Home

Before the age of 18, I lived in no less than 7 places. Seven "homes." As an adult, I can immediately list off another 10 "homes."

One of my favourite homes for 8 years. A 16x20 foot shed on 8 acres.

In my 20s, conversations on the phone with my mum used to go something along the lines of

Mum: "When are you coming home?"
Me: "I am home."
Mum: "No you're not. Home is here." (i.e., wherever she was)
Me: "No it's not. Home is wherever I'm living at the moment."

Two and a half months ago, I left home in Perth and have travelled through 10 countries, including places with former homes and extended family homes in China (yes, I lived in China), Canada, England, and Switzerland. In two days I go home to Perth.

Perhaps if I'd lived my whole childhood under one roof I wouldn't have such a nomadic approach to home. But home for me is no less satisfying than anyone else's home; I'm pretty sure of that. Home is a place of refuge. It is the place to launch oneself from and the place to run back to when the world is that little bit too scary or exhausting. It's the place to charge the batteries and scheme the next adventure.

At home inside my first Aussie home

I have a little refuge in Perth. On Sunday, I'll be back under its roof, making a cuppa on the gas stove that likes to blow out when the wind blows down the chimney. I'll be wearing my down booties as I plod around the wooden floors, cursing the lack of central heating in Australian homes. And outside the crows will mock me with their song that sounds like a big belly laughing "Haw haw haw!"

I have a lot to look forward to. Two days after returning, I write the Australian citizenship test. I get to spend some time with children in my psych practice. On 11 October I'm giving a talk on trailrunning at Mainpeak. On the 29th, I'm speaking at a conference of Oracle users. In between, I'll enjoy some long runs on favourite trails with mates I haven't seen in a whole season. Perth Trail Series planning will continue and I'll be leading some trail running courses in November.

On 7 December, I hope to run 240km from a beach in NSW to the top of Australia's highest peak, Mount Kosciuszko, at 2,228 metres. It's the Coast to Kosci race and my application has been accepted :) What better way to celebrate a new citizenship?!

I'm toying with a 50km/6hour track race in late November (record attempt), but I think it's probably too close to the C2K.

The post-TransAlpine recovery.... I have been running since four days post-race. I'm running 5 days/week at an easy pace with my "long" run restricted to 1.5 hours. Even though the little niggles I had during the event are gone, I know there are tendons still under repair. There's no way the body can be at 100% yet. Even though I didn't race hard, it was 8 days straight over mountain passes with fast, hard descents. I'll stick with this "base" recovery plan for another 10 days or so, giving myself a full month post-race recovery. Then... I build! Let's see if the "Bib foot" will finally tolerate some speed work in November!

As for Rolf, it wasn't compartment syndrome..."just" very bad inflammation of the tibialis anterior and retinaculum (our diagnosis). He's started short runs again :)