No soft arses here

It was really cold this morning setting off at 6:30am when it was 0 degrees and frost everywhere. By the time I got home it had warmed up to 6.

Today's long run was 29.5km and took in Ingrams and Reynolds Rds from Research to Wattle Glen. I had been told Reynolds Rd is worse than Allendale Rd and like with Allendale, if you walk you have to yell out SOFT ARSE! Well I didn't want the cows and kangaroos to know I am a soft arse so I killed my quads contending with this:

I'm not sure if you can see clearly in the picture, but those powerlines at the very top of the hill, where there is a break in the trees, mark the end of the first hill on Reynolds Rd (this is after Ingrams Rd, which is also a toughie).

On the elevation profile, you can see that Ingrams Rd starts at 12.8km and the start of Reynolds (the above hill) is at 15.5km where the elevation looks more like a scaling of a cliff than a road.

I was really buggered by the time I got into Diamond Creek (the suburb). I took in some of Diamond Creek (the river) on the way home. I could hear some opera in the distance. It sounded like someone was practising Madame Butterfly at first but then it became a tune I didn't recognise. As I ran further, I came across a little lady walking down the path singing! Her mouth was wide open and she was doing I guess the classical equivalent of noodling. Just singing some beautiful notes with a lovely tone.

Then I took in some of Allendale Rd to get home via the streets. At 27km my legs were shaking, but it was good. It's amazing what a good run does for your mind, it was a really good run. I tried to speed up over the last 800m but my quads weren't into that. It's good to know my legs still have some endurance and I can think more about the ultras I want to do this year :)