dogs (multi-tasking is important!). But now I am loving it!

I have only lost about 4 kg, which is a bit disappointing. My objective is to get back down to about 75 kg. My fitness level has increased dramatically though. When I started running I could only run two light poles, and then had to walk for one. I have now run up to 15 km, even if it was very slow. I have also run a few races:

Greater Springfield Run for Life 5 km – 29 mins
Mousdash 10.5 km (around Mt Coot-tha) – 75 mins
Lung Foundation Corporate River Run 10.44 km – 61 mins.

Climbing away from the Mousdash start -- 2.5 km later we were at the top of Mt Coot-tha

I had planned to run the 10 km run as part of the Brisbane Running Festival, but got sick the week before so ended up doing the 8 km walk with my wife. It was rather humbling to be skylarking along and have guys slog past you who had been running for four hours and had another 10 km to go!

I have also recently joined a running club – the Intraining Running and Triathlon Club. The club is obviously connected to the Intraining store in Milton. I have been along to the Monday and Wednesday beginners’ groups a few times. There is a real diversity of runners’ shapes, sizes and abilities, which is great – I am not the fattest or slowest! These groups cater to the beginning runner who can not yet run 10 km. While I can run 10+ km, I am still finding the training useful. My main objective is to increase my speed. My endurance is okay at this stage.

The Intraining group is very relaxed and friendly. People come and go as suits them. There is no guilt factor to missing training some weeks – which is good given my family and work commitments. I have been told that there is usually an influx of people in January – everyone trying to fulfil those New Year resolutions. I am told that sometimes the beginners’ groups can be as large as 40+ people!

The group also seems to suit people (like me) who are event orientated, such as the Brisbane Running Festival or many of the numerous fun runs throughout the year. Brisbane Road Runners Club runs races every fortnight – I simply could not commit to that level of involvement. The big events suit me – and they are fun.

My goal races are currently:

Clem 7 Tunnel Run 10 km – date to be confirmed, but likely to be in February/March 2010
Twilight Running Festival half marathon – 21 March 2010

My ultimate objective is to run a full marathon the year I turn 40 (or before). The following two races are therefore on my goal list too:

Brisbane Marathon – 15-16 May 2010
Gold Coast Airport Marathon – 3-4 July 2010

If I do not make the full marathons this year, I can always do one of the shorter races in the program and aim for the full marathon next year.

What this leads me to is looking seriously at more running gear. Things like running gels, running shorts with pockets (more than just a fob pocket, and shorts with these are really specialist gear), a better pair of shoes and perhaps even a heart rate monitor/GPS watch. But that is a whole other blog post …

Run on dudes!

Boreen Point at Lake Cootharaba is an ideal camping ground for families and sailors.

Sailors have long frequented the lake because it receives ocean breezes, but has flat water.

The Boreen Point camping ground is great for families becuase of its quiet location and shallow lake. Our kids wandered 100 metres off shore and were still only waist deep! Just avoid the camp ground in busy periods, such as Easter. It gets jam-packed with campers — add a bit of rain and it all becomes a bit feral.

Following is a photo of our 10-person Jackaroo dome tent from KMart set up at the Boreen Point camping ground. The lake is only about 20 metres in front of the tent!

For the record, I measured the KMart Jackaroo 10-person dome tent as being approximately 2.8 metres wide and 4.6 metres long. It is a bit hard to accurately measure because the tent buldges where the tub floor meets the walls, and the front of the tent is rounded so it is only 4.6 metres long at the centre across the door (not to the corners). I did not take height measurements, but given the standing room, I guess the back dome is more than 6′ high, but the front dome is less than 6′ high. On my bathroom scales the packed tent, poles and pegs weighs in at 18.3 kilograms.

