Nobody can take that one away

Run Type: Hills
Distance: 11 km
Cumulative total for the week: 76km
Average pace 5:26/km
No heart rate

Last night was Tom's and Bob's party for copywriter's at Veniri Veniri in Harajuku. Very pleasant on the rooftop balcony looking out towards Aoyama and Roppongi. Food and drink was inclusive in the price. So I had a few beers, then a couple of G&Ts then a vodka & orange (or was it two?), and perhaps there was a quick whisky before the time was up and the grog was whisked away. So that was a fair drink without going overboard. Enough to get a charge up, but not enough to be a write off. Unfortunately though, also enough to threaten a hangover. I showed some restraint, but not enough.

This morning I had to leave at 8:00 to look at a prospective high school for Tatsuya with him and Chiemi. So if I didn't run early it was going to have to be late this afternoon. And with another 33-degree day on offer, and 30 km scheduled for tomorrow, I suspected that if I didn't run this morning, I would not run at all.

I didn't set the alarm, but still I woke at 5:30--a full five hours of sleep. I groaned and moaned, but got up and checked the condition of the hangover. Yep, it was a hangover alright. Not too severe, certainly easy enough to sleep off in another hour or two. But if the run was missed altogether, it would leave the weekly kilometer store a little light on. So kit on and out the door it was. I headed for the Aobadai hilly loop course, but feeling pretty crappy and fragile didn't push the pace at any stage, just slogged away at it. On the hill circuits I certainly didn't push on the uphills as one should. Yet each lap got slightly faster, finally getting down to a 5:06/km on the fifth lap.

So, it was slow, it was ugly, but it got done. What good it did I have no idea, but the kilometers are in the bank and in the end I was pretty pleased with myself for having the willpower to get out and do that one.