Yesterday I completed a 56 km run in the countryside on the NSW South Coast. I ran a loop through Gerringong, Berry, and Shoalhaven Heads. I felt very good, and today have no soreness at all, despite not having run more than 30 km in a single stint since the 12 hour race in Florida last November.

I’m really pleased to have done it so easily and to feel this good the next day. I was actually feeling ill on Friday night, spending a lot of time on the toilet. I awoke feeling very drained, though otherwise OK. So I took it easier than I’d planned, averaging about 6 mins per km while running. And I had a fall early on. I tripped on a branch and fell on my shoulder and right hip. The shoulder is sore today. The hip was the same one I injured when I came off my bike last month. Although it hadn’t given me any trouble while running until yesterday, it did start to ache immediately after the fall. But I don’t expect it to create any on-going issues.

It was a good confidence booster, which I’ll use positively going into the 50 km event in a couple of weeks. Below is the Garmin link to the run I did yesterday. It says 57 km, because I did an extra kilometre nearby later.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1128900776

Here’s a photo of me running in the Pyrenees during the world run. The road was really quiet – a great place to run, so long as you enjoy hills.

On This Day

Apr 17, 2012

Distance today = 55.03 km; Total distance = 5162.56 km; Location = San Luis, Colorado – 37 11.864′ N, 105 25.567′ W; Start time = 0843, Finish time = 1653

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/169213352

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/169208135

The weather was perfect today – it made me remember why I’m doing this run.

Early on I passed 2000 miles run in the US. At the 26 km mark I crossed the border into Colorado. The girls dropped some lunch off for me on the side of the road at the 43 km mark – Beanie Weenies, a chocolate bar, and a coke. It might not score too highly on the nutritionists’ scale, but you have to take what you can get in the more remote parts.

This whole region that I’m running in at the moment is on a vast plateau known as the American Tibet. It’s essentially a huge flat plain situated about 8,000 feet above sea level, punctuated by peaks that reach into the sky as high as 14,000 feet or more. There are snow-capped mountains on the horizon in just about every direction.

Tonight I’m in the town of San Luis. It claims to be the oldest town in Colorado. There is no internet at the hotel, so I have had to go down the road and sit outside a café where there is a wireless signal. Once again, there are two Garmin files for the day.

Apr 17, 2013

Distance today = 50.83 km; Total distance = 19,565.49 km; Location = Orkenypuszta, Hungary – 47 39.297′ N, 17 48.235′ E; Start time = 0916, Finish time = 1724

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/299339722

Back on the road today, and this time with my mates Dave and the Hud. It was warm again, in the low 20s. But let me firstly fill you in on the past day or so.

We met up with Jo, Dave, Sue, and Greg (The Hud) on Monday night in Vienna, and spent the next morning with them, looking around the city. We then all travelled to Bratislava, in Slovakia, yesterday afternoon. Last night we had a great evening in this, the smallest capital city in Europe. It has a long history, and a wonderful “old town” area, where we enjoyed various local beers and wines. Some of these were in odd shaped glasses, like boots. Have a look at the photos, and you’ll see what I mean. It was a great evening.

This morning, I travelled with the guys to my finishing point from Monday, and headed off in the direction of Budapest. Both the guys ran about 21 km with me. They were very pleased to get half marathons under their belt on the first day.

It was a very flat day, some of it on cycle paths, but a lot of it wasn’t. It was not the easiest day of running, but the guys did well.