Robust August

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

It has been a rough week at w*rk. Long hours, constantly changing schedules, overtime on top of that and aggro thrown into the mix; it is a hard and not happy time at my place of employ. Such are the testing times we face, even here where we're relatively untouched by the GFC.

Because of shift changes I had already pushed back my long run from Saturday (today) to Monday, but then yesterday they threw a Sunday night shift at me, which gave me a dilemma... I'd be too tired for the long run run Saturday morning, but there was no way I can do a run on Monday after a night shift, meaning I'd have to either knuckle down and tough it out today, or push the long run back to Tuesday morning, and that didn't really suit because we were supposed to be going away on Tuesday. Grrr.

So I thought Saturday morning would be the best option, as it couldn't be worse than the latter stages of a marathon anyway, and as it transpires I now have to work a long 14-hour day on the eve of race day (another cancelled rostered free day - such is life at the moment) ... it seemed worth a shot.

Well, let me tell you - it really wasn't worth a shot at all. Just as you can't go into a race under-prepared, nor should you tackle a 4-hour long run in a distressed, dishevelled, exhausted state.

I was down for the count after just two and a half hours, and I'll now have to try somehow to tackle this long 'un again on probably Wednesday whilst we're out of town. Wish me luck on that one.

This is annoying because any other time today's distance at that pace would be a snip. On the day I needed to fire, I couldn't. Fortunately all is not lost and I still have time to pick up the pieces. But the last long 'un (32 - 36 km) needs to be soon.

22.96km, 2h29m

YTD: 992.6km

Track du Jour: Not sure how you categorise these guys - sort of ska, sort of pop, whatever, it's a great running track.