happy birthday to me

I'm not even Australian, so I don't know why I stayed up to watch the soccer - sorry, football - last night. Australia beat China in an Asian Cup quarter final. I knew I had some work to do on rehydrating after the evening run, maybe that is why I stayed up. Chardonnay is RUBBISH for rehydration. I spent a little while chatting online and ended up getting to bed at an outrageously late 11:30PM, was up again at 05:30 to take the big lump for a swim. And so started my 46th year.

I had the day booked off of work so wasn't in much of hurry, hence Rowlf getting a swim instead of just a walk. An early highlight was finding a cicada next to the case it had recently shed. Getting a picture of a cicada is often tricky as they rate among Rowlf's favourite foods. But I got a few pictures, he had a swim and the day-proper started.

It's my birthday today (thank you) but the first half of the day was pretty much given over to the little ladies. On an earlier lunchtime run I'd seen that The Australian Shakespeare Company had their production of Wind in the Willows on in the Botanic gardens. The play's run ends on Saturday, so today was the day I'd chosen to take them. I bused them into the City and popped into the office - to book some holiday - then we headed to the Botanic Gardens to meet mum, who drove over so we could make a quick escape, and see the show.

The show was great, the kids enjoyed it (they liked the Weasel and didn't like the policeman!) and there are loads of reviews online for you to read if you're interested. My blog. my rules. We sat in shaded areas, but it was still pretty warm even before I set off for today's miles; basically my standard lunchtime loop and then run home. Miles down in one for my daily half. I was a little concerned about my hydration and fuelling. Not much dinner last night, and those calories were spent on the evening beach loop. I'd had 2 cappuccinos, some toast and a pastry this morning. Not much really.

I applied some sunscreen and set off. First stop - bubbler. It was around twenty eight degrees in the shade, of which there was none, with sixty three percent humidity. The first 8k passed at under 5min/km and I thought I was overcooking it a bit. By 13km and the "woofs water" bubbler at Milson's Point I was fading. I stopped the GPS, wrung my singlet out, failed to restart my GPS and kept going. Fortunately it was only 1.3km later (I've mapped it) that I checked the GPS, it told me I'd not moved at all and I restarted it. Bollocks.

I stopped at Dive2000 in Neutral Bay to say hi to JR and have brief respite in their aircon. I once dived a lot - I'm a qualified instructor - but not these days. Kids n' shit. I left before the store was knee-deep in my sweat. It was a proper plod home. I was feeling sick, which I put down to my body having to dig around for some fuel. I felt quite horrible. The Gallipoli Steps were horrible. I was leaning forward because I thought I could have a dizzy spell, and if I lost my balance it's a long way down. There was a lot of fuck-it-I'm-walking-the-last-bit going on.

Fortunately there was a little more don't-be-so-fucking-soft going on and I sucked it up and made it home doing something that I suppose you could just about call running. Done. Tick. Fuck that.

Still feeling a bit sub-optimal, so bullet points to end it. So I can concentrate on having a beer.

• I'm usually around 66kg. Today I was 62kg. I'd dropped a couple already this month, but another 2 today! Will probably find the lost kg again. Told you it was warm.
• Lovely singlet-tan, broad Garmin watch band and sundry other burns. Should probably use a little more sunscreen.
• The girls made me a cake. The dog ate it. All.
• Still managed a 3min plank

That's it for now.

Janathon total - 522km