It wasn't a great night's sleep, and I was washed out and headachy on waking. I only roused from bed because I needed to get off the second set of wet sheets. Bob had decided at the last minute to join the Bilby's for a cycle, and complaining about the cold and the wet weather headed out the door just before 8:00 am. I improved, and was keen to keep my 'run date' with CJ, although was more than a little nervous in being too slow and holding her back, and having a whole raft of socially unsavory habits that are perennially in evidence on a longish run.

A quick telephone check an hour before confirmed that we both would be at the appointed place at 11:00 am, a ridiculously civilised hour for a run, although just what the doctor ordered for me! Looking out the window while on the phone, the rain continued . . . .

Arriving at Acton Ferry Terminal I fiddled around with a last minute visit to the toilets (hot air dryers are greatly appreciated on days like this!), checking on whether to wear gloves, covers on the legs or not, how much to rug up and so on. CJ arrived right on time, and after I remembered to turn on the technology we started to circumnavigate West Basin under grey, but dry skies. The road was flooded around Commonwealth Avenue Bridge, but the bike paths were generally in quite good condition for our training run. There were a few recreational cyclists, although it was generally quiet with little traffic.

The time passed very quickly, and I chatted incessantly. On reflection, I can't remember any rises or difficult sections. Our pace was easy, and certainly conversational! I had hoped to keep within the McMillan Pace Calculator range of a long or easy run today, although I barely looked at my watch today, too busy having fun! We diverted via the National Museum peninsula instead of the shortcut over hospital hill, and then under Commonwealth and Kings Avenue Bridges to the Boathouse, looping back at the hospice and into an icy wind straight off the snow. This was the first difficult section, although the rain had miraculously held off for the two hours we had run.

A final section over Kings Avenue bridge and along the southern shore of Central Basin in front of the National Monuments and back to the cars, meant we ran for the 2 hours 30 minutes planned (2:30:30!) and covered 26.66kms, with very little backtracking. The pace averaged 5:40 and my heart rate was a somulent 136bpm. It was a lot of fun- and especially finishing off with a warming coffee afterwards. It was a successful experiment doing a longer run with someone else, and CJ was extremely tolerant of my spitting, snorting and other anti social habits. It certainly made the time pass quickly! We were so lucky with the weather too, no rain during the run, although it had been a very unpleasant morning.

A hot bath was called for when I returned home, and some warming broth to supplement the fortijuice. Tomorrow, a casual turnout retracing my steps around West Basin from Black Mountain Peninsula.