I suspect my easy week will be the catalyst to shaking these niggling injuries, though I still remain cautious. If it requires another week of minimal running, then so be it. Better to be patient than to risk a worsening of the problem. The Achilles is certainly better than it was, but I wouldn’t say I’m out of the woods just yet.

One thing I am noticing, however, is that I’m feeling very fresh when I run. It’s as if I’ve just come off a long taper for a race. I feel like running fast and my lungs feel great too. That’s when it’s really important to stay disciplined and not succumb to the temptation to run fast.

Here’s another photo from the Colorado Rockies. A lot of people think that running over the Rockies means lots of steep mountains. It’s not like that all. The roads to the peaks are often steep, but the roads over the passes are really quite gentle, It’s a lot easy to run there than, say, the Andes, or even the much lower mountains in Australia.