Return - post Kepler

So it's been a while, but the news is good. After three tries, all thwarted by injury, I finally ran the Kepler Challenge this year. It was a truly fantastic experience - perfect weather and track conditions, faultless organisation, and support from friends and family to share the day with me. At the back end of the pack, where I was hanging out, everyone was friendly and some good chats were had on the way around. For anyone thinking about doing this event, I can't encourage you strongly enough to get up at 6.30am on the first Saturday of July to enter. Yes the nerves the day before are pretty intense and yes it's hard to keep up with the training through winter, but the reward is amazing. I hope to go back; I reckon there's room to improve my time...

Now back to reality - training again! The next event on my list is the Wanaka Half Marathon in March - a social trip to a beautiful part of the world and, if things go as planned, a new personal best. Time to dust the alpine dirt off my shoes and reintroduce myself, for a wee while at least, to the pavements of Wellington.

Pain and gain

OK, so the comeback kid made some premature declarations. I've spent the last couple of weeks stretching and strengthening, but without a lot of success. So onto a different tack - acupuncture. I had my first treatment tonight and now feel as if a tractor backed into the back of my right leg. Apparently this is normal - pain does equal gain in this game. If it just felt like a horse kicked it then I'd be disappointed (apparently). The practitioner is a lovely guy who is confused about the point of the whole Kepler thing but when I told him it's a 60 km run he laughed and said "Ok - I see you many many times in this year."

I've given away the 25km event at the end of the month. Even if my Achilles was OK by now, I'm worried that going out for even 25km on very little recent mileage might give just cause other problems that come from too much, too soon. So, the plan now is to build up very slowly with my eye on the Christchurch half marathon in June. It's a flat course, fast and hard, and usually run in the kind of of nipple-shriveling temperatures that make warming up impossible, until you're 10km in, that is. Last year it snowed - running in a winter wonderland! Hopefully it'll suit me in terms of time, distance, and a great run - not a race but a good long weekend trot with lots of other people on a course I haven't done before. It's good to have a new goal on the way to Kepler.

Bring on the winter!