last night, I knew today was going to be a long run day. regardless of the parkrun yesterday, and no rest day since last sunday, i needed a long run again.
and this time i had set myself a fairly massive goal as part of the St Jude Virtual Marathon/Half Marathon/10k/5k event – I was hoping to either run 42.2km this morning, or 37.2km to take the total for the weekend up to the full marathon distance.
i’d even arranged to meet Renee of the Rogue Runners Club Australia at 5:30am, for a 10 or maybe 15km run, and had figured out a route that would put me at the meeting point on time, having done approximately 20km or so.
it started well, I held a nice easy pace around 7:15 to 7:30, in the relatively cool conditions that existed at 3am. that said, it was already about 21 degrees celsius, and my water wasn’t lasting quite as long as I’d hoped.
at about the 18km mark, I messaged Renee to let her know I wasn’t far away, and to request fresh water supplies!
when the water ran out completely, my legs, shoulders and stomach were all screaming at me to walk – I relented, I figured that once I’d met up with Renee, having company would help me get back into my stride. It wasn’t to be, we did manage a good few kms of walk/run, but the sun was up, it was beating down, it was evaporating the drinking water from our lips, and we made the decision to turn around and head back.
This was at the 25km mark for me, and about 4 or 5kms for Renee (of mostly walking, thanks to me!)
We walked back, when we were about 2km away from my place, Renee headed off home, which would give her a run of a few kms at least. I walked until 30km came up on the watch, stopped the watch and then shuffled the final 1km or so to my front door.
As I was walking, I was updating Facebook, saying how I was hot and unhappy. But after getting home, cooling off, showering, cleaning myself up and drinking a recovery shake, and lots of cold water… I started to reflect on the run, and on the very fact that I had dared to set a goal of 37.2km, or even 42.2km, for a Sunday long run!
It was a real testament to how far I have come mentally, and in terms of having confidence in my abilities. It proved a goal too far this morning – even taking into account the hot weather, the 5k run yesterday, and the speedwork on Friday.
One thing’s for sure, some day fairly soon, I will be recording a 42.2km training run on a Sunday morning!
after that, it was time to take care of some pre-arranged social obligations, and now perhaps a chance to sleep 🙂
oh, and tomorrow is definitely going to be a rest day!
my fitness pal links: food and exercise
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