Fun.

I’m back in the saddle!

After three weeks away with injury, I’ve just finished my first week running again.

It’s been a great week and I’ve probably run more mileage than I should have (100k) for my first week back, but my new training regime (see previous post) has been surprisingly manageable. To top it off my car died this morning (as if to serendipitously further cement my commitment to run to work.)

The week started well with my running to work plan, I got in some great hill work with Bernadette (ultra-runner extraordinaire) at Lesmurdie. “Les” is quickly becoming one of my favorite trails with a radical elevation/distance ratio.

The exclamation point on my week was a solo trip to Kalamunda for a quick lap on the “Kalamunda Circuit.” The “Circuit” has got to be one of the best single-track loops in the metropolitan area.

I got to “the Dell” (the start point of the loop) at 5:00p.m. I enjoyed the fast downhill run to the Bibb, There the trail turns uphill for a grinding two-three K. The setting sun was setting a cracking pace as the thought of getting lost in the dark was not too appealing.

I ran past a few friendly mountain bikers who seemed a little perplexed to see a lone runner on their trail (not to mention nearly catching them on the climb.) The reward for all this climbing is some absolutely superb, technical, fast, and downhill single-track. I let my feet blindly find their instinctive rhythm and just cruised for a long time, it was so much fun!

It was like when you’re a kid running with your friends; the effort seems insignificant compared to the joy of going at breakneck speed. I almost expected my mom to hop out of the bushes and shout at me to “slow down!!”
I got back to my car just as the sun was setting; the smell of the Australian bush was like a heavy perfume of pine and eucalyptus. A perfect run.