Does my flatmate really need to keep 6 bottles of wine in the fridge at all times? And there's a bottle of late harvest, too. Make that 6 and a half.

Overheard during my run:
"...he didn't even seem to understand the concept of giving way..." The gentleman speaking was walking abreast his wife, taking up the entire footpath that I was attempting to run on. I was forced to run around them, over some nasty tree roots. Thanks for that.

I stopped off to get a drink on my way back up from the waterfront after my run, and cut through Borders to get back outside. While I was standing at the counter with my inevitable purchace, the girl at the till held up a packaged children's toolset. "Would you like this?" I responded, "Hell, yeah". Toys kick ass, after all. Apparently, I was the only person that day who responded with any sort of enthusiasm.

I was having a difficult time finding a place where I could pay one of my bills, which is not yet handled by internet banking. I can go to the post shop, but the hours are restrictive, and I never get there in time. I saw one this afternoon, just after I left my house. It's probably a 5 minute walk, and if I hurry, I can get there with about 45 minutes to spare. I can't believe I didn't notice it there before.

I don't think I actually intend to buy half of the stuff that I get. Most of it never graces my wishlist. It just falls directly into my hands. Neither of the two things that I bought today were planned, but I've been thinking of both of them for a while.

While I was cutting through Borders today, I glanced at the new releases shelf, as always. There are a few interesting things in there, but I didn't dwell. Since I had just finished my run, I was sweaty and smelly. Definitely not people friendly. Continuing across the store, I noticed that Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell was still on special. I had glanced a couple times at it, read through the first 30 pages or so in the café. I guess the time has come.

Slightly earlier on in the day, I happened to be walking past Thievery Corporation's Outernational Sound, but can't find it for less than $30. I took a listen to The Mirror Conspiracy and ended up walking away with it. It should be a nice addition to the randomiser.

I guess it's safe to say that I've started my outdoor running programme. Until now, more or less, I was exclusively running on a treadmill. It's handy to have various details monitored and controlled for you. However, I would put in a poor showing at any race if all my training were done on a treadmill. Taking what I've learned about my habits and pacing on the treadmill, I can estimate approximate distances and speeds based on what my heartrate monitor tells me. It's like the best of both worlds.

After a brief discussion of exercise habits in french class, Qu'est-ce que vous faites pour faire rester en forme?, we realised that there were a few runners in class. Catherine suggested the possibility of starting up some sort of Alliance Française running group, maybe enter a race as a team. After talking to her again on Saturday, we had a short-ish run Sunday morning. Our pace was varied, given changes in conditions, and the fact that I was pushing her too hard to start with, but I think we managed to cover about 7km in the 50 minutes that we were going.

I was happier for the shorter run, having planned to go running again today with Emma, Brooke and Vicky. However, I got a text message from Brooke this morning, saying she wasn't feeling well. I let Emma know, and she was still keen to go. Then Emma ended up bailing, deciding to have an anti-social day. That left me to run by myself. I was a bit disappointed, because I was hoping that Emma would run me harder than I'd normally run myself.

It's hard to say how far I ran today. I know that my pace changed throughout, but that I ran further than I've run before. I started up just after getting to Tamaki Drive and ran all the way to the end of St. Helliers Bay. I think that is nearly 8km. I spent about 2 minutes walking, and then picked up the pace again, and ran myself out to 1:05, according to my heartrate monitor. On a treadmill, that should have equated to about 12km, but I don't think it was that far. I walked off another 5 minutes and started running again and added another 15 minutes, just less than 3km. At a conservative guess, I'd say that I ran about 13 or 14km today, for a total time of around an hour and a half.

I felt pretty good at the time, and I feel pretty good now, but I'm a bit fearful for tomorrow. I walked home at a leisurely pace, and stretched a bit, but there's no telling what the extra distance will do to me. I'm counting on circuit training tomorrow morning to bleed any soreness out, and replace it with fresh soreness. That way, I can deal with Tuesday with the rowing machine on Wednesday, and deal with that on the treadmill on Thursday, and so on...

I don't know if I should be doing all my running outdoor, or if crosstraining is better. I need to do a bit of research. I do know, however, that I can run the required distance already for the race that I'm entered in at the end of February. Now to just work on my pacing.