Felt better than I had for a few days, although still not sparking. It was a very foggy morning, and finally I got around to opening the cartons of Fortijuice and Nutridrink. The Nutridrink comes in 900g tins, and is described as "Vanilla". Ha! That is a v.e.r.y. generous description. Although able to be drunk, it is also designed for tube feeding, so the taste is marginal at best. I mixed up a 375ml serve this morning, (requiring 80g) and found it extremely filling. Only another 250g of powder today to go!

I can supplement this with FortiJuice, but I am to have a minimum of 1,500-2,000 calories from these complete food drinks.

I dropped off a couple of boxes of T-Shirts at the TACT offices, and picked up a batch of photos Bob took in Vietnam from Civic. This enabled me to arrive in time, although without too much to spare, for the monthly Mt Ainslie Run Up. I had a brief warm up, although there were two busloads of High School Students lunching at the shelters we used for the gathering point. This provided one advantage: as it was Friar's 50th Mt Ainslie run, he was sent off a minute earlier to a round of cheering applause from the assembled mass of runners and students. My heart rate was a sub-optimal 51 when we started running. Low is good, but I still think it should be a little higher at the start of events.

Although yawing a lot on the first section of the event, there was another huge field of runners, which ensured that I was a long way from the start, but not last either. It was another stunning day, and my decision to wear a light cotton T-shirt seemed silly half way up the mountain. I plugged along, feeling better as I went along, passing one or two who had slowed to a walk on the steepest sections. Carol Baird gradually disappeared from view, but nearing the top I thought that my PB of 17:35 was within reach. Breathing loudly, I made the 2.2kms to the summit in 17:30, 'breaking' 8 minute pace! It seems so slow, but then it doesn't seem that long ago that 7 minute pace on the flat was the norm.

I caught up with a friend from Customs at the top, and we jogged down chatting about his running and cycling whilst working in Wellington NZ, and Aberdeen, Scotland where he would alternate running the 14 miles (23kms) to work and cycle home, with cycling in and running home.

Afterwards, there was so much construction work around the War Memorial that I decided to move the car to somewhere else adjacent to Mt Ainslie for a run. With many options, I ended up at the end of Antill St, where, whilst preparing for my next run I saw two friends and fellow members of Team Moore returning from a lunchtime run. With a phone in my fuel belt, radio in my ear, and some water decanted to my waist I was off, rolling around anti-clockwise on autopilot, roughly following the route taken on Saturday's Bush Capital Runs. A frisson of excitement rose as I reached the point where the yellow "1 km to go" was on Saturday. I continued to follow the route, even diverting just past the Campbell Park offices, where the bright lunchtime light highlighted the red soil on the track, the parliament house blue-green of the eucalypts, an expanse of yellowed paddock heading towards the airport punctuated by a mixed collection of cattle, looking contented (and why wouldn't you be?) in their black, brown and mottled red coats.

On a whim, I continued up the jagged track which led to the steepest section of the course on Saturday. With the benefit of foreknowledge, being well warmed up, and with my mid-section being far more comfortable, it was a matter of "hill, what hill?" as I neared the crest and took in the view. The rocky descent was far easier this time, and before I knew it I decided to head straight on at the water tank to take on part of the Mountain Running Course from June. I am coming to know the interlinking trails and loops of some of the nature parks far better recently, and just love to explore and try new things! Heading up the long downhill section of the course, I came across three young guys out on their bikes with full face helmets. Not long after I answered a concerned call from Bob who was wondering if I had fallen off the face of the earth or been running for five hours.

Continuing on, the hill went up, and up, and seemed far steeper than I had remembered it! I was perspiring from the effort considerably now, and was determined to complete the two peaks today, continuing through the fence to the road to symbolically 'touch' the trig point at the summit (824m), before rolling down, down, down, revelling in the ease and freedom and air. Diverting to the right, I took a narrow trail around the ridge-line which I hadn't run along for maybe 13 years. It winded down the side on the mountain at a grade of 8% for two and a half kilometres, with spectacular switchbacks. New to me, it emerged at a series of wide, shallow steps made to act as a retaining wall, and then to an elongated mat of grid material leading to the track near the 11km mark on the Bush Capital runs. You learn something new every-time you take the chance to explore.

An easy 1,500m back to the car completed a glorious run on a stunning day. I summitted Mt Ainslie (814m) and Mt Majura (824m), running a total of 21.7km with an ascent of (around) 700m. I felt much, much better than on Saturday, and am sure that I was running better as well. I hope that this continues, and I look forward to a similar exercise tomorrow, running the BBQ Stakes, and then ramble the slopes of Mt Taylor afterwards. Unfortunately, the weather is set to turn with rain developing in the afternoon. It couldn't last forever.

I mixed up another batch of Nutridrink tonight in the food processor hoping that frothing it up well would help, and preparing some for the morning. It is better cold, but it tastes soooo awful. I tried mixing some hot chocolate mix in one. I feel good, although I need to disguise the taste somehow.