Changing plans

The Granite Peak Trail in
Lysterfield Park this morning

It's looking less likely that I will be running my 50th anniversary marathon on 22 August as intended.  But the reasons are good.

Although not yet officially confirmed, all of the press reports point to Queensland state borders re-opening on 10 July to visitors from other states.  Assuming this happens, Julie and I intend to set out on a 16,500 kilometre bike ride around Australia in a counter-clockwise direction starting in early July.  It will take us about eight days to reach the Queensland border, so it should be open by the time we get there.

Although running a 50th anniversary marathon has a lot of appeal for me and was good motivation to get fit, I would much prefer to be on the cycling adventure.

More trails in Lysterfield Park

I still have some serious concerns about whether my body can deal with the physical demands of five months continual cycling, and particularly how my hip flexor injury will cope. When we get back to Terrigal from our current Victorian trip in a few days, I will take the bike out for a few rides to see how the body handles it, and then we'll make a final decision about the bike ride.

Lysterfield Park inhabitants

Julie suggests that we can still run a marathon wherever we are on 22 August (likely in remote far north Queensland), but I doubt I can switch to running from cycling as quickly as her.  We'll see.

Lysterfield Park

Today, I walked 8km in Lysterfield Park along very pleasant, if a little muddy, trails.  It's decades since I've run in this area, and it was pleasing to see how it has been protected and improved for recreation.  After a couple of kilometres, my hip flexor injury was barely perceptible, which was encouraging.