PolCom - 3

If only I had an open cheque book.....

....as it seems our politicians do.

 

How often do we hear or read about the money being wasted by our politicians at all levels of government? Why does the public feel powerless to do anything about it?

 

Travel, personal perks, 'art', studies, meaningless projects.

At what point are we all going to stop and object to our tax dollars being thrown into the wind.

 

Allow me to note a few examples:

Lord Mayor - chauferred limo driver earns more than the Mayor due to overtime payments.

Home renovated for a released criminal because there was no where else to put him.

The Albert park $300,000 commonwealth games tree

Ex-politician pensions and perks.

 

I'm not opposed to taxes - the tax system is for later comment - but I am concerned that I do not get true value for my dollar. There should be a way for the elected members to be held accountable more than once every 3 or 4 years.

 

M

3rd run this week

It has been a while since I had 3 runs in the bank before the weekend.

Today was 50mins in the CBD with one of my running buddies.

The temp was mild and with an overcast sky conditions were great.

A little aprehensive after Thursdays run, I hobbled around like and old man all day due to a tightness in my lower back, nothing new but it was hanging around longer than usual (hereditary weak back - normally 1 day problems).

But right from the start, about 1.5ks to meeting point, it felt OK, and once I was warm it felt fine. I followed a similar pattern to yesterday and took it easy and then stretched after about 25 mins. It was good today since LC has not been running too much lately so I didn't feel I was slowing him down.

It was a bit of a surprise to see how many trees have been removed from the Tan, it will take away a lot of the summer shade and wind block, I hope it was for a good reason, as it will take a long time to get them back.

 

My knee is feeling good, the stretching is doing the trick, and after the run today my back feels 100% again.

 

Next run: possibly a short one on Sunday evening. I'm conscious of not going overboard and this week has been good so far.

 

M

When a bad run comes good....

Today, I slept in again….but fortunately I didn’t have to start work till later.

So off I went. Again to the Lillydale Lake, as at this stage until I feel more confident in my knee (suspicious ITB) I will stick to the flatish runs.

Started running at 8am and immediately noticed that there were less people about than on Tuesday.

Slow and steady, legs a bit sore and lower back a bit tight.

The lake is a 2.5 loop, which is too short and boring if repeated, so I took every little side trail I could find.

Went over the back to the wetlands again, to find that the pathway and new link across the creek had been finished.

30mins in and I’m feeling very heavy in the legs, the back is aching and the knee is getting tight, my quads are still objecting.

 

Stop – stretch – continue. Hello, feeling good, a lot looser and able to relax and stride out!! Excellent.

Finished the run at a better pace and feeling much more relaxed.

 

43mins running, and pleased to have made the effort.

My back is very stiff again now, hopefully it will work itself out with some stretching etc, and is not something other than my normal weak back problems.

 

Next run: Tomorrow in the city, or Warby trail if my buddies can’t make it.

 

M

PolCom - 2

Again I read of a situation that made me wonder even further, or rather confirm my concerns, over our judicial system.

A man wrestled with an armed bandit who pointed a gun at his wife while trying to rob their store. Fortunately he succeeded without injury and the bandit was caught.

But in the comments by police there was a warning against using excessive force to defend yourself, otherwise you might be held accountable for your actions.

 

Am I the only one who believes that this is so wrong?

 

Surely a bandit that willingly takes a gun, enters a store and points it at a victim should be removed from all protection of the law, and Joe Citizen empowered to do whatever it takes to protect themselves.

 

Of course people will say that this opens the door for vigilantes etc, but I would suggest that with the modern surveillance and forensics that in almost all situations it could be proven if the events were truly self defence.

 

When did we lose the right to protect our homes and families?

 

M

A New Beginning

Yesterday was the first of hopefully many training runs on the way back to good fitness and good running.

 

Plan was to get up at 6.30am and head to the local lake for 40-45mins easy running.

Plan stalled when I hit the snooze button a couple of times.

In the car and on the way at 7am.

 

Weather cool but clear – nice and fresh.

A few others out and about, running and walking.

The memory of enjoying running quickly came back, as I found a very casual pace.

Even though I was a little nervous about the niggle in my left leg, it did not flare up at all today.

 

I ran for 30 odd minutes, and began to think it was time to think about getting home since my 30min delay in getting going meant that getting to work on time would be tight. So I reduced the planned 3 laps to 2 but added some short extra sections to stretch the run out a little. To end I did 2 x 250m fast runs, and noticed a slight tightness in my lower back and glut muscle. A bit of stretching and home. Quick shower, breakfast and to work on time.

 

A good start, heres hoping that I will continue my plan.

 

Next run Thurs.

 

M

Hmmm....Curious

I thought today I was being rather clever and posting via e-mail.
But alas, it has not worked, so todays thoughts / reviews will have to be put in manually tomorrow.

If anyone reads this and can offer advice on why it would not work....please help.

M

PolCom

I've decided that my running info should be separate from my other observations so anything that is of a political or current affairs nature will be under my PolCom titles. You will have to read each one, as I'm not going to give them unique titles, in case the content changes tack midway.

For the first item.
I'm appalled at the number of times we hear that the judicial system does not allow for true justice of victimsof crime. The recent example on ACA this week. A father lost his 9yo boy to an unlicensed teen who was drink driving. Gues what?? The driver got off due to a technicality.

How often is a crime accidental? At what point do the choice of actions leading up to a crime remove any innocence for actions afterwards? Why is the focus so much on the actual time of the event, when in reality the innocence of the criminal was removed much earlier through their choice of actions.

How many of these stories need to be told before something is done about it?? I don't yet know what I can do, but I can't sit and just hope it does not happen to me andmy family. If my family or someone I'm close to is ever a victim of crime I would like to know I did something to ensure their justice was received.

What should we do? Maybe a question for all of us?

A new resolution

As I noted on a post the Ausrun forum, I have determined that a new beginning is required.
I have to get back to the basics of running if I want to do this for a long time. I do enjoy running so would be stupid to not do the right thing and form a running habit.

So, starting next Tuesday I will run every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and 1 weekend day.
No planned sessions, just run something - I must form a habit to avoid injury and to ensure I maintain a basic fitness and health.

You might ask why wait till Tuesday?? I have the flu - so I've got to kick that first.

Running Should be so Simple...

It should be a case of putting on my running shoes and just going for a run....but day after day it does not happen. I want to run, I should run, I enjoy running.....why is it so tough.

I don't want to break records, I'm not too fussed if I get faster or not - although it would be nice. Maybe thats the problem, but really running was about getting fitter and losing a few kgs, I feel fit and am happy with my weight, perhaps I need a new motivation.

I should have a habit of getting up ay 6am every day, then just go running on the days I need to, maybe thats the key - some form of habit. Could I survive with 6-7 hours sleep most nights? If I eat right and rest when able, it should be possible...right??