I ran well this morning, with the injury feeling pretty much like it was a week ago – perhaps even improved. I can only deduce that the reason for the relapse earlier this week was the wearing of different shoes. Not that there was much difference in them; perhaps just a slightly lower heel lift.

If that was the case, and a very minor reduction in the height of my heel can make such a difference, then this tells me something about the injury. If I keep it within a range, everything seems OK. Go even slightly outside that range and all hell breaks loose. To completely recover from the tear I’ll need to eventually go outside that comfort zone. I’m just going to have take it slowly.

Today’s race from the past is the 2009 City to Surf. I was not expecting to run very fast in this race, as I’d just spent a month cycling in Europe. I had only averaged about 5 km per day during this time, all of it at a slow pace. Instead, my days were spent averaging about 150 km per day on the bike, climbing the big French mountains – Alp d’Huez, the Col du Galibier, Mont Ventoux, and the Col du Tourmalet.

A week after returning, and with very few “miles in my legs”, I decided to enter the City to Surf just for fun. I was intending to take it easy. And in some ways I did. It was the least painful race I had done, maybe ever. But I finished in 54:12, my fastest for more than a decade. That’s the sort of race you remember – little in the way of preparation and suffering, yet a much better than expected time.

On This Day

Sep 12, 2012

Distance today = 51.77 km; Total distance = 11,500.22 km; Location = Barboursville, West Virginia – 38 25.489′ N, 82 15.806′ W; Start time = 0819, Finish time = 1640

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/222025101

I an really enjoying the mornings now. When I start running, the temperature is around 15C – perfect. It still gets warm later in the day – today’s high was 32C – but the humidity has been low, so I’ve been very comfortable all day long.

My first 14 km was through a beautiful, quiet, and hilly region. It was ideal for running. However, these remote areas tend to have lots of dogs, many of which are quite aggressive. Today two Rottweilers raced toward me. I usually don’t concern myself too much with dogs that look like they’re about to attack, as they almost always stop before they reach me. Rottweilers make me a little more nervous, though. However, these two must have been trained as guard dogs, because they stopped, one either side of the driveway at the edge of the property’s boundary, and stood there barking. They did not want to venture further than their stipulated turf. I relaxed at that point.

I soon crossed over into West Virginia, and was thinking of then crossing the Ohio River and running a few miles in the state of Ohio. But the bridge did not allow for pedestrians. As it turned out, the bridge further up stream, where I would have crossed back over, had a pedestrian facility, but I couldn’t cross the same bridge twice – that would amount to back-tracking. So I settled for running for a while along the levee on the banks of the Ohio – wasn’t there a song about that?

Near the end of the day I was following Google Maps, when I came to a “bridge”. The maps showed it existed, but there was only a gaping chasm. I really didn’t want to go back several kilometres, so I clambered down the bank, took off my shoes, and waded across a ford in the stream. Luckily it was shallow enough. I can foresee that one day there will be a river too wide and deep for me to solve this sort of problem so opportunistically.

We are now in the 19th state of the run so far. I’m not exactly sure yet which I’ll choose as the 20th.

Sep 12, 2013

Distance today = 31.05 km; Total distance = 26,221.08 km; Location = Tempe, NSW – 33 55.536’ S, 151 09.597′ E; Start time = 0825, Finish time = 1307

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/374379167

The weather was again spectacular as I made my way within striking distance of the finish.

I was met at the start by a variety of people. Running with me were Chook, Rob, and Wayne, who have flown over from NZ to run the final few days with me, along with Don, who acted as support crew today (Carmel was there early on, but headed home to attend to some necessary issues). Kate also ran with me again, as did Peter, representing my sponsor, Asia Pacific Digital.

I was also joined by several of the Tour de Bois, including Mother, Robbo, Duane, Bill, Dave C, Stuart, and Kenny. They gave me a bicycle escort for a while. Bernie and Leslie also dropped by.

We passed by Klitty’s factory and dropped in to say hello. Kate left us at the 16 km mark, and the rest of the morning was spent running into the inner city. I finished the day just after 1 pm.

Tomorrow will be a short day, and I will be arriving at the Sydney Opera House at 1 pm. Come along and join us, both there and at the Clovelly Hotel afterwards for celebrations. And if you’re up early,  have a look at the Today Show around 7:13 am tomorrow morning.