A tale of two runs

It's a couple of weeks since we blogged, and it seems like a lot has happened and nothing has happened at the same time. I won't go through it all in detail, but the salient points are;

• Tiger Angel's German Measles turned out to be not measles, but an unknown virus, the only treatment for which was to wait. Treatment worked (eventually) and the rash and most of the itching has subsided.
• Tiger Angel's hip scan showed no arthritis (excellent!!), but gave no indication of what may be causing her pain. New anti-inflams aren't having any particular effect. Don't really know where to go next. She's on zero activity at the moment, and hating it.
• I'm slowly getting back into stride. Last week was my first 'marathon' week (> 42k) since January. It hurts to watch all the winter races that I missed last year go drifting quickly by again, but I guess my main aim for the moment is to get a good base back under my belt (safely!). I'm also looking forward to running with TA again just as soon as she can.
• Tonight, we took a leap of faith and entered the City 2 Surf. We've asked for an A2 entry together. Last year TA was A2 & I was A1 (and then we both DNS'd with injury, but that's another story), and the year before she was A1 and I was A2. Hopefully this year we can actually run it together (even if we have to piggy-back each other)!
• Having been gradually ramping up since I started running again (7 weeks in total), I think that it's time for a 'down' week this week. I'll just pretend that I'm tapering for GC :-)
  

So what's the tale of two runs I alluded to in the title? Well, on Saturday morning my aim was to do an hour's run while I was waiting for Micro's footy match to start. What a drag! I felt heavy and slow and uncomfortable, and the run was everything that I don't like about running. Anyhow, 60 min, 10.5k @ 5:40 pace. Sunday Evening, on the other hand, was everything a run should be. I felt great, was light on my feet, in a great rhythm, and the k's just flew by. Even the big hills seemed smaller than normal. Lovely!

The funny thing, though, was that when I analysed Sunday night's run (91 min, 15.75k @ 5:49 pace), it was slower than the sad-sack run on Saturday. In other words, how much I enjoy a run has nothing to do with how switched on my legs are, but just with how switched on my brain is. I must remember that next time I have an attack of the Blahs.

Gnome (who should be in bed after waiting up till way too late last night watching the web updates on our Western States heros...)

p.s. to all you heading for the Gold Coast this weekend - best of luck, enjoy yourselves, and make us jealous with your reports of mighty feats! :-)