Ryan Gregson's Blog by Ryan_Gregson

I had a decent run in the Burnie Ten last week. I ended up coming 2^nd in 29:13, finishing 9 seconds behind Australia’s best long distance runner Collis Birmingham. I finished off well but Collis’ strong move at the 3km mark was enough for him to get away and win comfortably. I was happy with the result and am looking forward to racing Collis again in a 5km in Noosa in a week’s time. I really enjoy these races at this time of year. They are different distances to what I usually run, they’re in nice places and the vibe is much more relaxed than the other meets earlier in the year. Burnie is a lovely beachside town and I’d really like to do a bit more tripping around Tasmania. I think next year we’ll have to have a family holiday down there. Tasmanians cop a fair bit of criticism but I enjoy the place and I like the people. Noosa on the other hand is also a great spot. Mum and Dad will come up to watch me and it should be a good weekend. The Noosa Bolt is on the Saturday and then on the Sunday is the Noosa Triathlon which is the main event of the weekend and gets a big field and a host of celebrities doing the race. Sunday should be a good night with the whole of Noosa out and about, and then when I get back it’s time to watch some horse racing. It will be handy being down here when the Spring Carnival is on. The Melbourne Cup is best watched over a BBQ with friends, but I’ll make an appearance at Flemington later in the week. My Dad being a bit of a big deal will be in a marquee, but I’ll most likely be with the shit kickers down the back somewhere. 

I’m looking forward to a good feed tonight down at the Red Lion. The Red Lion is our local here in Ballarat and on Wednesday and Thursday nights they have cheap parma’s. They do the traditional tomato salsa, onion and mozzarella, but they also do a range of other toppings including barbecue, breakfast, Greek, sweet and sour, and nachos. So far I’ve only done the traditional and the barbecue as I haven’t been game enough to try a breakfast parma which includes an egg and hollandaise sauce, or the nachos which comes with a blob of sour cream on top. Joining Brett, Collis and I will be Nath Hartigan who is coming to the end of his two week break following his big PB at the Melbourne Marathon, and also my Dad who is down in Melbourne on business and is stopping in for the night. The hardest thing about the Red Lion is getting Brett to the main bar area. Just after the entrance is the pokies and Brett gets easily sidetracked and can sometimes be lost for hours on end. Brett will have a punt on anything, even being a master at Keno. Brett has even signed me up to an online betting account. I have no interest in betting on horse races, but I do enjoy stringing the odd sports multi together. Brett and I had a couple of 5-part multi’s set up last week but they were both over after the first game. We’ll be better for the experience.

Ryan