I do my best thinking in the early, early hours of the morning.  There’s something about that darkness with its promise of the forthcoming sunrise, the still potential in the air of a day ahead full of doing and the luxury of a couple of hours to myself before the parenting of the day officially begins.

The upshot of all that early morning thinking was that I decided that today was the day to attempt running a half marathon distance.  On a weekday.  In the middle of the peak hour of school and work commuting.

So I went out and did it.  There were some obstacles like the traffic lights on the way to school flashing on amber which made me panic and think that we wouldn’t even get to school let alone get out for that run.  But thanks to the thoughtfulness of my fellow drivers, I got through the lights, did school drop off and hit the pavement.

Initially, the hardest thing for me was mentally mapping out a 21K round trip to run.  As luck would have it, the ‘hood was just made for first time half marathon distance runners.  I was able to extend my usual running route here and there and the detours all managed to lead me back to main roads I was familiar with.

I discovered a new to me park, Christison Park which offered stunning views of Macquarie Lighthouse and the coastline.  It was pretty surreal to have been running 20 minutes beforehand in the midst of suburbia and to now be on the coast looking out onto the ocean….

And then it was back to the real world with its eclectic mix of apartment blocks, playhouses reimagined as wooden cottages (somewhere in the middle of my photo above), cars, shops, random mansions and manicured private gardens.

Despite all the beauty around me, this would have to be one of my favourite scenes from the run. The humble bubblers I sought out as I ran.

A reassuring view that tells me that home or my parked car for today isn’t too far away.

One of my scenic detours through the Rose Bay Marina area.

I think I should detour here on purpose more often.  It’s much nicer to be running along the water rather than on the footpath and in between the traffic.

Fortunately, there was a fourth wind.  I found the promised land in the shape of a gently sloping road that took me back to the main road and onward through to the home stretch.

I’ve basically been recovery eating since then.  I highly rate Bake Bar hot cross buns in case you needed any persuasion to get one with your next coffee.

Have you ticked anything off your bucket list recently?  Did it then require you to recover eat for the rest of the day?