Saturday 21 March 2015

The Usual Friday Anticipation

I wonder, if I wasn't worried about my boredom and the need to pooh half way through my long run, if I would still have this Long Run Eve feeling of nerves? I was considering a different route this week to what I did last week, just to be a bit closer to home, and thus a loo. I ended up doing my eight miler, then turning back and doing it in reverse. It was a bit shy of the sixteen miles, so I tacked a bit on the end. It worked okay, but I hate having to find an extra kilometer or two near the end of a run.



As it turned out, I didn't need the loo at all. I managed to "squeeze the cheese" before I left, and that tided me over. The run took three hours, thirty-three minutes. That's five minutes faster than last week. Not much, in the scheme of things, but an improvement nonetheless. I have to admit though, it was not easy going. I was really pissed off for the first few miles. I just couldn't get my head round the distance that I had to go. I was just getting on to the ring road, only three kilometers in, and I couldn't envisage going twenty-three more. It actually really got me down. I felt quite emotional. I was really thinking of giving up, and what that would mean to me. As much as the start of the run wasn't fun, and I so wanted to go straight home (and for some reason, I was quite close to tears. No idea why.) The thought of giving up on this particular challenge does not sit well with me! I was peeved, I suppose, because I know in advance just how long the run is going to take me, and it's a bit depressing. Regardless, I just kept plodding along. A book I read recently misquoted Dory from Finding Nemo, "Just keep running, just keep running..." and that's what I did. Something that helped me was realizing that after today, I only had three long runs left, a sixteen miler and two eighteen milers. Then the next long run will be MD itself!

One way or another, I did it. I finished. I listened to Jane Eyre on audio book (got through ten chapters of it!) and felt relatively okay by the end of it. By mile ten, a sort of contentment set in. Now, I wouldn't go so far as to say I hit a runner's high. So far, it's a mythical thing to me. I've no experience of it. I wonder if I will ever run into it. Seems unlikely to me at this point in time. But sure, you never know.

It was a lot lighter this morning than before. I ran nearly the whole thing in full daylight. This will be even more the case from next week. So I am no longer running under cover of darkness. I  hate running in daylight, I'm too fat to look like a proper runner that anyone could take seriously. But I just have to get used to it. It's certainly going to be the case on MD.

And now, long run complete, I can enjoy my week off. The run was hanging over my head till now.

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