There's been a bunch going on these last weeks - the blog hasn't gotten a look in whatsoever - but now, with a moment to take stock and restart, I can fill in some highlights.

The Kid's TRYathlon was a fun day out. She had a good go, didn't stop, and finished with a smile. Confidence in the swim wasn't high, so she waited right till the end of the age-group pack, leading to some anxious moments amongst the support crew. Soon enough, though, those long legs were rolling around the bike course and the run.
 

She's "not sure" if she wants to do another, but is keen to run more with me and swim with friends or Rita - so I'll keep an eye out for more. Of course, I'm happy to keep it up, so today we went for a little barefoot run together - about 2.5k on the smooth paths - with me yet again impressed at the smooth style that seems so common to young kids.
Good to be out there doing something healthy and having to push a little.

With a little taste for racing, I jumped into a city 10k fun run as my barefoot "coming out" - the first time I've tried to "race" barefoot. I ran the first half with friend Mandy and came in somewhere around 50 minutes, with no discomfort and no rubs. This was a good test for keeping the technique under control in crowd conditions.

The big news just recently, though, has been the momentary return of Rita, en route to racing the next IM and starting a brand new job. We got through a string of runs together both in Perth and in Exmouth, which is about half-way up the Western Australian coast.

Now Perth is a remote place. Head north, however, and remoteness is in the extreme. Indian ocean on one side and a continent of desert on the other. Exmouth exists for two things - oil platforms off the coast, and tourists bobbing about looking at the reefs and the whale sharks that collect there. We took a whale shark tour and, amongst the berley I was throwing over the side of the boat, we had a good sighting.


A walk and a hike through the gorges, some snorkelling and general wandering around on the beaches made for a good trip, with the highlights exclusively amongst the time we spent alone.

Yardie Creek Gorge, and Rita, sheltering from a relentless sun.

Returning to Perth, we peeled off a volcano-hardened ride to Freo, some paddleboarding and a pretty solid 8km run - no doubt faster than my 10k race of a couple weeks previous - and still feeling good. The chap behind us was clearly not (Tee Hee...).

With Rita climbing back aboard a plane, I found myself at a loose end, so the Wednesday WAMC run beckoned. This was a social jaunt, till the last kilometer, where I wanted to give it a real good squeeze. The pace felt bloody wonderful, and the technique held even at 3:20/km. Perhaps, as the late Caballo Blanco suggested, "first smooth, then easy, then fast" is coming true. Yahoo!

Coming back to earth  with the first day back at work has been tough, with the realisation that the next few months' work will be truly hellish. Somewhere in here, I hope, will be my first barefoot half marathon and some solid plans for an amazing future.