I Honestly Thought ...

I went into paternity leave with my eyes open. I didn't go in thinking "this'll be a great bludge - I'll start my Masters and I'll sip lattes every day." I knew I was in for some hard work and it wasn't going to be plain sailing.

But I honestly thought weekly updates on the blog wasn't too much to set my sights on.

So now we are three weeks in. The problem is that when I've got 30 minutes to myself there is any number of housework options, or there is also any one of the burgeoning number of tasks that are required for the organising of a wedding (27th of January - the Sunday of the Australia Day long weekend).

I'm enjoying this lifestyle a little too much. Two days a week at work is as much adult contact as I need, and three days a week with the kids is awesome. John is revealing more of his personality every week, and when he isn't sick (which is unfortunately often) he is a beautifully happy little bugger.

Come to think of it, you hven't seen him for a while, so here is a great photo from a month ago (at six months):


Training has been good. Marlz and I are building a base at the moment, so we've been gradually lifting the length of each run. The long run on Sunday was 27.3K, and this morning I suspect I did my longest midweek long run ever - a 14K effort at 5:30 pace.

Last week was mostly wiped out by a cold. With the rain I was reluctant to get back into it too early and risk a relapse, so it was a two run week - a 10K easy on Friday and the long run on Sunday. I was still feeling Sunday this morning, so on reflection 21 or 22 might have been wiser.

But you don't know these things until later, and I thought 27 was the right session.

The next race is a good question. I know I will run the Central Coast Half. Marlz is running it with a friend aiming at 2 hours. If I can sneak in a little bit more pram training I'll run it with them and John.

The problem with this is that if the weather is inclement I can't risk taking John out (especially with his asthma), and I really do need to ive him some longer pram runs to prove that he'll be OK for two hours.

After that I had planned to run the Black Stump run, but we've been invited to a killer new year's party and so I may have to give that one a miss. This will leave me without a Six Foot qualifying time. I'm OK with this; originally the 1:50 half marathon goal was a two part goal of the 1:50 half and then a four hour marathon. Marlz and I have been discussing making that attempt at Canberra.

Whatever happens, I'm content with my running at the moment and I know that once a goal race is set I'll be in a position to train specifically for it.