woke up to the sound of pouring rain

...wind would whisper and I'd think of where to run.

The temperature had dropped off a little but it was still humid. Standing in the garden at around 6am, waiting for the Garmin to lock the satellites, it actually felt a bit chilly despite being almost 20 degrees. Humidity was - and still is - out near 100%. The plan was to run the North Head loop I've already knocked out a couple of times this year and around 19km.

I'm not sure why my head was all over the place. I felt lethargic and heavy. The thought of doing 19km was as daunting as the thought of doing 119. My first proper mental wobble of the year. By around 6km I was thinking of cutting my losses and heading home. But I know that the knowledge that I'd wimped out would hurt a lot more than my legs would with a few more km. I'd already turned away from North Head so started turning over a few options, doing the maths on each, working out how far it was between water bubblers. I travel light and don't take drink with me, which goes some way to explaining why I run the same routes so often - via drink stops.

I settled on running home form the beach via Allambie Road. I wasn't sure how far that would be, but certainly enough, and there is a bubbler in the small park at the top of the hill.. And I think I chose it with the subconscious idea of punishing myself for entertaining the idea of a shorter option; Allambie road is a 4km climb. So I just got my head down and kept the legs turning over. The water bubbler was crap and I had to put a finger over the dribble so I could squirt any water into my mouth.

Rather than run along the footpathless Wakehurst Parkway I took the firetrail that runs just next to it. I stopped briefly to watch a flock of small birds playing in a tree. I think they were finches. Cute little things. The firetrail was heavily puddled. I tried to avoid a few; daft really, as I was soaked in rain and sweat. By the end I was trudging though any puddles. It's not the water, rather what boulders and rocks may be in the puddle.

I toyed with the idea of making it a full half but got home in 19.8km, bringing my weekend total to 39km in 2 runs. I'm happy with that. Also happy to get it out of the way early and earning an almost-24hour break before I'm back on the road again.

Now, as I said, I woke up to the sound of pouring rain...



Janathon total = 244km