Yep - This must be the longest I have gone without recording anything in my blog. I am sure that nobody bothers to check in anymore as there has been nothing in over three months, but here I am, alive and well, and with a lot to tell, although sadly, not too much in the way of running.
One of the reasons I went AWOL was that old adage - injury struck! Yep, around the beginning of September that niggling groin injury became more acute, and I had to rethink my plans for the autumn, as clearly I wasn't able to run the half marathon, or train to take part in the Dublin Marathon at the end of October. I still managed to get out most weeks and hash, and whilst the groin wasn't hurting while running, every time I ran, the next day I was in some discomfort. So, I took my usual self-diagnosed advice and took some time off from running seriously, just the hashing.
Around this time I was planning other major life changes, firstly deciding to take a career break from work, As this is a running blog, I won't bore you with the details, but suffice to say, on October 30th, I spent my last day at work for three years - or at least my last day working with the Revenue Commissioners for three years anyway. The second big change is my location. Having taken the time off, I needed to take myself off, and here I am, typing this update on a hot, sunny, December day (obviously not Dublin!), in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
And so back to running, and the real purpose of my update. Well, I have been gently running again for a few weeks now, very light, short distances, and, touch wood, with no recurrance of my groin niggle. Today, December 6th, I took part in a local, low-key race over 4 Km, only 20 pesos entry fee (that's €3.50), for which we received a tech T-Shirt, water, and a calendar at the end, and a decent prize list for the winners, along with spot prizes. There were around 100 in the main race, along with a fun run/walk over 1.5 Km which had around the same number again.
The race was a straight forward out and back one along a main road, after leaving the Bridgestone tyre plant in Llavollol, and whilst I felt I ran well, my time shows that the course must have been well short of the 4 Km, as I am not in the shape to be running 17:15 which is the time I recorded, and I know I was not running sub 7 minute pace. More likely the race was around 3.5 Km, and I finished around 30th out the hundred or so particpants, which was fine for me.
Unfortunately, despite the weather being far nicer than at home, the running season is coming to an end here, as January and February are usually far too hot to hold races, so I may not get as many races as I would like in over the next few months, but I can't use the excuse that it is too wet or cold to train, so hopefully, by the time that autumn arrives I will be in good shape to carry on running, and carry on updating this thing, if only for my own amusement.
