The Darkness

It is so good to be running again.  I went for my first run in two weeks on Wednesday morning, and my first run in the dark with my new H7 head torch.  I had thought that getting up at 5:30am to go for a run would be difficult, but I had laid my gear out the evening before, so was rearing to go.  Snuggled into my merino running gear, hi-vis vest, hat and gloves, and with the head torch illuminating a sliver of the darkness I setoff. 

I imagined that running with head torch would make me sea-sick, and that the light would bounce around, but with the focus settings on my torch set to 'wide beam' and the strength turned right up (the H7 is strong enough to give you arc-eye), the in front of me was well illuminated.

Running in the pre-dawn was really cool.  The crisp wintery air, bright star-lit sky and no moon made for a quiet and some what magical environment for running.  The tranquility and solitude was broken occasionally by the pools of light created by various milking sheds, but the rest of the time it was just the narrow beam of vision stretching wherever I pointed my head.

About three quarters of the way through my run, the sun started to rise, and the darkness dissolved into the familiar countryside landscape.  Running the last few kilometers in the dim early morning, with my head torch switched off was also lovely (this morning, I think being able to run again made everything lovely).  Waist height carpets of mist trickled across the paddocks, and the sky tinted itself pink and orange.

I am planning to incorporate lots of morning "darkness runs" into my training, so I hope that soon I get a spectacular multicolor sunrise.

Yesterday I did some interval training and tempo running, the combination of which led me to complete a 12km out-and-back in 59min. I wonder if I will ever get faster than this, or if I will just keep adding distance.  The North Face 100km is on today in Aussie.  I have been watching the GPS tracked progress of Malcolm Law, and others and marveling at how not only these hard core athletes can complete the distance (100km is still well outside the distance that I can see myself completing), but also that they run so fast!  The success and achievements of others is inspirational and mind blowing.

Speaking of mind blowing, I have also started reading Lisa Tamiti's Running Hot which is a great read.  Her tenacity and indomitable spirit is something to aspire to.  Kiwis are amazing.

Feilding to Palmerston North half marathon tomorrow.  Should be a nice road race.  I am trying to decide if I should aim to beat my PB, especially considering how little training I have done in the last fortnight.  We shall see.  Exciting.