My weekends are still my weekends

15 May...that's the last time the alarm went off on a Sunday morning for a race.  It's been so long I'm not sure I'll even respond to an early morning race wake up call anymore.  After Comrades at the end of May, races do become more few and far between, giving runners time to recover after the 90 km race between Durban and Pietermaritzburg.  But July - that's when they start becoming more frequent again.  After the RAC 10 km that I ran on the 15 May, I excitedly told everyone about my plan to stop running for a while (even though I didn't run Comrades this year, I felt I needed a break too!) and start just in time to be ready for the first few easy races at the beginning of July.   Clearly, time somehow got away from me and I am far from ready.  The first race that I naively believed I would do was last Sunday on the 3 July.  The Northgate 10 km is an easy race that is perfect for starting up again.  However, my options for the weekend were as follows : Either I could wake up early on Sunday morning, drag myself to the start of the race at the Northgate shopping centre and struggle my way through 10 km, a distance I have not run since May! Of course when my watch said I had been running for 48 minutes (my previous PB for a 10 km) and I was only at the 8 km mark, I would have mentally given up and I would probably have walked the last 2 km! My other option was to spend Saturday afternoon and evening enjoying caramel vodkas at the Pink Punter party and then wake up at a reasonable hour on Sunday morning to indulge in a champagne brunch with my oldest friend.  I think it's pretty obvious which option won in the end! Of course there's no rule saying that I couldn't have done both, and when I 'm as fit as I used to be then a few caramel vodkas won't stop me from enjoying a short distance race.  However, at the moment I'm not sure I could enjoy a 10 km after a big pasta meal and 8 hours of sober sleep! So that was my decision made!

The next race is on Sunday 10 July.  The ADT  Security Pirates 10 km is another pleasant and easy race that, a few months ago, I had every intention of doing.  So will I set the alarm for Sunday morning? To be honest, probably not.  From this point onwards, there will be races every Sunday morning until May 2012.  So I figure, why not run during the week to regain my previously lost fitness and when I'm ready there will be plenty of races to choose from.  Until then, my weekends are still my weekends.