Back to JK's intervals session today. I felt pretty relaxed going into this, forgetting how hard it is. Got there early and did a 10 minute warm up, then a bit of stretching with Jo as we waited for the session to begin. JK had a fun one in store for us - 1200m with 1 minute rest, then 400m at a tougher pace, then a 3 minute rest, then do it all again another two times. That was a total of 4.8km and an incredibly tough session, but great to be back in the groove. I was pleased that my 1200s got a bit faster each time, though the 400m seemed to slip a bit, which is disappointing. I guess it means I'm better over distance, which is hardly surprising.

Okay, I'm finally up to date again! I ran today in King's Park - the first time since mid-June. I do love that run and it's so nice to see the sun getting up a bit earlier again. We had a lovely little group this morning - Damien, Jo, Shannon, Gina and me. I felt quite good so managed to keep up with Jo and Gina (having said that, Jo was doing her go slow run for me - if she had wanted to do her pace I wouldn't have been able to keep up in a million years!) We finished with a coffee at the Next Generation gym, which I joined recently. It's such a great gym - I've been using it for recovery a lot, which I think has really helped my running.

Saturday 1st August was an auspicious day - my birthday and the long run in the hills. What a perfect way to spend a birthday (that and the perfect evening later with friends and great food). A large group of us - 10 in all, including Shannon and Kate and myself - headed out on the Midland to John Forest National Park run. I wasn't sure how I would go, given that the previous week I'd done 17km on my own in Denmark and struggled a lot with the last 5km of that. But I felt fantastic. Though Park Road was tough as always, I managed to get up it without too much difficulty and certainly without stopping. What helped the run was not stopping in Midland. I find that stop really kills my momentum as you've just finished the downhill and are starting to climb. I find continuing the climb is so hard after a stop. But the run was fantastic, the company great and the scenery splendid. We spotted 4 kangaroos on the run through the forest - they stared at us before taking off. I guess they're thinking "crazy humans"! We finished as always with a coffee/tea in the bakery. It's freezing there, but somehow it always seems worth it as the conversation is so good.

Rather than do one long, long catch up saga, I felt it best to break into bite size pieces, so onto Wednesday 28th and Thursday 29th. Wednesday was a morning recovery run on my own. Felt fine but was glad to finish. Despite starting later it was still incredibly cold. Thursday morning I met Shannon, Kate and Wendy and co. for the 6am run. Did a lovely gentle trot, which was so enjoyable and social. I didn't want to push it as the evening I planned on doing track. Of course, this is days later so Thursday has passed and we're onto the evening for the track session. I was unsure how I would cope given track has been a problem for me and the marathon was just over 3 weeks ago, but I was very happy with the outcome. I stuck with the 3km, not wanting to overdo it at this stage. I managed to keep it more or less on 5min KM. At the last lap I was 13.02, so pushed it a bit harder and finished in 14.57. I'm so pleased with that and hopeful I can start to build on it

It's been so long since I updated, I don't quite know where to begin. Let me see, last entry July 16 ... since then, running got a lot tougher and now it's starting to feel really good again. I had a holiday in between - Margaret River and Denmark - with some good running and some not so good running and plenty of fabulous food and some good wine. All resulting in a very relaxing time. Got back on Monday 27th and on the Tuesday I joined Kate for our regular Mona's session. It was a bitterly cold morning and the warm up felt tough because of the cold, but I began to feel good by the time the session started and really enjoyed the session. We had a great time catching up as it was really our first run together since the marathon. It's good to see Kate running so strong - she is incredible preparing for 2 marathons in the next couple of months!

I took a couple of days off running - Tuesday and Wednesday, hitting the steam room and a 1km swim on Tuesday and a 5km walk on Wednesday (work not allowing me to get to a pilates class as I'd hoped). This morning, I headed out for my first slightly longer run - 9.5km. It was great to run again with Shannon - it's been so long. We did it nice and easy, though the far side was like running on the spot with the wind. We started out with a big group and ended up with Shannon, Delia and myself, going around at a pleasant 6 min KM. Aside from a slightly tight right calf, I felt pretty good (though I think if we'd tried to run faster my body would have protested). It's a great first step, gives me confidence that I'm coming back from Perth without too many problems and can potentially aim for a decent Rottnest. I'm taking it slowly, though, and will aim for 12km in the hills on Saturday.

The great part of the run was being able to really catch up with Shannon and hear how she has been going. She was nervous about pace, but she managed it so easily that I think it won't be long before I'm pushing to keep up with her. But we'll be rebuilding at the same time, which is great. And Trish and Kate and Viv will also be rebuilding now, so we'll have a wonderful running group again. The joy of running returns!

This running stuff is hard! Trish and I went for a little 5.3km trot in King's Park. In our collective wisdom we decided to run the Wally Cairns circuit - as in soft dirt and long hill. Just 8 days after the marathon and it felt like a way longer, tougher run. We were giving it all we had and we averaged 5.57 min KMs! You have to laugh; we looked like a couple of newbie runners out there. My calves are tight as, but otherwise I must say I did recover from the strenuousness of it fairly quickly. Tomorrow, we plan on a really tough session - steam room and pool saunter :)