Long run

A fairly eventful few days since I last posted, but sadly I ain’t telling you nothing, no sir. Nope.

“How’s that” you say. “Isn’t blogging meant for uncritical spewing forth of every little detail about people’s boring little life?”

Well, yes, on the whole. But there are somethings too boring for public consumption even on this forum. Also, some of the news concerns things for which I would be hung, drawn and quartered if I so much as hinted about. Incidentally, what exactly does “drawn” mean in that context? If you’ve already been hung, does it really matter if someone draws a picture of your limp corpse? And “quartered”, what’s that about?

Moving smoothly along, I did do some running, and that I can tell you about.

Actually, in the last 48 hours I’ve done a lot of running, somewhere over 46ks actually. A brief run in the rain on Saturday afternoon. At the moment, running in the rain is quite the luxury. Ask me again in about 4 months and I may not be so sanguine.

Yesterday I went out for my long run, and ended up doing around 29k. It was a challenging (for me) course that took me from Ringwood to Lilydale on the Maroondah Highway, then down to Montrose and back to Ringwood on Mt Dandenong Road. There are a couple of interesting hills along the way, chiefly the one that climbs out of Chirnside Park. CP has never been my favourite place, apologies to any CPers out there. Yesterday, I was pretty glad to see the back of the place.

The one thing you can say for Chirnside, is that people don’t try to run you over. Some guy in Mt Dandonong road Croydon did just that, leaving me practically sprawled over the bonnet of his car. Actually, it wasn’t that dramatic. Also, I suppose it’s better to be on the bonnet than under it.

The whole thing took 2hrs 15, meaning I was theoretically on course for a 3hr 16 marathon. I’d be pretty happy with that time, although part of me thinks I can go faster over a flat course. Perhaps I can go as fast as this guy? Or perhaps not.

This morning I carted my running gear into work and did a rough 10k loop starting and finishing at my office and taking in Southbank, Docklands, and the north side of the city. Not bad at all really. The legs weren’t feeling too bad after the weekend’s exertions.

The training program has me doing an easy week now. I mean really easy. Ridiculously so. Kind of annoying really.

Escher, Newton, Aldi

It was one of those mornings when every time you turn a corner you see some Everest-level hill climb staring you in the face, taunting. Strangely, there didn’t seem to be any corresponding downhills, despite the fact that I ended up back where I started.

Either my perception is a bit warped or Ringwood, Croydon and Mooroolbark have somehow shed the bounds of Newtonian physics.

I think the second option is more likely. If Newton showed his face at Ringwood station he’d get the c**p beaten out of him. Either that or sold some drugs that would have put back western science 150 years.

Also, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but whoever designed the roundabout system near Aldi in Croydon was clearly a fan of Escher. I can never work it out and end up going around the same roundabout about 12 times, accelerating until I achieve escape velocity and fly off somewhere in the direction of Kent Road.

Anyway – this morning’s run was 17.6954km at an average of 4.5 minutes per kilometre.

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m pretty happy with my running at the moment. The challenge will be to not let it drop off much over the next week or two. I’ll be off work from tomorrow, so I’ll probably post less often.

Have a wonderful christmas and New Year.

it’s beginning to look a bit like…

Right now, mid December, is about the best time of the year.

I know I have some work to do before my time off, but I also know it’ll be pretty slack and it won’t go for long. I’ve been going around buying some last minute presents, which is probably better than actually getting them on the day.

The day itself seems like something to look forward to at the moment, despite the fact I know I’ll just feel bloated and vaguely irritated at all the idiotic conversation thrown around between the extended family (most of it coming out of my mouth, of course).

What was it that guy from the Simpsons said “better than the act, better than the aftermath – the moment of anticipation!”. Of course, he was talking about making love to Patti and/or Selma, which just goes to show how wrong you can be.

So what do I want for christmas? About 15 points for my beloved Charlton Athletic, who have suffered miserably in recent months. Oh, and some nice time off with the family. That’ll do.

Goofy theory no 1 for today
(I have many goofy theories)

Early morning runs hurt less.

