Hamish saved us from ourselves

Well, at 7.30 this morning rain was being driven against the bedroom window by yet another formidable Southerly.  Hamish yet again rolled over and remarked that going for a run in the hill suburbs of Karori would be more than a little insane.  Thankfully Jo was of the same opinion.  When I got up to call her it was 10.5 degrees in the hallway and by the time I went back to bed it had dropped to 10. It's currently 8 degrees just after 4.00pm.  Outside it's reportedly 4 degrees with a windchill factor of around 0.  Needless to say, I stayed in bed until around 12, then retreated to the study by the heater.  Even so I'm wearing three layers, two being merino.  

At some stage this afternoon the rain stopped and the sun came out and I made a dash for the Brooklyn superette.  As I got there snow flurries started to fall.  While I was shopping they thickened until, when I got back to the car, the windscreen was coated in thick white ice.  It was frozen water that couldn't quite decide whether it was snow or hail, but the exact definition was beside the point.  It was freezing! Needless to say, I hurried back to the warmth of the study and have been here ever since. Various reports from around the city confirm that we would have been running through snow flurries had we ventured out.   

I had planned to head to the gym to do a short run on the treadmill, expecting the weather to be improved enough tomorrow to fit in my long run. However Dave has me down for a bonus RPM and no fast run.  So I'll do the long run tomorrow then fit the extra RPM in some time during the week - perhaps Friday.  I'm still doing all my workouts, just shuffling the days a bit.  In fact I feel like my programme's very light right now, but that's the whole point.  I'm supposed to be easing back into it, and as much as I love flogging myself I really should know by now that I can't do that all the time.

Congratulations to Nick Churchouse , who finished the Christchurch marathon in horrific conditions today in just over four hours, his first!  It was only a few short months ago that he was standing in his mother's kitchen looking horrified as we discussed my Rotorua training programme.  I didn't think he'd actually pull it together, but he managed it in style!  Congratulations too to Kathryn, my Jog Squad and Gearshifters training buddy, who also finished today, despite health and injury setbacks along the way.  I think that if hail started to fall at the start of my first marathon that I'd seriously consider heading back to the hotel for a spa!

Hamish has said he will venture out at some stage today for fish and chips.  Today has become an experiment in keeping warm via the thermogenic effect of regular food and alcohol intake.  Oops ...