Run Forrest Run

An up and down weekend if ever there was one. It was tantrum city at our house on Saturday, population; Dylan and Pearl. There was all sorts of sulking and emotional melt downs, the likes of which I have not seen in a while and would rather not see again. Yeah... that's likely, alright!!!! Its just so hard to gauge Pearls behaviour these days, so that is why we are having our first ever session with all 3 of her therapists at our house tomorrow morning, with a bit of luck and some hardcore brainstorming we can collectively reach a consensus on how to take some steps forward (without having to take any steps back) More on that to follow.

Today was the semi marathon in Paris. I have run it before and know its winding course along the Seine quite well. What I didn't bank on was arising this morning at 6 am to have my honey and toast to the sound of the double glazing being pelted with rain. It was very windy too. I set off at 8 am to get the bus and after half an hour was at the gymnasium with all the other participants. Its exciting when you are around all those kindred spirits and the familiar aroma of deep heat and various other heat treating oils. I got my gear on and headed for the start line to do some warming up. It had stopped raining by this stage but the wind was ferociously strong and coming head first at the 4,000 strong pack. The gun went off at 10 am and the usual scramble for positions started, elbows flying, runners cutting across your path etc. Its always takes about 3-4 kilometres to find your rhythm and I found myself hammering into the wind at a pretty decent clip. I'd pay for it later though.

Hitting the last water stop at 15k's I was on target to break 1:35, that had been my goal for the day as my previous personal best was 1:41:17. But the wind was just relentless and as I passed under the final kilometre banner I was beginning to feel my legs go jelly-like. But I just pushed on as hard as I could for that last stretch. I had beaten my personal best by 4 minutes and felt like I had won the bloody thing given the level of my enthusiasm. It was so well organised and I love doing it each year, cant wait to hit the road again. This week is rest for a few days and I'll be back pounding the roads by Thursday with a bit of luck. Below I will post the stats from the day and hope to see you all round the bend soon.

Distance 21.1kms
Time 1:37:24
Av. speed 13.5 kms/ph
Steps taken 16,096
Cals burnt 1810

Tomorrow I'll post my soundtrack to pain ;)

Mally.