Last night I officially registered for the Melbourne Half-Marathon on October 12th*. I also booked us into a hotel for that weekend. My friend Kylie told me about this “secret hotel” thing where you can get a reduced rate at a 4* CBD hotel, but the catch is you don’t know which one it is till after you book. (Presumably it’s whichever one has a room to fill.) Now me, I like surprises. So I made a reservation and we ended up getting the Batman’s Hill on Collins. Not bad, considering we’re saving $70/night off their regular rate. Anyway, now we just need to get some plane tickets and I’m all set. Well, except for that pesky TRAINING part…

On that note, I went for a short, slow 4.5k run this morning. My lower back had been feeling a bit bruised from the manipulations, and it got weirded when I ran. I felt like my whole “caboose” was moving around a lot more than normal. I suppose it probably was, given that he’d freed up a lot of muscles that had become frozen in place. I noticed that it was easier to run without hunching. It’s a few hours later now, and I’m feeling some uncharacteristic soreness in my abs. I suppose these are the core muscles that are meant to be engaged when I run, but due to my misalignment I haven’t been able to use them properly. It’s a little weird to have to get to know your body all over again.

* I will be doing this as part of the Phedippidations Worldwide Half Marathon Challenge. The idea is that thousands of runners around the world will all set a goal to run a set distance (5K, 10K, or the half-marathon) around that date in October. You don’t have to do it in an official race; you can run it on your own on the treadmill if you want. There are about half a dozen Australians signed up so far. If you’re a runner and you need a goal, I really recommend you consider taking part. It doesn’t cost anything and you get access to some great training plans and running forums. Check it out!