Short run and training plan

This morning my nephew Andrew rang me to ask where I was. I'd mentioned going running to Andrew, Laura and Michael but hadn't organised a time. While I was kindly giving them some time to wake up (Andrew and Laura are 13 and we all know how teenagers sleep) he was waiting for me at the usual time. I called the others but only Michael was up, so I'm running with them tomorrow instead.

Twenty minutes later I was in the car and on my way to pick up Andrew. The weather was awful - windy and rainy, but I figured there was still hope that it wouldn't be too bad over at Hoppers Crossing. Fortunately it was dry when I got there, so we headed off to President's Park. Andrew's two younger brothers want to join the running crew, so I'm looking for a venue where the parents can drop off their various children, the younger kids can play safely when they've had enough and we haven't, and where there are barbecue facilities so that we can cook breakfast when we're done. President's Park has it all. It may not be a pretty run but it's certainly convenient.

We wandered around checking out the facilities while my Garmin looked for satellites, and then we were off. It was windy, so we headed off into the wind. That took us under the road but the path didn't go in the right direction so we headed straight up along the grass. It looks like quite a lot of water must go along there when there's a flood, as there were signs on all the cross-paths saying to avoid crossing when the path was covered with water. We eventually ended back on a path. Andrew was testing out various ways of using me as a shield from the wind, which was amusing.

Because it was cold and rain was threatening, we did a short run of 3 km. The idea was to head out for around 10 minutes. We spotted an arbitrary turn around point and both made sure we touched the bench before we headed back. Running into the wind was hard work but it died down just before we reached the bench so we didn't get the full benefit on the way home. Isn't it always the way? It started to rain but we were warmed up by then so it really didn't matter.

We got back to the car in just under 23 minutes and we're doing our stretches in the rain when I looked over and saw some sheltered picnic tables. It made sense to relocate. Andrew wanted to know why I had to jog over to the tables. I pointed out to him that we were near the road and I had to make a good impression on the complete strangers who were driving past. It was lovely and warm in the car when we finally got in.

I'm glad Andrew rang me as it would have been quite tempting to put the run off until tomorrow.

Last night, when I was rain-delayed at the airport, I hit the internet and printed off some training programs. I already had a few calendars drawn up so that I could put together my training plan for the next few weeks. It's amazing how much stuff there is to do. I'm planning to do a modified intermediate 5 k program from Runner's World (no hills), along with some swimming and cycling for the triathlon. By the time I'd slotted it all in my calendar is pretty full over the next six weeks. I've scheduled in some social time as well! Otherwise I'd never see any of my friends.

All I have to do now is talk a few people into meeting up with me to do some of the sessions. It's much easier when you have company.