Oz run 7 involved an earlyish start as it's our last day in Adelaide before flying to Sydney for the last weekend of our trip. Left my wife asleep and caught a commuter bus into town to run the Mighty River Torrens for a second time. The buses in Adelaide use a smart ticket - you pay for x tickets and each time you take a trip, it knocks one off your remaining total. All well and good except my ticket failed to read... A good start to the day. Then the bus broke down!
However, I finally got to the city centre. A five minute walk through the Convention Centre was the required warm-up. Then fire up the electronics, choose the week 1 C25K podcast and off we go, running the full 32 minutes of the 'cast. I love the week 1 mix.
So what's all this about a sure fire way to keep running? Well, the run along the banks of the Torrens takes you past Adelaide Zoo. And it STINKS, It honks. It is definitely malodourous. The only way to get past is to keep running. The slower you go, the longer you're in the stink zone. Phew! So, if you struggle to keep going on your own local route, the answer is simple. Identify where you run out of steam, persuade your local council to build a zoo and to pile up the animal dung right next to your route.
So, having successfully traversed the zoo, the rest of the run was easy. Well, the full loop is almost exactly 4 miles and doing the warm up and down on the way to and from the track, it stretched me - I don't think I have done a full 4 miles on a normal run until now. And it was good! mmcinteractive.com/oz/15.jpg
On the way home, I decided to get off the bus early and tackle Bullitt Hill / Heartbreak Hill. So off I went again, pausing only to pop into the baker for lunch supplies. Now, this should have been about half a mile. But I got the feeling that I had gone more than that. Yes, in my enthusiasm to run the Hill for the first time, I had missed my turning and was heading for the view point at the very, very, very top of the hill. This turned the half mile plod into a two miler. So my normal run of 3 miles had turned into 4 + 2. Talk about knackered?
The story isn't over yet though. My beloved had gone out, and my key was in my wallet... Which was indoors. Only one option -climb in the bathroom window. Now remember that I'm on holiday, that this is not my house and the neighbours don't know me. Sure enough, there was a knock on the door. The cops coming to arrest me for breaking and entering? Thankfully not. It was only Frank the handy man coming to paint the fence. For the second time today I let out a Phew!
So it's an early start in the morning - 4am alarm, leave at 4:30 to get to the airport at 5:15 for our 6am flight to Sydney. The Harbour Bridge is waiting for me, as is the 5k round the Opera House and Botanic Garden. Bring it on!
Photos from my recent sponsored 5K Run.
Week 9 Run 2.... the best of times...the worst of times?