Jackaroo 10-person dome tent

• When nine hundred years old you reach, look as good you will not.
• Wars not make one great.
• Adventure. Heh! Excitement. Heh! A Jedi craves not these things.
• You must unlearn what you have learned.
• Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try.
• Luminous begins are we … not this crude matter.
• That is the way of things … the way of the Force.
• A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind.
• Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will …
• Beware of the dark side. Anger … fear … aggression.
• You must feel the force around you.
• Through the force things you will see. Other places. The future … the past. Old friends long gone.
• Size matters not.
• If you choose the quick and easy path … you will become an agent of evil.
• Control, control. You must learn control.
• Mind what you have learned. Save it you can.

The only difference between men and boys is the cost of their toys.

So how many expensive toys should a man have?

Expressed as an equation, men should — and in fact need – N + 1 expensive toys, where N is the number of toys that they currently own.

Too many toys is never enough!

It seems that my family has finally succumbed to the swine flu. With one child in school and the other in child care, it was only a matter of time. While my various members of my family have been sick at different times during the last two weeks, we only pieced it all together this week.

On Monday there was a notice on the child care centre door that one of the children had tested positive for swine flu. When my wife came home from the doctor on Tuesday and said the doc thought she had swine flu, we began to piece it together.

My youngest had become sick about two weeks ago. At first we just thought she was teething. A fever and runny nose. A little later she developed a cough. My older daughter got sick at school the Tuesday after. She came home that afternoon and lay down. Fortunately the following day was the Ekka (show day) public holiday, and the day after was a student free day at school. My oldest was lethargic on Wednesday. By Thursday she was perking back up, and by Friday she could have gone to school but we let her stay home (prep year attendance is non-compulsory).

My wife started to come down with it on the Thursday. She has had it bad and been quarantined in the bedroom until yesterday. Mind you, she managed to give it to me.

I had the bug on Monday and spent most of the day resting. On Tuesday I was back on deck, although still not 100%. If the sickness I had was indeed swine flu, then it is probably the mildest flu I have ever had. A slight fever, minor aches, and a cough. No big deal really, but still and inconvenience not to be feeling at the top of your game for several days.

The normal yearly flu kills a couple of thousand people every year. Swine flu seems to be doing the same. What is the big deal?

I went on a journey of discovery this morning, but was left disappointed.

For many years I have driven along South East Queensland’s Gateway Motorway and noticed the Taoist Temple sign near Deagon. Given my interest in Taoism (Daoism), my curiosity was piqued everytime I saw it. But I always had another destination to get to so could not stop for a look.

Googling for a Brisbane Taoist Temple reveals that it is the Evergreen Taoist Church of Australia. But apart from a 360 degree view of the temple courtyard, phone number and posts from a few people who have visited, does not reveal much else. Try the Google search for yourself! They do not even appear to have a web site.

So this morning I took a few hours off work and drove over to visit the Evergreen Taoist Church of Australia. I figured that was the only way I was going to find out about what they did.

I was the only visitor there at the time — 10:30am on a Friday morning. There were four staff visible — three in an office, and one cleaning the front display. None sought to speak with me. There were many statues and displays, but being the only visitor in the temple, did not feel like taking photos.

Unfortunately there was no explanatory pamphlet on their church, notes explaining the various displays and statues, or even a book shop. While visually the Taoist Temple is worth a look, from an information and fact finding perspective, I was left disappointed.

Now to look in a different direction to find out more about Taoism.

I like to refer to myself as a Taoist, in much the same way that many people call themselves Christians but do not go to church. I am a believer, but not a practicer … yet.

I have been saying for many years that Taoism sits with me comfortably (from what I know if it!) and it is something that I would like to explore further. I think that time is here.

My current understanding is that Taoism is not a religion as such, but a spiritual way of living where you are in the natural flow of life energy. Sounds all very new agey doesn’t it?

Update: while the following should work to circumvent the blacklist of sites, packet filtering is another issue altogether. But the real point is that we, as Australian citizens, should not have to go to these lengths to get a clean internet feed.

