discovering i have glutes (alternately titled - hills are hard)

i met with the lovely lorna this morning in the city for our test drive of the city to surf course (plus a bit more at the end to take us up to our respective targets.

now - i know i'd been told - but that is a tough course! it even starts with a hill! and then they just keep coming. nonetheless it was a beautiful morning and i had great company so it was easy to get into a rhythm, even going up the hills. i am pleased to have done 'heartbreak hill' so that it doesn't have quite as much mystical power! but it was hard and i am not sure how i am going to go much faster than we went this morning! still we finished it in 96 mins after sticking to our pacing plan pretty well. i guess i will be able to push some parts a bit more and knock a few minutes off.

at the end of the 14k we still had some time to go so the only option was to head back up the largggge hill at bondi road and head back towards town. in the end we walked up the hill but then kept right on going. we ended up with 2 hours (slightly under as we were at a shop and i needed water!) and 16.73km. average pace was 7.09. i am pretty pleased with how i felt given that it was my first long run (2 hours) in over a month. my glutes were screaming on the way up the flatter hill on bondi road - hence the post title! my knees held up really well so that was great. i am feeling a bit wobbly now though even though i've had a massive brunch.

was great to see a few friendly faces, wildthing and rob, and a few other friendly faces cheering us on - but i think we did a bloody good job. finished up with about 30 mins walking to my friends place to be fed. perfectly timed in fact - and they didn't even mind me stretching in the living room before i had a shower.

heading to a fancy bar and restaurant for dinner tonight - hope i can stay awake!