5 hours and counting

Whole body right down to the core all consuming tiredness is what I am feeling right now and have been feeling more and more over the last week.

I even caught the train to work today because I was all muddle headed this morning and I thought it best that I don’t drive. It has been a while since I have had a decent break from work, I haven’t had 2 weeks off in a row since last June. Although I am only taking a week this time it should be enough to recharge. Work has not been busier than usual, however I think the daily grind has been slowly getting on top of me and I am now at cracking point, I have been having trouble sleeping and that is really most unlike me. I even spent a frantic 5 minutes looking for my wallet this morning only to realise I had already transferred it from my handbag to my backpack (it was hiding under a book)

It has also been impacting my running, the spirit is extremely willing but the body just wants to curl up and have a nap. So again, obsessive compulsion is taking a back seat and I am allowing myself to rest. I still got up early this morning but I decided not to run. Instead I grabbed the iPod and walked to Surrey Hills station (about 5km) and then got off at Richmond and walked the rest of the way to the city (about 2km). How about that, likely to only be a 4 day running week and for once I am not obsessing and beating myself up over it (much).

I am looking forward to next week, I can run anytime of the day I feel like, try out some new trails, have a nana nap and take each day as it comes. Last night I had the Parks Victoria maps out for the Dandenongs and started working out some new trails to try out. When I did my short run from Olinda last weekend I noticed heaps of gravel roads and trails coming off them and am keen to get back there and explore some more. I am reasonably familiar with the area and as long as I have a rough idea of my bearings I am happy to just hit the trail and see where it takes me. I have decided to spend more time trail running and in the hills over the coming months, it can only hold me in good stead for the XC season and I am determined to become a strong hill runner. I am never going to be miss speedy pants but if I can work on my hill strength and endurance that should give me an edge. Providing Trailwalker doesn’t break me I think I would like to enter some trail events next summer as well.

I have just entered the Run for the Kids too, the long event this year is 14.1km and like a kid falling off a bicycle I need to jump back in and conquer my fear of running fast over longer distances. Since the injury I have only done a handful of races of 5km and under and am starting to doubt my ability to manage sub 5 minute Kms at anything over the 10km distance ever again. Total and utter nonsense of course however my confidence has been dented somewhat having not been able to run a half marathon since October 2006 and running a totally messy and appalling 10km PW in October 2007.

So, yep, a bit of a shitty running week with tiredness getting the better of me, but plenty of good stuff to look forward to and of course hoping my body hurries up and catches back up with my enthusiasm.

Now, how terribly selfish of me not to share my US running gear supplier with you all, I buy my shoes and bits and pieces from www.runningwarehouse.com and have always found them to be fantastic. Without exception my orders arrive about 4 days after I place them, this is generally on a weekend so my goods arrive on a Thursday, you can’t ask for better than that (well you can but apart from some good work with little dots of light I don’t think the boffins have figured out large scale teleportation quite yet). Postage is quite a bit as you would expect, USD$48 via Fedex, however if you are ordering a few things it is worth it. When you are looking at the site they initially display RRP, when you click on the item you will get their special price with is almost always lower, I don’t think I have paid more than USD$100 for my shoes. Clothing prices tend to be on par with what we pay here but they often have sales where you can pick things up cheap.

Finally, I can’t post a piccie of my trophy, it is one of those heavy glass (plastic maybe?) thingies with the etching, I tried putting it front of something dark but the picture doesn’t come out showing any detail.