Run 2:03:00 [3] 23.1 km (5:19 / km)
Something of a change of scene for a long run today - after dropping Dad off at the airport I decided to do a run on that side of town, with Brimbank Park and the river path as a focus, starting in Keilor. As I've noted previously, the path along the river from Brimbank Park to Tea Gardens is a very nice one to run - more than 10km without any road crossings (other than the Ring Road towering 50 metres or so overhead).
Struggled a bit with the initial climb, and generally felt a bit out of sorts in the first half-hour, not dissimilar to Thursday in some ways. Gradually picked up once hitting the river section about 30 minutes in - never felt sparkling, but moving along solidly with most kilometres 5.0something. I'd started today with thoughts of 2.15, perhaps more if things were going well, but Achilles started to play up a bit from 15k onwards and I thought it best to head reasonably straight back (which was shorter than I thought it would be). Was feeling the distance towards the end and finished thinking that the distance I did was towards my outer limits today, although sometimes the last 15 minutes feel tough whether they start at 1.50 or 2.15. (I was feeling somewhat inadequate later; one of my later post-run stops, after an initial one at a Keilor cafe which hit the spot, was the Yarra Valley Christmas party, which featured Ted just back from a very respectable effort in the Kepler).