But I Have REALLY GOOD Excuses This Time

Running has happened. So have LOTS of excuses of why I couldn't run.
First, there was a niggling knee. Better to rest than risk further injury, right?
Then, there was the snow storm. No one does summer snow storm like Calgary. Who wants to run in a snow storm?

 Snow? Ice? Falling trees? Downed power lines? Psshhh! It just makes the run all the more interesting...**

 ...Said me never. I stayed home, thanks. I drank hot tea and smiled because I still had electricity.

Okay, lots of Calgarians grabbed extra layers and braved the elements to keep up their training. I still consider myself more of a Brisbanite when it comes to "good running weather". Give me hot and humid over ice and falling trees any day.
Then, because it's Calgary after all, the weather turns back to hot and glorious with the snap of ones fingers and...I get a COLD. Ugh.

So I spent last week feeling miserable for myself, sniffling and hacking and shivering in the hot summer sun. I cancelled my long run on Sunday. While I was on the mend, I wasn't quite back in the "let's run for 2 hours" energy mode .

Monday came along and my sister let me know that she was running. In the early evening, that is.
And for once, I was more than keen to go for an evening run. I'm sure it had everything to do with
a) guilt over missing two 18k runs in a row!
b) impending half marathon. I should at least do a little training before the event!
c) freaking out over Australian taxes (Thank goodness that in just a few more weeks, I will only have one tax year to give me headaches rather than two.)

Still, by 7k my energy had run out. We opted to do a figure 8 around our houses to hit maximum pretty park with fall leaves (most of the paths have now been cleared of dangerous dangling tree limbs and fallen debris. Points to the city for hopping on the clean-up bandwagon) and also to minimize distance from home. Just in case.
I did end up turning back early on the last loop as my shin started to give me an alarming pain. But fortunately after a couple minutes of walking it eased back.
So we didn't quite do 18k. It was more like 17k. But that is at least 10k more than I might otherwise have done today, so I'm A-OK with that.

**Thanks for letting me steal your photo, Bill! The other two are courtesy of google.