Continuing the theme of regular boasting about achievements that I’ll one-day look back on and be surprised about, today on Mother’s Day a few of us Vandenberg’s did a fun run/walk for charity. Leonie had been bullying us for months and though I hadn’t run since October last year, I put in three trial efforts in the past 2 weeks, so I knew I wouldn’t be a total disaster. 
Robert, Bernie, Jannah, Katelyn, Leonie, Mum, Joy, Darren, Dad. Post run, pre-walk. It was a feel-good event really. Ron Barassi and Mary Delahunty were there as the token celebrities, and the staging oval was chockas with people doing the warm-up exercises and attending to kids and dogs. Being a Breast Cancer run, I expected lots more pink T-shirts and a better female to male ratio, but there were a swag of guys there. Because the Tan is the track I have run on semi-regularly for nearly 15 years in my lunch breaks, its fair to say that I wasn’t as excited as some. Despite not intending to really race anyone, the competitive juices did their magic as usual, and I found myself separated from anyone I knew, and in the last 2k, I tried in vain to overtake a young woman with a set of shoulders that remain implanted in my memory. Robert and sister Katelyn did the 4k, Leonie, Jannah and I did 8k, Mum and a fairly disinterested Dad did the 4k walk. It was drizzly and overcast, in other words thoroughly pleasant for running. When I crossed the line, it said 35:10 which I think is reasonable. I forgot to wish mum a happy Mother’s Day, until prompted, so here is my second go at it.