Today’s run brought about a memory of a blog post from the mighty HK last year sometime, I think, in which he was looking at run distances and the proportion of runs over a certain length. It came on the back of (if memory serves) an outing where he covered a fraction under one of the benchmarks (memory fades, but I think they were 10k, 10 mile and beyond runs that were considered and he’d done another under instead of over 10 miles).
On Thursday I had an idea for a weekend outing that would make a change from my country lanes and take me beyond my usual town routes. I didn’t map the mileage but knew it to be beyond the run last week by a comfortable margin. I guessed around 10 miles.
I also had in mind that Rachel has been doing exactly the same mileage as me during Janathon (the marvel of the RunningFreeOnline totals and training analysis pages…none of this fun would have been possible so easily as little as 5 years ago, I fear!), so a long run would be the only way to keep her in sight as her distance inevitably doubles at the weekend and the way to improve my running is to find inspiration from fellow Janathoners.
But last night saw a 4 mile run covered very late for me, so I had no idea how I’d feel today.
The answer came by surprise as the work phone got me running down the stairs straight from bed and, as I answered it, I realised that both legs felt ok. A quick system check revealed that both feet were still attached and ready to move, too. Maybe a shock in the morning is the way to go about weekends after all.
So, after killing my trusty orbital sander preparing the dining room this morning (a final electrical “pop” and the sweet smell of burnt electrics confirming that I’d not get away with repairing it again) and having to buy a new one (cheapest I could find – I’ll buy a proper one for when I start making my windows and need a decent finish, but for wall abuse and the wrong type of dust, cheapest is sometimes best) and having lunch and going shopping, I got out of the door in running kit.
Shorts and everything. 13 degrees on the car thermometer is April temperature, confirmed by the daffodils in the front garden (photos will follow if they’re stupid enough to trust producing flowers as they have done stems!), so it would have been rude not to.
And a steady pace (very steady, almost metronomic) was dialled in towards town. A stiff breeze meant no dental flavours or the like, just the encouragement that pushing into them now would make the return journey more pleasant (ie. easier!). I took a few detours from my planned run but stayed true to the overall course. A section of footpath has been removed and a big rut mixed with sloppy footwork (I was watching a Focus RS being ragged along the busy bit of road, to be honest) caused a big turned ankle, but panic subsided as I ran cleanly and realised that I’d got away with no more than a twinge to add to my niggles.
A bit of a detour lead me to the Eureka business park on the opposite side of town and the chance to touch the opposite boundary to where I live on the Faversham road so, having got that far, I carried on to it.
I guessed that was half way. And the return saw my legs singing to me, as they do. Most strides revealed a different chord. Either a blister (well…bits of hard skin gradually sloughing off, really) telling me it was getting hot and rubbing or a knee saying it was tired or a shin moaning that it was swolen and rubbing on something or other. But nothing major or worrying.
The paces ticked by and before long I was back at the railway station. A Garmin check as I waited for traffic let me know all I feared. I was going to get home a fraction under 10 miles if I took no detours. How far under 10 was concerning. It looked like a few yards.
So I started to focus on crossing the road to use the outside radius of corners. I crossed the main road 3 times during gaps in traffic, wondering if the 8 or so metres each time would be sufficient. I used the pedestrian lights by Tesco to add a jink and roundabout to the disatnce.
But as I got within yards of the house I wondered if HK was wrong. How nice if (like when I stopped at 699 miles in Juneathon) I didn’t conform. If it would be somehow better to stop short.
But no. As I got to the front gate with 9.96 miles showing, I ran past. I briefly considered running on until 1hour 20 minutes had elapsed, but gave up on that idea as soon as 10 miles was over and I turned for home and stopped.
Only to be greeted by JogBlog as soon as I got in (like before I’d even taken my shoes off) asking if I fancied a walk with her. Apparently saying fuck off isn’t the most romantic thing to do in such a situation. But I think I rescued it by offering to accompany her after a shower.
And so we did. A 1.5 mile walk through a dark path and unlit lane seems to have eased any aches in my legs that were growing.
Wonder what mileage Rachel will taunt me with tomorrow?!
129 runs, 96 exercises and 47 cycles to go.