Week 2: Highgate Hill to Pear Café- 12.6km (elevation 166m, time 1:24)

 It was Brisbane at its best this morning.  The touch of cooler conditions added that little spring in one’s step. It was a 5:30am start , due to my daughter,  departing on an early flight.  I believe Caitlyn has headed to Sydney for some additional marathon training before she joins me on the rigorous weekend breakfast routine. The Coronation Drive section was markedly cooler before the impact of the direct sun!  I may be a convert to the earlier wake up time. Notably, there are more ‘serious’ hard core runners pounding the pavement at this time.  Obviously the early shift is where we belong!
Based on some queries from friends and family; I might digress for a moment to fill you in on a few more details about this project. The longer term objective is to finish a Marathon (42.195 km) in Queenstown on 21^st November 2015. Specifically, to be able to run (hobbling is also accepted) over the finish line. Between now and November, there are 39 breakfasts (not including today). There will be no repeat café visits over the year. There is, additionally, an intent to road test the body on the Redcliffe Jetty to Jetty half marathon on the 19^th July. A taster, if you like, for the pain/ hardship/ agony and ecstasy to follow.  
Significantly more preparation for the run occurred this week!  I downloaded the Runtastic App onto my phone (please note, this is not intended product placement, this blog is all about journalistic integrity). I now have greater confidence in the information I report back about distances and elevations.  
We followed a similar path as last week from Highgate Hill and across the Goodwill Bridge, turned left and wove our way along the river.   There is still a little, unfortunate, deviation off the path across coronation drive, due to the flood repair work.  The hills commence at St Lucia towards the University of Queensland.  Four hills became 5, with the addition of the Gladstone Road hill climb, a stand-in for Heartbreak Hill in the City to South run. The reward of breakfast on the other side was enough motivation to keep our legs propelling onwards and up and over.

Pea & corn fritters

Breakfast salad

It was going to be a hard act to follow last week’s breakfast, but the Pear Café didn’t disappoint.  The Pear Café is nestled in the lee of the Gladstone Road hill.  Gladstone road can be fairly hectic during the week and could potentially detract from the dining experience, but once sitting down, the vibe is casual and laid-back. The food is imaginative and very tasty; combined with the requisite good quality leaf tea brewed to perfection, it made for a delicious stop.  Bronwyn ordered one of the ‘specials’: sweet corn and pea fritters with crispy pancetta, mushrooms spinach and a poached egg, of which the highlight was the delicious tomato salsa.  I had the breakfast salad, equally appealing with spinach, haloumi, avocado, poached egg, mushrooms and tomato seasoned perfectly.   With my pot of tea breakfast was $21.00.  Great food and friendly service.