Working from home today, so was able to get out at lunchtime on a grey and very blustery day. First half was a struggle against the wind, which might explain the rare occurrence of the negative split – running the second half faster than the first.
Here was the first long run of the campaign, and it was a good one. The schedule said 8 miles but it ended up as an accidental 9½, making it the longest non-race run I’ve done for nine months. It’s a long while since I went along the canal past the ill-fated level-crossing, but I had it in mind that the water-stop was just about four miles from home, so decided on a there-and-back. And it was 4 miles along the canal, but I’d forgotten to factor in the distance from home to the canal, so I ended up with 4.7 miles each way. It happens.
Towards the end of the run I thought back to the first 9 mile run I ever did, and how enormous a landmark it was at the time. Three years ago yesterday. We were in Yate in those days, north of Bristol. I’d asked M to drive me to some godforsaken point up near the M5, from where I plodded back through the freezing rain and the spray coming up off the roads in the wake of the trucks. Rather bizarrely, I recall having some Ryvitas in a bag in my pocket as a mid-run snack.
Nutritionally, things have changed a bit. I thought it time to try out a Lucozade Sport gel today. Orange in colour and flavour. The usual sweet, viscous snot sensation. I rather like them.
The good thing about today’s accidental run was that I could probably take the next two days as rest days and still just about hit my weekly target.
