A week off - R & R
It's amazing how much difference a little injury makes. All this week I've been rubbing in the Deep Heat, taking a few painkillers now and then and swimming more often than usual. So far it seems to be working in that I'm regaining flexibility but it's slow progress. On the other hand I did feel fairly energetic when today came around due to essentially taking the week off. So the Running School headed off over the Heath Extension; a big mistake given the recent heavy rains. It was a quagmire! In fact there was so much discontent we ended up sticking to the pavement for the rest of the time.
Despite this is was an enjoyable, chatty run and I didn't feel terrible; although the relaxed pace helped here for sure. It was only in the closing three kilometres that the pace kicked up, to around the 4:30 per kilometre level. This was bearable until I increased the difficulty by doubling back to pick up the stragglers along Sheldon Avenue before then working my way back through the pack. It took until beyond the Spaniards Inn before I managed to pick up Darren and he didn't succumb without a fight! So it was nice to be able to run hard but I know that I've got a lot more work to do yet.
Distance: 8.4 milesTime: 1h 17m 40s