It's been raining cats and dogs here in South East Queensland. Or rather, I should say, along the whole East Coast of Australia. I keep finding breaks in the rain showers to get outside, either to clean the pool, weed in the garden or get out for some real exercise.

Today I went into the bush. I usually walk with my partner in the afternoons but he's had to work back a bit the last couple of days, so I went alone. Me and my old trail shoes found LOTS of muddy trails ;) 

<center>![image](https://xhaust.me/media/documents/images/PXL_20211130_060858000.jpg)</center>

While I was meandering from one muddy, flooded trail to the next I remembered that I HAVE tentatively said 'yes' to running an actual (race) marathon in 8 months from now. So I GUESS I should actually start doing some more running...

So I changed my route and made for a section of fire trail where I could do some sprint work, I mean play, I mean "work really hard for a short period of time". Hahaha. Doesn't matter what you call it, when you're sprinting, it's freakin' hard. Meanwhile, I had to cross this impromptu "creek" to get there...

<center>![image](https://xhaust.me/media/documents/images/PXL_20211130_054749275.jpg)</center>

And then it was time to get to work. I tied my top up tight to give me a bit more support (wasn't planning on running, remember?). I took off my visor and ignored the fact that I would be running with my hair loose and streaming behind me (who cares if it's tucked away in a ponytail anyway?). I left my rain jacket and phone (in a zip lock plastic bag) near the top of the small hill and I started jogging down the hill.

I don't know the exact distance (maybe 100-120 metres?) or the exact elevation (maybe 5-8 degrees) but once I got my legs working and my arms pumping it was taking me about 30 seconds or so per sprint. I did this five times and jogging and/or walking downhill in between to recover.

And I was DELIGHTED that, despite asking myself to run really fast, it actually wasn't THAT hard. I think it has a lot to do with the food I'm consuming, the nap I had this afternoon and the phase of my cycle that I'm in. But more on those things another time.

<center>![image](https://xhaust.me/media/documents/images/Screenshot_20211130-162645.png)</center>

Photos of bush taken on my Google Pixel 2XL. Third photo is a screenshot from Strava (taken with my phone). Aren't those peaks awesome?

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