January 2012 - Here We Go Again

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

We are still in the death throes of silly season, meaning I had another late-night binge-fest dinner party last night. Knowing I had scheduled an early long run today, I tried to restrict my intake, but I was regrettably somewhat less than successful.

Needless to say, this morning I slept in.

The good news though was that the morning was reasonably cool so even when I finally took to the streets a little after 08:30, there was at least no heat or humidity to knock my hangover around.

I had planned 15-16km but thudding head and furry tongue suggested something closer to 10km might be in order. Call it 3 or 4.

Well no, actually, I got through the first few km's alright and pressed on. After about 10km I felt as if the excesses of last night had been purged and started to feel, if not strong, then at least normal again.

So I hung in there for a little over 16km. Not pretty, nor fast, and one brute hill called Barrie Street (not "Barry", but "Barrie" for some reason) reduced me to a walk for (according to my fabbo Garmin 405 and SportTracks software) 160 metres. Other than that, an uneventful, slow but satisfying run around the hilly back streets of home. According to SportTracks, 77.8% of my run consisted of hills so I guess that makes it a good workout. Not as steep as some other road routes around here, but hey, if the computer says it's hilly, I'm taking it.

And I can't let today go without mentioning Michael Clarke's astonishing undefeated 329 against India in the second test at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Apart from the sheer brilliance of his batting and the records he broke (including the 109-year old record for highest test innings by anyone at the SCG) what was also astonishing was how fit Clarke is - he barely looked out of breath for the entire knock. He is clearly one of the fittest players in world cricket at the moment and used it to top effect today. Hussey (150 not out) and Ponting (134) also played blinders to take Australia from deep in trouble at 3/37 to be 4 declared for 659! It's one those test matches that come along about once per decade. Truly astonishing!

16.38km, 1h42m, hilly.