Thursday 4 October 2007

Tired & Happy

Some days a little miracle happens and it all comes together. Today was one of those days. I'd had a nice new route planned for Sat. but feeling a bit ropey it didn't seem like the right time to tackle a slightly hilly 9 miles. Today the sun was shining, there was a light breeze, and it was cool enough to be pleasant. Bliss

The first 3 miles were not new to me - they are hilly and involve a pretty tough ascent (for the fat and slow) of 200ft in 0.5 of a mile. Mile 4 was blissfully all downhill - having TheO with me made me take it easy and not push too hard on the downhill - I was grateful for this later. 5, 6 and 7 were fairly flat with the odd gentle rise or dip. Then came 8 and 9, which, whilst looking fairly flat are in reality a steady, leg sapping, climb up for 170ft. (Hmm, just converted that to metres (56ish) and realised it doesn't sound quite as 'leg sapping'.)

It was such a great run. And I say this even after the edorphins have calmed down and the legs are filled with dull ache.
Brekkie - 1 slice toast, porridge with brown sugar and the usual large coffee.
2h later (after a bottle of Lucozade Sport citrus) I was out the door with TheO on her bike to keep me company (and give herself a hard hill session to boot).

Total time: 1.38.10
9 miles
Avg speed - 10.55 - delighted - was aiming to keep it at under 11min/m so I'm chuffed!
Calories 1287 (drool - I hear an Indian take away calling me).

One surprisingly lovely Power Gel taken on the run (at 60min).

Splits:
10.31
11.10
11.31
10.14
10.55
10.25
10.21
11.43
11.17

It was brilliant to do such a long session with TheO. I'm used to it being very solitary (which I like) but this was such a change, and so peaceful and brilliant I might be tempted to coral her support for many more long runs.

I've got a secret. Shhhh!
Despite many protestations, especially to RF, I've entered into the Edinburgh Marathon ballot. It gets drawn on my birthday (which seemed like a 'sign' when I was filling the form in) so it's a long wait to find out. If anyone knows what the odds are I'd love to find out. Fingers crossed - toes quaking in anticipation.

1 comment:

Ruth said...

Odds are about 2:5. Good luck!