Right On Running: Letterboxes, GSR and Hurty Legs!

Something dropped through my letterbox, "Oh yes a number, your number in that race you entered ages ago and have been procrastinating over the past few weeks" I thought to myself.

"But can you run it ?"

I ran in the Great South last year under very different circumstances. I had trained for and completed the Chester Marathon a few weeks prior (My second marathon of the year) and was generally in tip top condition and actually found the 10 mile distance quite a breeze.
Not only that but I met some great running folk there and enjoyed probably my best ever bag of chips on the seafront after the race.

This year however is different, I've only run in two races, a trail half in April and last weeks 10k which I entered late to give myself a "kick up the ass"

10k is the longest I had run in a good while and tbh that seemed hard even though I was relatively slow.

Well it's Saturday I thought, rest up today and try and run 8 miles tomorrow to see what you've got.

Since the 10k race I'd had a 12 x 300m track session run mainly at sub 7 minute mile pace and a killer PT session which did for me, so rest was good.

Punchy PT Session

Then came the call from my Son who is just beginning his winter training regime, "Dad can we go and run at Rowney Warren?" "Ok" I said, so not resting then.

Rowney Warren is about 10 minutes from where we live and combines a lot of ups and downs with forest trail and sandy areas.

Always so different to road running with the uneven yet more forgiving surfaces and plenty of roots, logs and undergrowth to leap over like a gazelle (More like a gazelle and a wildebeest in our case, guess which one I am)

It's so good to mix up where you run and I was pleased to get back there after a long time away.

We decided to do 3 x 1 mile circuits which Tom loped around in sub 9 min miles and I gasped around in 9:25 min miles using far more effort and looking far more knackered than he ever did.

Tom making mincemeat of another hill!

I look better on the

Downhill!

The unscheduled trail trip was complete and pretty good fun, It's great training with Tom as we do together at track on Tuesdays, albeit I only ever see him in the distance

And so to Sunday.

Pretty perfect running weather welcomed me as I woke and I needed to get going. I had a coffee.
I had another coffee and some porridge. I went back to bed with another coffee. This was going well!

I changed into my running gear and did some stretches then looked around the house for things to do instead of running 8 miles.

I stretched again and Tom came in and said "Oh yeah 8 miles today good luck Dad" No getting out of it then.

I headed off around the roads on a reasonably hilly route. Everything felt wrong, legs, feet, arms, shoulders, breathing, head, I was Mr Wrong from Wrongville Arizona, but we all get those runs don't we ?

I dragged myself round in just over 10 min/mile pace both Achilles screaming at me for the last two miles.

Today my legs hurt, I have track tomorrow and PT Wednesday before heading off on work travel and commitments.
With only 2 weeks to go the plan is to try a 10 miler at the weekend then make a final decision as to whether to run or not. I'll need to be up at 4:30 and on the road at 5:30 to get there as per last year, so if I am running there will be no time for dilly dallying like yesterday.