I ended up running 150 km last week; my biggest since the Icarus Ultra in Florida last November. My right shoulder and hip were actually sorer today than yesterday, after the fall I had on Saturday during the 56 km run. However, neither gave me any trouble during the run I had this morning.

I would usually have done a speed session this morning, but I’m too aware of the propensity for injury after such a long run two days earlier, particularly as that run was basically twice as  long as the longest I’d done in nearly six months. So I’ll wait until Wednesday before sharpening myself up with some intervals or a time trial. Then it will be mostly tapering for the 50 km event on Saturday week.

The reason I say ‘event’, rather than ‘race’, is because the race part is actually a standard marathon, albeit 105.5 laps of an athletic track. It’s part of the Sutherland Relay for Life, a cancer research fund raiser. But I’ve decided to continue after the finish of the marathon for another 19.5 laps, taking me up to 50 km. It will essentially be a 50 km time trial for me; something I’ve never done before. I ran plenty of 50 km stints during my run around the world, but always at a much slower speed.

Finally, one of the most  pleasing things about the 56 km run on Saturday was that I ran the final 23 km (through necessity) without a drink in 28 C heat, without feeling stressed or uncomfortable at all. And all that after no dinner or breakfast and spending a portion of the night on the toilet.

Below is a photo of me running somewhere in Europe, though I don’t know where. I’m guessing it was in Germany or Eastern Europe, but I can’t be sure. It was obviously a quiet road, so I was probably enjoying the day.

On This Day

Apr 18, 2012

Distance today = 51.28 km; Total distance = 5213.84 km; Location = Alamosa, Colorado (15 km east of) – 37 28.469′ N, 105 42.139′ W; Start time = 0818, Finish time = 1558

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/169473866

When there’s a strong headwind blowing, it’s always better to be running than cycling. That’s how I felt this afternoon. The headwind, although a touch annoying, was not a major problem – it certainly would have been on a bike.

The day was otherwise quite pleasant. It was mostly flat, with all my running being between 2,305 and 2,465 metres in elevation. All around me, however, were views of snow-capped mountains. I have actually had to run west for half a day in order to navigate around one of these insurmountable mountain ranges. I’ll be running on this “American Tibet” plateau for the next two or three days. I then have to go over a pass that is not too far below 3,000 metres in altitude.

Half way through the day I passed through Fort Garland. The fort was established in 1852 as a base for the US Army to protect settlers in the region. The adobe buildings are still standing, exactly as they were 150 years ago. I also found out that Kit Carson was a Lt. Colonel in the army, and was in charge of this fort for a period. I still insist that he wouldn’t have stood a chance on a bike against the great Kit Rumsey.

To finish, I’d like to explain how I am operating the tracker at the moment. In order to send regular tracker position updates during the day, I need to have T-mobile reception. But I rarely have such reception in these more remote regions.

At first, I thought this meant no updates at all. However, I’ve discovered that, if I can find a wireless internet source (and I generally can in the towns), then I can set my phone to access this source – this allows me to send and receive data.

The only issue is that it sends out my position as being where the wireless network is located. If I haven’t actually finished my day at that place (sometimes, like today, I finish out of town and am transported to and from this spot by the support crew), then my tracker position is not quite correct. Tonight is is showing me in the town of Alamosa, whereas my official run position is about 15 km to the east.

However, I feel it is better to give people a rough idea of where I am at that moment, than to have the tracker many days out-of-date (and, therefore, even more inaccurate). Whenever the tracker position is not strictly correct, I will acknowledge this fact on the blog.

Apr 18, 2013

Distance today = 51.05 km; Total distance = 19,616.54 km; Location = Tatabanya, Hungary – 47 35.069′ N, 18 23.937′ E; Start time = 0903, Finish time = 1747

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/299712624

It just keeps getting hotter. Today the temperature reached 27.6 C, according to my thermometer, and I had been keeping it in the shade. And the skies were completely blue all day. It looks like our friends have brought some Australian weather with them.

The only downside to the day was the roads. It’s always difficult to know whether a road will be busy, when all you have is a line on a map. Today we struck little in the way of cycle paths, and the roads were too busy for it to be a truly enjoyable day of running. All the same, one of the guys was with me all the way, with Dave running 32 km, and The Hud doing 23 km (at times they were both running with me). The girls met us at various places along the way, and prepared a lovely lunch that we ate on a picnic bench.

Dave and I struck a rough patch after lunch, when we ended up on a very uneven dirt road that was extremely hard on the feet. We even had to crawl under a fence at one stage, when Google Maps led us up a tractor path next to a row of grape vines.

Now, just for a little background – the three of us running today are the original core members of the MRA – the Maroubra Runners Association, a running club formed by The Hud in early 1983, to help us train for the inaugural Australian Marathon. Who would have thought, from those humble beginnings of 30 km training runs on Saturday mornings ahead of a scrambled egg brunch with the girls, that the same three guys would now be running through the countryside of Hungary, meeting the same three girls for meals along the way?