"I could be talked into it"

Six innoculous words that often mean the start of an adventure. Today was no different! But to get to that, I need to backtrack a little.
I need to backtrack to Thursday's hill session, where I wrote of having a little niggle in my knee towards the end of the session.
That little niggle returned on Friday's session of hills/stairs (and running in between) and returned with a vengeance. So Friday night I wound up debating the merits of doing Saturday's long slow run of 12k with friends. It boiled down to this:
Reasons to go - I'm in the final 12weeks of training before the Gold Coast, and have a very poor fitness base. Every run counts from here on out.
Reasons to not go - that little niggle could easily turn into something much worse, and then I'd miss many sessions as I'd be injured and unable to run.
One of my friends suggested that I run on Sunday instead. A great idea, but I am no longer that person who can self-motivate to run long distances on my own, and the only people I know who could run 12k with me are in my running group and would be running on Saturday instead. Hmmm. I jokingly told my friends, "I'd go Sunday if you would ride beside me". To my surprise, one answered, "I could be talked into it."
And so the idea was born! We planned a route that would not coincidentally map out my route to my new place of work, as I am hoping to start riding to work this week. And as an added bonus, they would take pictures of me training along the way. Let the adventures begin!
...to be continued...