Easy lap of the Bay and thoughts re freshening up

Got out for an early run this morning as I had a busy day at work. Will be running the striders tmrw morning so wanted it to be light and to have plenty of time between runs to be fresh. I did not swicth my watch on and ran a very cruisy pace. I took off when it was 5.33am and finished my lap at 6.09am.

I am finding of late that just getting going is difficult. I am paying particular attention to stretching before I leave home, in particular my ankles, calves, hips and glutes however I swear I must look like the tin man for the first k or so though.

I am semi seriously considering not running at all for a couple of weeks, but I suspect that I wont be able to do this. I am about to enter a very significant period of training, starting proper in December enroute to Canberra in April 06.

I want to start this with some renewed enthusiasm but I also look at the calendar and see quite a few races I want to have a red hot go at. The reality is that something has got to give. Whether that is a race, a goal or heaven forbid an injury I think that one of these things will turn into a reality.

Option B is to back off a little and endeavour to keep a lid on everything. This means, running slightly slower with niggles not really dissapearing but not getting any worse. This is the most likely of scenarios however I do get concerned about what long term impact these niggles will have. In partuicular when above mentioned tin man takes off for his run or his close mate old man negotiates the steps down to his breakfast in the morning.

But I cannot imagine not running when I am physically capable of it, even when I know it will best for my long term ability to do so.

I then go back and ask myself, yet again, why am I running? To enjoy. Simple. The above just shows that sometimes the destination is the easy bit, how we get there is where it gets complicated. I figure though when you are trying to get to Double Bay, whether you like it or not you are going to have to go via the Cross. To be continued...