The issue of the Australian Federal Government filtering internet content has been brewing for some time. I have always thought that it would be relatively easy to write a Perl script to fetch web pages. It could be placed on a legitimate server anywhere in the world. From my computer in Australia, I could reach the Perl script that could then fetch any pages or files on the internet. The thing is, it made my head hurt just thinking about the time I would waste writing a little snippet of code just for the sake of outfoxing the Australian Federal Government.

Paul Syvret’s article, Internet Filter Danger, published in The Courier-Mail on 7 July 2009 got me thinking that I would not be the only person in the world who has had this thought. A two-minute Google search revealed that to be the case.

James Marshall has written CGIProxy – a 509 kb file size Perl script. Don’t be fooled by his plain text web site either. I quote from his web site:

This CGI script acts as an HTTP or FTP proxy. Through it, you can retrieve any resource that is accessible from the server it runs on. This is useful when your own access is limited, but you can reach a server that in turn can reach others that you can’t. In addition, the user is kept as anonymous as possible from any servers. Common uses include: anonymous proxies similar to The Anonymizer, other personal uses, VPN-like functionality, and others. It’s very simple to install, and very configurable.

From that description, it is easy to think that there might be a few Chinese and Iranians using this script! Imagine putting Australian’s in the same censorship category as those countries! It just isn’t right!!

As proof of concept, I downloaded the Perl script, installed it on this web site, and within two minutes I was surfing the internet anonymously fetching pages. In fact, it has taken me longer to write this blog post than it took to find and install CGIProxy. The Perl script can be run within a secure sockets layer (SSL) and with the URL encoded. I have not bothered to test this yet, but there is no reason it should not work. (There is some debate as to whether running under SSL will prevent packet inspection of data if the Australian Government colludes with root certification authorities, and whether this can be got around through VPN tunnelling … no doubt there is someone out there smarter than me who will solve this problem, and perhaps the answer is already available, VPNOut.)

This web site is hosted in Australia, but with around $100 and 15 minutes work, I could easily run the CGIProxy Perl script from a server anywhere in the world. That would give me my own private anonymous surfing system that can access unfiltered web page and file content on the internet. Try finding and banning me then!

My blog and business web site statistics give me an insight into what is happening on the internet. Sure, it is a small, statistically-insignificant snapshot, but can be interesting none the less. The following numbers are for the last month.

Take browsers for a moment. Visitors to this blog in the last month have used the following browsers.

• Internet Explorer 46.42%
• Firefox 39.27%
• Safari 8.08%
• Chrome 4.04%
• Opera, Mozilla, Camino, Konqueror and Opera Mini the rest.

Anyone heard of Safari? (Sorry Mac users …). Chrome is high on the recognition list with Google‘s involvement, but does not seem to have a strong take-up. And what about Firefox? It has got a strong showing against the Microsoft juggernaught Internet Explorer. It will be interesting to see whether Chrome can make any headway — it has been holding a around this level for the last few months. Unfortunately I can not give a comparable snapshot from my business web site because I have not yet got around to excluding my own hits from it, so my visits distort the picture.

Another interesting development is Bing. And for this I can make a comparison with my business site because I do not search for my own web sites (well, I do, but I don’t click through). Google sent 97.69% of search engine generated visits in the last month, while Bing sent … none. Interestingly, Bing sent 92.54% of search engine generated traffic to my business web site, while Google only sent 7.46%. There is a vast anomaly there, which is mostly accounted for by the fact that Bing has only indexed the front page of this blog so far.

I have not yet had anyone visit this blog using Windows 7. XP still rules, with 68.41% of Windows users, while Vista accounts for 28.90%. All versions of Windows account for 84.97% of total visitors. MacIntosh (12.44%) and Linux (1.35%) are still well behind Windows’ dominance, Interestingly, iPod and iPhone account for 0.93% of visitors.

As always, I can not see any personal details in my statistics — all results are aggregated and not attributable to individuals.