I was first to arrive at Molonglo this morning. It had been raining but although the ground was damp and there was a light drizzle for the early part of the run it was mainly fine, overcast and for the first half of the run there was not a breath of wind. The lake was like a mirror - very calm.
There were 12 starters which is the most at one time for this group for quite some months. In fact most of us ran together for the first few kms- it was great to catch up with everyone - some running or spectating at 6' track next weekend, a few going to Queenstown in NZ for another hilly event and some of us running in the Weston Creek Half Marathon next weekend. Nearly all of us have an event next weekend. I am using the Half more as a training run although I will make next week an easy week and cut down the kms a bit - no long run the day before obviously!
We all started together and ran via Duntroon and Campbell Park avoiding the wet grass underfoot then we ran on to the Mt Ainslie summit trail. We went in separate directions at the turn-off to the War Memorial.
Ewen, Andy and I ran down to the lake and headed in the direction of the Museum taking a lovely dirt trail through the bushes which I didn't know was there! Andy was running a shorter distance as he is cutting back for the half marathon next weekend so he headed back to Molonglo while Ewen and I continued on round the lake anti-clockwise incorporating Kings Avenue Bridge to make the distance a little longer. When we reached Molonglo I ran an extra 500m just to make it the same distance as last week. I need to save a little bit for next weekend!
I did have a lot of trouble with my Garmin during the first half of the run. It decided to record "lap error" and beeped several times every 30secs. Eventually I had to turn it off and restart to make the beeping stop as it was driving us both crazy!
When I reached Molonglo our group was still at the picnic table. I spent ten minutes standing in the icy cold lake soothing a sore foot before joining them. It was heaven!
Later Ewen and I went to Campbell Shops for brunch and a couple of coffees. The sun came out and it was very pleasant and relaxing indeed.
Total distance: 31km
Time taken: 3:17:45
Average pace per km: 6:23
We were lucky - it turned out a good day. Glad you fixed the Garmin - otherwise I'd be borrowing CJ's iPod for the next run!
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