I arrived in Australia 2 days ago, flying from Phoenix (short) to LA, than LA to Sydney (long, 13.5 hours), and then Sydney to Melbourne (shorter, 1.5 hours). I had one day to get my time clock arranged in Melbourne (actually, having slept more than half the long flight over, I felt great), then I flew to Hobart Tasmania.

My trip here is an invited speaking tour, where in a crazy circuit, I will do presentations in the eight Australian capital cities… in a span of 2 weeks. You can follow my trail at http://cogdogroo.wordpress.com/. I have a few days on the front and back end, but pretty much it will by taxi, airport, taxi, hotel, speaking, taxi, airport…

I have these wild plans to keep up the running schedule. I of course missed completely Wednesday (enroute), and landing here Thursday afternoon, where it looked rainy, I decided to take another day’s rest.

So Friday afternoon I am at the Melbourne airport waiting for my flight to Tasmania, when I feel a sore throat coming on. Uh oh, I get a pile of the over the counter stuff, but I know my damn signs. I get to Tassie, feeling okay, and after a decent night’s sleep, I feel pretty good Saturday morning, good enough to try running.

I am staying out in the country with friends/colleagues, a quaint country house with stunning views of the Ocean over green carpeted farmland. My hosts, Jo and Nick, claim the road out to their house is flat, but it feels like a lot of downhill. Nick went for a bike ride and met me on the opposite side of Bream Creek (about 3 buildings make for a place to have a sign) for the photo above. He suggested a circuit route of about 13km (oi, the conversions). It was a fair bit of downhill, almost to the water, before turning back for the climb up.

I petered out of energy at about 6 miles, and decided to walk the rest and enjoy the scenery.

Probably this was not the best decision, as I really felt crappy sick the next day…

Did you know... Bobby Clark, legend of the Philadelphia Flyers, was the first professional hockey player with diabetes (from The Diabetic Athlete)
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After yesterday’s 10 mile run I enjoyed a vigorous– 2 hour nap on the couch! Other than that bit I felt okay during the day, a few aches that ibuprofen took care of. Sunday morning up here was chilly at 6000 feet elevation in Strawberry- it was 40 degrees at 7am, but a nice 60 when I set out at 8:30 for my “relaxed” recovery run.

I just took the residential loop, west on Louthian to Tonto Rim, skirting the north edge of town. Its got a bit of up and down short hills, all done at a pace one half notch above barely moving (kidding, but it was slow). Back on Lufkin and round Cleaonna- not too bad, and staying tight on training schedule.

All &#*!^ goes with the schedule after Tuesday, but more on that later.

Today was a day for 10 miles. It was a cloudy morning, on the cool side (well for coming off of the heels of Arizona summer) here in Strawberry. My route choice here is rather limited to variations out and back on Fossil Creek road. I could have done a 3 out 3 back and then double back on that another 2 and 2…. but all that back and forth sounded dull. So it was to go out 5 and back- a run I thought I did last year.

Felt pretty good on the out route, even shuffling up the first steep hall past the Strawberry Llama Ranch and passing the last homes in town before entering Forest Service land. The road finally crests, with a flat stretch for maybe half a mile. You can start to see the edges of the rim of Fossil Creek Canyon… and then it starts to drop down again. Passing the rpur road to Fossil Creek trail head I’m going at a great pace- “This feels great” — only half realizing how much elevation was dropping away.

The road bends right and heads off to where eventually you can see the yawning of the canyon. I hit my 5 mile mark a little before there, but I know what a tremendous view that is (one time I rode my mountain bike all the way to the bottom and back - it drops 1800 feet), but I headed back. It was a slow crawl back up the hill, nicer at the top stretch, and of course, great down the hill to the valley.

This was a pretty good run today, better than expected! While its nice to notch the 10 miles, the 2 hour mark, I am boggled to think about what it will take to run for 5, maybe 6 hours. Wow.

CLose to 60 minutes today, not all that great pace. 10 for Saturday, oh my!

I’ve been overdue a pair of decent running shoes. The New Balance ones I used through the summer were actually a find at a thrift store, and did me well. But now I have a new shiny pair of Saucony Hurricane.

Last year’s running went far south in October, with the shin splints, and I am often to tempted to blame the new shoes I had gotten last September– they made my feet tingle and then the splints came on to stay for about 7 months. But I cannot for sure blame the shoes, there are so many other factors.

But these new ones feel comfy and springy. I took them out today for a run south on the Indian Bend path, but with another evening of late night work, my pace was really dragging. A few bursts of energy, but over all, it was a slow run, and I pooped out about 1 minute and half shy of the 50 minutes I was planning on.