A winter Sunday

Endomondo Running Workout: "was out running ..."

A reprise of Canberra weather, except possibly colder. I did put on a waterproof jacket though; they're sweaty and uncomfortable and hot, but a lot better than freezing to death in the rain. The only deficiency was that the pocket with the mobile phone collected half-an-inch of water by the 9 km mark, at which time the phone gave up the ghost. It's drying out now (fingers crossed).

There's been some new birdlife around recently; that is, new to me, a sulky looking all grey bird about the size of a cormorant but with no visible neck. I saw a couple during the week up river and today another down near the Alexandria canal. I'll try and get a picture next time I'm out; I haven't had any success tracking it down online. Must get a bird book sometime; for a non-specific search books are still a winning technology.

Not much else to see today. Really, the weather was shocking. We didn't see anyone else at all around the water. One guy was out watching the planes land; there's a spot about 50 meters from the runway and when the weather is heavy the planes are meters lower. You'd be hard pressed to find a better spot to combine an idea of how BIG a 747 is with the idea that it can also fly. He was fighting with an inside-out umbrella.

Liz and I went to Port Macquarie yesterday, where she raced in a 17 km dragonboat race up the Hastings River and I ran around the headlands in rain exactly like today's; well maybe worse than today's. I had to run with my glasses off so I didn't see much, although what I did see of Port Macquarie itself didn't really make a strong case for a tourist's return. The hinterland though will, I think, get us back. There are a lot of boating opportunities, the whole place is a mass of watercourses. Ocean is always nice, of course, even in rain, but it was all a bit of a grey blur.

Anyway, I don;t usually run consecutive Saturdays and Sundays, but I've really been struggling with heavy legs all week - possibly a side effect of the NOSH run - so I wanted to run them back into shape. I'm pleased to report that that seems to have happened. The run today went very well, allowing for the weather, and the legs could have gone a fair bit further. The ears & face were keen for a hot shower though.

The Sydney Marathon is in 3 months - so I guess I will call today the first training run.