Desperate in December

[El Gordo]

Incredulously I have been continung to take advantage of the warm conditions here to get in an early run before the day starts. This morning I was on the streets again well before 5 a.m. to tick off another 3km shortie before hitting the train to w*rk.

Going from a dead, deep sleep to full-on running in the wee small hours it not something I am well known for, and probably care for even less, but I had set myself a challenge today of completing the 3km in less than 17 minutes, just to prove to myself that I am indeed progressing reasonably well. Despite protests from both knees who thought it impudent of me to roust them from a deep, warm, comfortable sleep to thrust them uncaringly onto the hard pre-dawn tarmac without as much as a good morning, I completed the course in 16:25, comfortably within my target time, and over a minute faster than my previous best. My times for this new short course over the last couple of weeks therefore have been 18:11, 17:43, 17:29 and 16:25. I hadn't actually intended to deliberately turn this into speed training - really it was just a way of keeping me running, if only for a handful of kms, but there you go, I guess I just can't help myself. It may well all come to an end when the weather eventually turns cooler, but for now I'm making the most of it.

Anyway, it's all very positive and I'm enjoying it, so let's see where it takes me.

Good man. You're doing better than me at the moment. Keep that up, and your sub-2 half will be very achievable.

Bastard.