I had a rough night on Wednesday, and when the PRB rang at the very civilised hour of 9:30am on Thursday to let me know that he was not to be discharged from hospital until Monday, I didn't know if I was awake or not.
Bob was out cycling with Kris, who was training for Hawaii, and although I got up then, it wasn't going to last for long, and I spent most of the day in bed, drifting in and out of a fatigued sleep.
It obviously helped though, for on Friday morning I had already changed into running gear when Bob suggested we have a coffee date. We enjoyed the drizzling, grey view from the top of the National Gallery looking over the grey green native trees, the grey blue lake, and the shiny luminescent grey of wet slate in the Sculpture Garden. We then popped down to visit the PRB in hospital, where Bob hadn't seen him since his nadir the day after his operation and I got to see him unplugged from machines that go !ping! for the first time. We was delighted to see us.
It was a close call as Bob still needed to go home to change into his running gear, but we made it to the start of the Customs run (just) where people went off at any time instead of necessarily their correct handicap given the conditions. I left on scratch (my heart rate was already up from racing, so it was close to a warm up) with Jodie, Ricky and a few others. From the start I felt surprisingly good, and the adductor / hip flexor / groin strain has been getting gradually better over time making the start relatively comfortable.
I pushed hard, as I always do these days, and my breathing was fairly comfortable and not so laboured. Out on my own, I kept at it, and was able to actually form the words of others names as they ran towards me, a sure indicator that I was much improved.
At a total time of 27:45 I'm not going to break any speed records yet, but I was really buoyed by feeling better running than I had for ages.
Great to hear PRB is on the upswing and really good to see you feeling good about your running. I liked the way you described having coffee at the National Gallery. That was a nice cameo of a picture you painted.