How many groundsmen....

...does it take to straighten a rugby post? or Continuing tales of the track.

After last nights aborted session went back to the track on way home from work this afternoon to do my intervals which were a little eventful yet again. When I arrived I saw from my vantage point a white van parked on the track which within seconds pulled away and out of the grounds but didn't close the gate behind them.

Being a man on a mission I entered the track via my secret door and commenced my warm up when less than a lap in 3 groundsmen turned up in order, it seems, to straighten one of the rugby posts. This took them, by my estimation, 30 minutes of repeating the procedure of packing more dirt(?) around the base of the post, all walking backwards to check erectness, conversing and returning to start. I am not sure if they gave up in the end or decided it was as straight as they were going to make it because they told me they were locking the gates so I would have to leave, obviously presuming the gates had been my original entry method. So although I did consider telling them 'look boys there is no way that post is straight' I had to collect all my work stuff and vacate the premises with 2 intervals left to go. Pain in the posterior I can tell you, do you know how much further and harder 800 metres intervals are on the road than the track? Ok, maybe actually not that much further, if at all, but much bloody harder.

What was worse I was now nearly a mile away from my bike with all my gear and a warm down to do so had to make an educated decision on what to do out of three options:

1. Do the warm down up and down the road and then walk back to bike with all the gear.

2. Do the warm down with all the gear on back to the bike.

3. Do the warm down back to the bike but stash all the gear under the gate to the track and hope no unscrupulous members of society pass by in the 10-15 minutes I would be gone.

Maybe you would have chosen a different option but I chose number 3. When I got to the bike I could see the gate and there was a man standing there staring at my bag which concerned me for two reasons, would he A)pinch it or B)phone the anti-terrorist squad thinking it was a bomb, cue me ridng back down as fast as possible and screaming at traffic lights to change. Was ok though, he was obviously just curious, as he had disappeared and bag was still in tact.

A long tale for a short session....