No, really, it’s true. Also they don’t seem to tire me out quite as much. I think this is because I’m at least 56% asleep and don’t notice what’s going on.

This cuts both ways, though. The catastrophic crash and burn rate rises markedly when I get over 50% sleepiness.

Okay – so let’s revise my goofy theory. I’m nothing if not flexible.

Early morning runs hurt less hurt just as much, but not ’til later.

Running

12k this morning around Croydon and Ringwood. Technically 53k for the week so far, but I want to claim Monday morning’s run as part of last week, which was otherwise pretty low. So I’ll claim 37k and aim to put in around 20 – 25 on Sunday morning.

all well and good

Well this interweb business is all well and good, but it has its drawbacks. Namely the lack of a properly functioning spellcheck, which accounts for the dubious spelling in the heading of yesterday’s entry. Not the body, the damn heading. Or should I say the “dang” heading. Thank you Mr Rudd.

Moving on, if you were sitting behind me as I write this, you’d see me rubbing my own leg. Not in a good way though, it’s the kind of rubbing you do when you’re trying to kid yourself you don’t have the beginnings of an injury.

That’s the way I usually deal with things going wrong with my body – pretend it doesn’t exist until and unless I pass out.

Bearing that in mind, I’ll just ask my consious mind to look the other way for a minute. Go on conscious mind – why not have a look at the onion for this week.

Ah good. He’s gone.

This morning I felt a soreness behind my right knee on my morning run. I was able to run through it without too much trouble. However sitting at my desk for a few hours made me feel rather stiff, sore and oldman-ish. Maybe it’ll pass. In the meantime I’ve diagnosed myself with “oldmanitis of the knee”.

Okay conscious mind, you can come back now.

So it was a perfectly pleasant, injury free 13k this morning taken at a relatively brisk pace.

Now, I think people like a girl running may have got the wrong idea reading this blog: when I say “relatively brisk” I mean relative to a snail. Don’t picture me as some Kenyan guy with legs up to the armpits capable of covering 30ks in an hour. Well, you can if you want I suppose, but if you do end up meeting me in person it’s bound to be a bit of a disappointment.

take a holiday

To paraphrase PG Wodehouse, I wouldn’t have said off-hand I had a sub-conscious mind, but I suppose it must have been there all along, sweating it out.

Today, my old u.c.m seems to be saying “JH, take a holiday”.

Thrice (now there’s a good word) now this week, I’ve headed off to a meeting, all gung-ho and ready for action only to find I’ve forgotten my security pass. Everytime I do this I have to walk down 16 floors worth of stairs, emerging blinking into the relative brightness of the lobby. A humiliating negotiation with the security people then ensues, during which they claim to have never seen me before, and look me up and down dubiously, as if thinking “he looks like some bum off the street”.

I refuse to believe this could have anything to do with my clumsiness, forgetfullness or general stupidity. It’s my sub-conscious mind telling me I should not be at work.

Do you know what – I think it might be right.

Running
12k this morning, including the Mullum-Mullum creek. The MM seems to be becoming more dangerous by the day, with a boardwalk up at the northern end falling to bits. I almost twisted my ankle in it last week, and this week it’s not much better.

Also, I saw Jaykay and Michelle this morning. I’m not saying they’re dangerous, as far as I know.

we could live for a thousand years

Km, 12. For the week, 23.

Never let it be said that JRuns doesn’t acknowledge the people who make it all possible.

A big thankyou to the people who voted INXS’ song “Never tear us apart” the best Australian lyric ever. I never suspected VH1 viewers had such a well-developed sense of humour.

To be fair to Mr Hutchence et al, it doesn’t sound too bad in the song. The thing is, when you look at the words written down, it’s like a carcrash. Literally.

I
I was standing
You were there
Two worlds collided
And they could never ever tear us apart

A second thankyou to Connex, who, sensing how much I like my morning commute, managed to make it 3 times as long as normal this morning.

Last, but not least, I’d like to say a big thankyou to all the people I saw on my run this morning, who without exception, smiled and/or said “Hello” to me as I puffed past. They’re good sorts, those Ringwoodians.