Vetrunner December 2007.pub - ACT Veterans Athletics Club

The Power of the HonkDecember 2007 Vetrunner — Page 27In the good old days when I used to visit Portsea, I wasa teenager then but now I am not, all that is left is a verygood memory, Percy Cerutty used to provoke us to “soarlike an eagle”. But now-days I think that eagles are overrated.OK, you get the odd eagle who can over-come allodds and do something extra-ordinary, and one day I shallwax lyrical on how inspiring they can be, but eagles withall their magnificent qualities tend to be loners: they are upthere soaring majestically alone. Going solo.Rather than focusing on the undoubtedly tremendousinsights our life might gain were we to live, fly and soarlike an eagle; the metaphor which means much more to me,the bird I can really identify with, is the goose.For a start, look at all those goosy sayings. The onesabout being silly; or about scaring (saying “boo”), or theones about leaving golden eggs lying around. It appearsthat geese are as active as eagles, but are not very bright.That’s me, down to a tee. I am not very bright but I waddlearound making a fool of myself, happily ignorant of thefact.Where we really differ, we geese, from eagles, is thateagles soar alone. Eagles don’t form clubs. We geese clubtogether and help each other out. If you see yourself as aneagle, sure, go ahead, soar alone. There are a few such isolatedcases (pun intended). We read about the eagles in theback pages of our newspaper. Sometimes eagles succeed,and when they do they succeed splendidly. Sometimes eaglesfail, and then they fail with a great crash. You knowwho I’m talking about.But if you are like me and are a goose and not an eagle,you just might find it of value to team up with the rest of usgooses and get some mutual encouragement and support.My motto is “Fly Like a Goose”.Watching geese from the ground is a poetic, even mysticalexperience, they look to be flying easily and effortlesslyin their V formation, they look serene, it looks very peaceful.Like the grace of a top runner in full flight, at top speedthey seem to just flow without effort. But, if you were up inthe flock you would find it very, very different. What wouldinstantly startle you would be the noise the geese weremaking. The geese aren’t just gliding along silently; theyare constantly making a loud, raucous racket, honking toone another.These honks are simply for one purpose: they are creatingan environment where every goose is being continuallyencouraged and supported by the other geese to do theirbest, to keep in formation, to succeed in their goals of speedand endurance and form. I wouldn’t be surprised if theywere also being encouraged to maintain three wing-flapsper second! (training group in-joke, sorry). But just thenoise, the sounds, of honking, serve as sufficient reminderto continue and persist and endure and focus.This has been a very long explanation of why, at thetrack, among the old clichés of “looking good” and “just onelap to go”, you might just occasionally hear, if you listenvery carefully indeed, the cry of “honk honk”. It doesn’tmean “Pull over, I am passing”. It means “Go Go SpeedyGeese”.Geoff MooreRunning and training advice at http://geoffmoore.blogspot.comRemember to check regularly the ACTVAC website’s newspage http://www.actvac.com.au/mainframe/news.html.The rough translation is as follows:“ And all together now: “We are pleased that you wereborn, but we hate it that you are away so much.” Goose,Goose heartfelt best wishes! “ Gary Bowen sent this cardto our training group when he was overseas.$$$$$ for COACHING orOFFICIALS TRAINING???The AMA has funds available to support clubmembers who wish to undertake coaching or officialstraining courses.Any ACTVAC member who is considering undertakingan athletics coaching or officiating qualificationcan contact Craig Wisdom (0411 098 051) forfurther details regarding reimbursement of associatedcosts.