It was probably not my best idea to run early this morning as I had been round to a friends house last night and devoured copious amounts of alcohol, Pringles and cake BUT ...
the weather forecast was horrendous from midday onwards and it lasts all weekend apparently so I decided to bite the bullet and GO!
I left the house at 9.15am and it was a lovely morning! Not too cold and no rain although slightly windy!
I had my route sorted in my head and I set off armed with gels and several tiny Mars Bars from the Christmas box of Celebrations!
I have it in my head that I need to increase the speed I run my long runs instead of plodding and desperately wanted to see if I could keep the pace today between 9 min miles and 9:30 min miles!
I failed miserably!
I managed 9:23, 9:26, 9:33, 9:50, 9:14 and then it all went horribly wrong or I could blame my Garmin!
At the start of mile 6 I momentarily stopped as I was struggling to get an energy gel out my bumbag and get it opened. I didn't stop for long but my pace dropped considerably when I started running again to 10:57 minute miles.
I told myself not to worry that the stop had caused the dip in pace and I fully expected when mile 7 clicked over I would be back on track!
I wasn't!
As far as I was concerned my pace hadn't slowed but my Garmin begged to differ and however hard I pushed I could not get my pace back down to below10 minute miles! I was extremely disappointed.
Perhaps a sub 4 hour marathon is a pie in the sky idea after all!
Although I was a little deflated due to my performance I enjoyed the run (except the last 2 miles when I felt like crying or dying!) and saw two friends en-route! The first one was at around the 5 mile mark and she was out on a bike ride (a much more sensible idea!) and the second one was at around the 9 mile mark. She was running in the opposite direction to me and I thought she was probably doing my route in reverse but she only did 13 miles so there must be a short cut I am not aware of! Just a hello and a quick wave was shared - none of us were risking our stats for a girly chat!
About a mile from home it started to drizzle and the sky went very very dark! I tried to pick up the pace - unsuccessfully!
I was so lucky ... just as I staggered through the door the heavens opened and we had torrential rain and hail with severe gales!
Phew! Good decision to go early even if my performance suffered because of it!
In the end I ran 17.01 miles at an average pace of 10:22 minute miles!
A long way off my target pace but I still have 10 weeks to get faster and perhaps to start taking the healthy living part of Marathon Training a little more seriously!!
To date I am surviving marathon training, it's a pity the same can't be said for my washing machine!
Another full load of extremely sweaty running clothes was a step too far for it and it has gone to
I must admit it started to grumble a couple of weeks ago and hinting it wasn't happy by making loud clunking noises! I ignored it and it got louder and louder and louder ... then died!
RIP poor washing machine you have served me well!
Easy come, easy go!
I hope Darth Vader can cope with all the sweat and grime I will throw at it!!!
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