Apr 9, 2014
I think I may have discovered the root cause of my heel problem. I don’t want to say too much just now, as I might be wrong. I’ll test the theory over the next few days. If the investigations are consistent with the history of the ailment, I’ll be pleased to elaborate in a later blog.
Regardless of whether the underlying reasons have been uncovered, the fact is I have continued to increase my distance on a daily basis, and my speed is gradually increasing too. Today I ran 11 km continuously. I’m still having some pain from the prolonged standing on the weekend, but if I’m correct in my thinking, I’ll soon be rid of that too. If I’m to make the 100 km even in just over three weeks I’ll need to do a long run no later than early next week. That will be an interesting test in itself.
Tonight I am speaking at the Sydney 100 km Trailwalker information evening. Hopefully the participants and attendees will find some inspiration in my presentation, even if it’s just from Carmel’s photos that I’ll be showing.
I’m continuing with the old blogs on this date from the past two years, but unfortunately sometimes they will refer to the content on the web page at that time (videos, format etc.) Apologies for this, as such references may now be irrelevant. But at least you’ll get a feel for the issues of the day at the time.
On This Day
Apr 9, 2012
Distance today = 50.61 km; Total distance = 4782.70 km; Location = Bernalillo – 35 19.185′ N, 106 32.751′ W; Start time = 0920, Finish time = 1655
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/166555858
As you will see from the new video at the top of the page, the Albuquerque TV station, KOB 4, aired a story on my run on last night’s news. I like the way the footage focuses on the actual running. You can see how slowly I make my way during this adventure.
This led to innumerable waves and horn beeps today as I made my way slowly towards the city. At one point a guy called Travis stopped and offered me some water, telling me how he saw me on the news last night. Thanks Travis – it’s nice to have this sort of acknowledgement along the way.
You might also have noticed how the menu bar on this web site is out of whack. This is my fault. I was trying to add a map showing my route so far. All I succeeded in doing was ruining the menu bar. I am going to have to call on my extremely competent sponsors, Next Digital, to clean up my mess. Hopefully it won’t take too long.
To finish, I thought I’d comment on something slightly obtuse – the smell of skunks. I have gotten used to this aroma in recent months, as I reckon there have been at least ten dead skunks I have passed at close quarters. I don’t know how much stronger the smell gets when they are alive and emit the scent from their glands in your presence – perhaps it’s much worse. While I’ve found the skunk scent to be quite uninviting, I reckon it’s still a distant second to the stench of rotting road kill (I should add that the skunks have not been dead long enough for the road kill component to be a factor). All the same, I wouldn’t want to get skunk “juice” on my clothes – they’d be going straight into the garbage bin. No wonder the cat with the painted tail was so intent on escaping from Pepe le Pew.
Apr 9, 2013
Distance today = 52.06 km; Total distance = 19,226.20 km; Location = Pelhrimov (4 km north of) – 49 27.329′ N, 15 11.203′ E; Start time = 0829, Finish time = 1650
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/295628381
Another very hilly day. I no sooner went down one hill, than I had to start up another – almost nothing flat today.
It was a bit more grey today, but I did see some nice sun during the afternoon, and the temperatures must have gone close to reaching double figures. We’ll crack it soon.
The Bohemian countryside is becoming slightly greener as I move south. The grass has obviously been affected by being under snow for long periods this winter. There was still a lot of old snow on the ground today, and several reasonably sized lakes that were still completely frozen over. That’s amazing for April 9. That said, it won’t take too long for them to thaw if conditions like today continue.
The milestone for today was the website reaching half a million hits – and the hit counter was only added last October. If everyone tells a friend to start following the site, it should reach a million hits before I finish in September.
