Nooooooooooo!vember

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Although today was for me a day free of paid employment, I was still up before six a.m. for my scheduled constitutional. This was less to do with any iron will or discipline I might have, and more to do with the simple expediency of a forecast maximum temperature of 30C, meaning of course that it would be too hot once the sun was properly up to run at all, and so up and at it nice and early was the only sensible call.

I had decided to be a bit different this morning and run laps of my block, ostensibly to give me an easy 'out' once the going got tough, but also to have some lap times to mess around with in the spreadsheet. Yep, the old hunger for number crunching is returning; I must be back in the running fold for sure!

Although warm and a little humid, the conditions were brilliant for a gentle plod (or plods) around the block. A huge red fireball of a sun was rising as I began and had the double benefit of being a sight to look forward to as I turned the corner facing east on each lap, and a clear reminder to cover some distance before it rose above the trees and began to properly fry me.

At dawn at this time of year Sydney really can be magnificent - pleasingly cool, it smells clean and fresh with the scent of eucalypt, and the combined dawn chorus of currawongs, magpies and kookaburras make this landscape unlike any other part of the country. It really does make getting up early for the dubious habit of running so much easier.

One does rather have to arise particularly early however. It's not hard to see that a great many people set their alarm clocks for six a.m., because from about a quarter past, the streets suddenly fill up with joggers, cyclists, dog walkers and early commuters. The contrast is striking, and I think to get up that half hour earlier will be all the more pleasant for being a little cooler, and a lot less crowded. Not that it's a huge problem of course, but I do like to have the streets and footpaths to myself if possible. I guess I'm just a bit selfish and grumpy like that. Well, not really, but it is nice to run the streets without having to think about dodging and weaving and overtaking and avoiding dogs etc.

In all I did nine laps of my block, each one progressively faster until the fifth lap, and then each a little slower until I had done my time just shy of six kilometres. Despite taking it fairly easy (in fact my pace was pretty dire by comparison to other recent runs) and wearing an allegedly high-tech moisture-wicking running shirt, I finished the run completely drenched in sweat, quite at odds with my effort and the relative coolness of the morning. I had to sit quietly for some time sipping water before sufficiently revived to hit the shower. Whatever the reason, I'm treating it as a positive sign of a tough work out which can only be beneficial. I may not be much of threat to those Kenyan and Ethiopian marathoners yet, but I'm making small and important steps in the right direction.

I chose the easy option today and ran the block anti-clockwise, which means I have a long gentle ascent and short, steep(ish) descent, rather than the other, trickier, way around. Given the condition in which I returned home, that was probably a wise move. I do look forward however to tackling it clockwise which gives me a reasonable hill climb to work the legs a little harder. Maybe next time.

Terry, a.k.a. the recalcitrant arthritic left big toe, is hanging in there with twinges of discomfort from time to time, but not hindering my running at all, so I'm still hopeful of resolution there without the need for medical intervention. We shall see.

Until next time, au revoir.