Another longest long run

Today's run: 14.9km, 2 hrs 3 mins 39 secs

After a cut back week following my 14km race, I thought it was time to up the ante again as far as distance was concerned, so my goal for today was about 15km. Last night I was playing about on my computer trying to map a nice route for myself on gmaps-pedometer, and I started to get a bit worried by just how far I would be running... it's a long way!!!

This morning I got up early and had my usual breakfast. Up until now I hadn't eaten before my long runs, but they weren't really all that long, so that was ok. I know that if I enter a half marathon though, I'll be up for quite a while before I run, and will get hungry, so I wanted to see how my stomach would cope with breakfast then a run. After breakfast I actually curled up under a blankie on the couch whilst I waited for that to digest - I had had to wake up too early on a Saturday to east breakfast for my liking! After a short nap I finally got moving and organised my fuel belt with 2 bottles of gatorade and 2 bottles of water, along with some jelly beans.

Once I got going I was surprised by how easy and comfortable the first 5 kms were. I was running quite a bit slower than I usually would over 5kms of course, which obviously helps it be more comfrtable, but I guess it just made me think about how far I've come. The second 5km were also not too bad, but they involved crossing quite a lot of roads so that meant stopping momentarily to look for traffic etc and that was a bit of a pain. Around 8km - 12km there were a number of quite big hills, which considering how long I'd already been running for, I handled pretty well. My ankles were actually the part that complained about them most, due to the camber of the road. The last few kms seemed to go reasonably quickly too, and it certainly didn't feel like I'd been running for 2 hours when I got home. Made it the whole way without stomach discomfort after breakfast or any loo stops too, which was great. Each time I had a drink I did walk though - I just can't coordinate myself to run and drink!

Mentally, I was pretty pleased with how I handled it. My runs always suck when I spend my time thinking about how far I have to go, and whilst I try not to do that, sometimes I just can't help myself. Today, however, I managed to amuse myself with all kinds of other random thoughts!

So as I sit here, clean and warm on the couch, I'm pretty pleased with myself again. It's amazing to me that a half marathon is seeming like a more realistic achievement every day...