I’ve been running in Kings Park for 16 years but always find new and interesting trails or parts of the park I haven’t visited for some time. Like all things in life we get caught in ruts and do the same old thing day in, day out. Running is similar and you can map out the week of runs which can then turn into months and eventually years of running the same runs. This lunchtime I just went out with the premise of not actually having a plan or destination, just find some new trails. This I did and had a great run. My 10K turned into a 11.5k but whose counting. Hardly looked at the Garmin, hardly.

So whats the point of this post. Sometimes you just need to go for a run, no objective, no distance and no destination, just run for the sheer joy of running, puts a smile  on my face just typing it. Tomorrow though it’s back on, structure, pressure, numbers and probably some pain. Wouldn’t have it any other way….

Legs are feeling ‘goosed’ and I know I’m now walking the tightrope of injury and distance benefit gain. Due to No3Daughter deciding we should swap beds at 1am last night it made deciding to get up and go for a run all that more difficult. As I discussed yesterday the conditions were calm but cold so once I put on the skins and wind-cheater I was off in the dark. Best part about an early morning run is you get to see a sunrise and that alone makes the effort of getting out of bed worth it. No matter how many times you see a sunrise or sunset they are all special. Maybe it’s because as I near 50 I realise that my days of viewing these are limited. Hell, I could be over half way to the finish and this is one race where I will not be increasing my pace. 

Skins were yet again useful for keeping the legs warm initially but also helping in taking some of the fatigue out of the legs which , in my view, is certainly helping keep calf knots or strains away. We’ll see….