In other words Autumn is in full swing. The trees have beautiful colours and the leaves were falling in the slight Autumn breeze this morning. I arrived just before 7am with the plan of running for an hour with Chris before joining the main Molonglo group at 8am. When I arrived there was one other runner waiting - Amanda. She used to run on Weds before my time and has run once with us on a Wed but found us a bit slow and I haven't seen her again. Oh dear, the pressure! Chris arrived soon after and we set off on our early run at 7.09am at a good pace. We ran through the wetlands over the new concrete bridge (all that concrete - such a shame) then came to a flooded road so we detoured round Kingston and returned to Molonglo past the boathouse. In the lake beside us we saw fish leaping really high out of the water - huge leaps! As we ran round the back streets we came across four hot air balloons being prepared for take off. Later as we ran on the other side of the lake we saw them floating in the air - such a beautiful sight.
Soon after running past the boathouse Chris sent Amanda ahead to let the others know we were coming as it was approaching 8am. We had run just under 10km at that stage. At Molonglo Chris and Amanda had to leave before our next run with the Molonglo group. There were about 8 of us who set off together although we all had different distances to run.
We ran past Duntroon and round the base of Mt Ainslie. Graeme ran with Andy and me for most of this section but left us after the big hill to run on back to the others who had taken a short cut. As I watched him disappear over the hill I lost my footing and did a 'CJ' landing flat down in the dust and gravel. Not much damage done but yes there was blood - dripping from my elbow and knee. However it was mainly surface gravel rash although my knee is going to have a big bruise and is very tender tonight!
Andy and I ran down to Lake Burley Griffin and past the ferry terminal and turned after just over 3km to return to Molonglo Reach by which time everybody had dispersed. We then decided to drive to the National Carillion and enjoy a coffee and muffin at the outside cafe there. It was lovely sitting on the steps in the sunshine. It truly is very pleasant running weather at this time of year - not too hot and not too cold!
Total distance: 32km
Time taken: 3:26:47
Average pace per km: 6:27
Maximum elevation: 683m
That distance and time, you could have been at the Cotter with us. No concrete jungle out there. One day you will get back there, not this year, winter is almost here, too dangerous, if you " another CJ", the ambulance may take a while to get you, or a ride with Careflight, direct to Canberra hospital. Good run Ruth, glad you enjoyed the coffee.
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