Sunday 12 April 2015

Last Long Run!

Hello blog lovers.

What an absolutely glorious afternoon it was, ok, no ideal running conditions! But still, it was fantastic afternoon.  First of I would like to say congratulations to one of my running buddies, WendiMoo, she has completed her marathon now! All over and done with, all those weeks and months of training, those long runs together, the flapjacks, coffee beans, chatting, dancing and singing is all done her proud as she crossed the finish line in Brighton today! 7 hours 8 minutes!  Bloody brilliant!

I still  have another two weeks to go! So this is my last long run!  I was hoping to do 14 miles at least today!  I set off after church, feeling bloomin good!  The sun coming down was just gorgeous, if only I was lounging in my garden with a pina colarda, or a chilled lager!  It wasn't until I was running through the Cinder Path that I realised I had fogotten my water and my sweeties, Dextrose!  Now I could just go back and then chose a different route to get to the arranged place that I said I would meet Bims, or....I could call her and tell her to bring some water along!  I chose to call her!

Running solo I am just not disciplined!  When I have company I stick to my run a mile and walk a minute, so why can't I do it when I am on my own!  I think I tend to just not think about time, I have my ear phones in and I jog to the beat!  I sing out loud and punch the air!  It's not a pretty sight!  So I also think I may even run quicker than my pace, but maybe not, I shall check my stats out when I load up my Garmin.

I was really enjoying my run though, I just love the sun, I love being out running,  and as soon as this little run is over I shall get back to running through the parks and the woods, and get back on my bike and ride to a pub lunch somewhere with some family and friends!  Anyway, back to my run!  It helps me on my way thinking of nice stuff.

I wasn't sticking at all to my plan, but I was taking some walking sections.  Soo I was ready to run up Cardiac Hill.  My legs were ready, my mind was ready I knew I could do it. Piece o piss! I think that's my motto at the moment, trying to convince myself that everything is going to go to plan!  I got up the top and I carried on running!

When I get to the new bridge over the railway, Chislehurst Road, then I shall run a little bit longer and then give Bims a call.  That should be about half hour away from where we said we will meet!  Just as I was getting my phone out of my pocket she was ringing me "Where are you?" she said "I was just about to call you, so get yourself going and see you at the bottom of Summer Hill"

That downhill was just spectacular, I just had to go for it!  I ran pretty darn fast....well for little old me!  Under 10 minute mileing!  Ridiculous, see what I mean about not sticking to plan! As I was running down the other side I was wondering if we both had planned it right that we would meet at the bottom at the same time!  Well guess what!  as I was getting to end of my down hill I looked across the road and saw Bims coming down on the other side!  Perfect timing!

It was soo good to see Bims, mainly cos she had some fantastic chilled and iced water for me!  I think now I should maybe have asked her to bring some chocs as well or the healthy stuff, a banana!  But the water went down a treat!  We chatted for a second, which was good because I needed to recover from the 'speedy' downhill, and then we looked up "Ok, lets do this thing" we said.

We both took a deep breath and then started to run up the hill.  It was bloody tough, I am sure I was running slower than I could walk it!  But I didn't want to stop the momentum, I didn't want to go into walking strides to try and get the hill out of the way, I just kept at it!  The sound of the pain escaped my mouth as I dug deep to get up this blasted hill! I did it!  6 ish miles and only a mouth full of water!  Not bad!  I am sure I would have had a bit more energy if I had my sweeties!

After the high fives and well dones, and more swigs of ice cold water we carried on with the planned route.  It was going to be the one that me and Wendimoo and Bims have been doing. The same route that Hilary ran with me, which is down Blackbrook, Oldfield road and then through the park.

Although we were still heading away from my home some how it felt like the run was coming to an end, I was feeling pretty tired so maybe that is what is making me think that I should be heading on home.  We ran through Whitehall rec and the on to the A21.  Our water was nigh on gone and it was also warm!  I was a pity my brother in law don't work on Sundays, we could have popped in to fill our bottles up!

When we started running down Hayes Lane I didn't notice that someone was outside their house!  People really are kind, and I am sure they wouldn't refuse us some water if I asked nicely!  And they didn't!  Didn't refuse I mean, he was most pleased to refill our bottles for us and asked us how far we had to do.

I was really feeling very deflated by the time we got to Normans park.  The mind was willing but my legs just refused to get going!  It took a lot of nagging from Bims to get me to run some more!  Welcome back Nagging Sister!  But then I started to think about things again, like you do when you get tired, think of things that may just help you to stay focused, or in my case to justify my walking sections!  And that was simple, I was hungry! Or at least I was lacking energy!  You need fuel and my tank was running on empty now!  Another thought I had was that if I have to walk more then so be it!  after all my running is still all fun!

But I also was thinking I still got at least four more miles to do, I just knew I wouldn't do it, I was going to do a short route and get home via Southborough Lane!  I didn't feel bad about it, it was just one of those things.  My new route was from Normans park and then run down Crown Lane into Southborough Lane.  Turn right into Holbrook and then through my local park!

I got back home, and still kept to my no walking down Whitebeam (it's the same as Farringdon, the road I dare not stop on)  I just wanted to make sure I kept running till I got home, it's my 'thing' that I just have to do.

I ran for 12.5 miles today, ok, so it wasn't quality running, and it wasn't 14 miles, but it was still something.  And so now to just keep the legs plodding along, stay injury free and keep everything fun!  This time in two weeks time I will be a lot more tired than what I am now!

By the way, my running gear was fine, except that I got chaffing on my left arm!  I think its because I got these 'batwings' going on and they don't like to be out in the open! Everything else seemed to be just fine!

Geeky stats!




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