Plan A was to do a trail run. I've not done a decent off-road run since The Bacchus in September, and if I am serious about Six Fot I need to get back into it. But Sal had said she wanted to head to the beach and the weather this weekend has been fanfukcingtastic so I was in no mood to turn her down. So, Plan B.
Six foot is notorious for its hills. I'd mapped out the run to Dee Why and found it was only about 16k, which was 5 short of what I'd hoped to cover. But it is mainly hills, a nice long down and a not as nice 4km plus up. So I didn't beat myself up too much about my "short" road run.
Sal got up at 6am, which for her is the middle of the night. It gave me the opportunity to head out at 6:30 which should see me at Dee Why before 8am. As it turned out I left a bit after 6:30 and got there is 1:21, so all good. The first part was predictable for a morning run, my mind playing tricks with me and not a lot of fun. But after a few k I felt fine and as I ground out the long hill. There were loads of bikes heading up the hill and I had a passing chat with one of the cyclists as they passed me; briefly I was tempted to race ome of the slower ones up the hill, but with 8 or 9k to go I decided against it. Quite sensible by my standards. As I approached the top of the hill I was honked by Sal as she drove past. The horn on our car, a large car, is disappointingly limp. Far hornier was the horn of the ute that joined in on the fun and also gave me as a blast as he dove past.
I felt OK on the ascent, and felt great as I crested the hill and saw the silver-gold ocean beckoning me eastwards. Felt so good that I had tingles in my arms and legs and cheeks (face, not arse.) Nice tingles though, no smell of toast. I had the same tingles as I passed the Captain Philip lookout above Dee Why when I got a far more panoramic ocean view. Special, very special. Reminds me why I'm here (in Sydney, not a hippy-shit why-am-I-here?) and why I do this. The view form the car is the same, of course, but the experience is far poorer.
I don't know if I read or heard or dreamt that 6ft is all about walking up hills and running down them, so I gave it some beans on th descent. Not the full out-of-control beans, but I certainly wasn't hanging about. At the foot of the hill I started to cruise towards th beach, picking the pace up a litle when I thought I may be able to get to sand in under 80mins. I didn't this time, but didn't miss out by far and know where I lost some of my time; stopping to see if some roadkill was a fox (no, possum) and slowing to consider taking a pic of a burnt out petrol bowser, the view from Roseville Bridge or the distance ocean from the top of the hill. No pics taken, because I thought each of them would actually turn out to be rubbish.
However, I digress. I called Sal on arrival to find that she was already in a cafe (On Shore) with AJ and had just ordered breakfast. I put in my order for the big breakfast and a large cappuccino and then headed off for a shower and to get changed into some clean, dry and not stinking clothes. By the time I got to the cafe my food was waiting for me...now that is what I call service.
The rest of the morning was spent chilling. Well, chilling until AJ cracked it. We headed to the pool for a splash about, which I brought to an end when little 'un decided she just wanted to sit at the waters edge, which in full sun was not my choice. She expressed some displeasure at my decision to head back to the car, but soon got over it.
A lovely start to the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment