Tomorrow is my 50 km run at the Sutherland Relay for Life. It starts at 10 am. I’m not predicting a time, but I will send a message about the result via Twitter as soon as I can after I finish.

I suspect my performance won’t be as good as it might have been. The reason has to do with the new challenge to which I alluded in the last post. So here it is:

Next Saturday (May 7) I will be playing a game of rugby. Not against guys my own age, but in an open competition, albeit a 6th Grade competition. I went to my first training session last night, so I’m a bit sore today. That won’t help in tomorrow’s race. Most of the guys in the team (and the team we’ll be playing next week) are in their early 20s. And here’s me at 55. My good friend, Richard McGrath, will also be playing, and he’s just a year younger than me.

You may think I’m an idiot for taking this on, and you’re probably right. I know I will get hurt to some degree, but I’m hoping it will confined to just a few muscle strains and bruises. It will be more than 33 years since my last game of either code (rugby league or union). But if I didn’t do it now, I’d never again have the feeling of playing a game. If you’ve read my book about the world run, you’ll know that football was my forte when I young.

I’m a collector of experiences, not possessions, and this will be a unique experience, that’s for sure. At this stage it’s only for a single game (and it’s unlikely I’ll be playing the whole game anyway), but if things go well, I may persevere for several games.

So, now to something more normal – the photo for the day from the world run. This was also taken in the Czech Republic on a grey and cold day in early April 2013.

On This Day

Apr 29, 2012

Distance today = 50.91 km; Total distance = 5766.60 km; Location = Golden, Colorado – 39 43.340′ N, 105 11.481′ W; Start time = 0850, Finish time = 1622

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/174235487 (retrospectively added)

Before I begin, I’d like to thank Peter Evans once again for the wonderful hospitaility that he and his daughter, Vicki, showed us last night and this morning. It was very much appreciated.

I wasn’t really looking forward to running today. Denver is a nice city, but it has lots of suburbs, and I’ve been running through suburbia for the past 30 years (minus the last four months, of course). But if you’re going to run through suburbia, do it on a Sunday and do it in Denver.

It was actually a very pleasant run. The weather conditions were perfect and I found a cycle path along a small river in the centre of the city. I passed hundreds of cyclists, which is indicative of a good city. I even passed right by the Denver Broncos new stadium – very impressive.

The afternoon entailed a long section along West Colfax Avenue. This road reminded me a lot of Parramatta Road in Sydney, heading west out of the city towards the mountains, and replete with numerous used car yards and fast food outlets.

It’s always good to be surprised by having a nice run when you think it is going to be a hard day to get through. The only downside is that you then start to think all days can be like that, which is wishful thinking.

Apr 29, 2013

Distance today = 50.97 km; Total distance = 20,171.59 km; Location = Markovac, Serbia – 44 14.978′ N, 21 05.797′ E; Start time = 0823, Finish time = 1724

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/305263907

A good solid day of running today – nothing special to report. The mercury did hit 36 C (97 F), but I felt fine.

It was a flat day again, through numerous small Serbian villages. There were lots of paths by the road, so it was my best day in quite a while in that regard – there was hardly any running in the traffic.

Just a bit of background on Serbia, for those who are unaware. In more recent times, Serbia has become known for tennis, with several highly ranked current and former players originating from here, including the men’s world number one, Novak Djokovic.

However, many would be unaware of another Serbian who, arguably, has had a greater effect on the lives of everyone alive today than any other person. Nikola Tesla was the greatest electrical engineer who has ever lived, and so much of what we rely on today can be traced back to him, including AC power. I won’t go into a lecture on Tesla here, but if you take time to Google him, you will be astounded at the number of ways he has impacted modern life – probably the greatest ever Serbian, and one of the greatest minds the world has ever known.

PS One of the down-sides of the now warm weather is mosquitoes. A beautifully warm night in an outside restaurant is being somewhat spoiled by these pests.