Day 300

.... and ten miles!!

I am going to have to work on my pre-race or even worse pre-run nerves! Early(ish) to bed, alarm set for six o'clock and I hardly slept a wink! My hip hurt, then my leg, then I needed the loo, and all the time wondering whether or not we were doing the right thing by running ten miles this morning! 

HMG arrived ready to set off at quarter past seven, and she was equally torn.  Neither of us really convinced, both of us desperate to run the route that entailed seven miles to parkrun. With hindsight I still can't make my mind up about it!  My legs hurt, I've got blisters on my left foot and my ankles are a bit of a mess, BUT it was so good to be out running long distance again, open road in front of us, very few people in sight (which was a few too many for me to stop for a wee, but no need! The cafe - and with it the toilets - has opened again!).

My blisters don't bother me, in terms of next weekend, if they haven't healed I'm happy to stick blister plasters over them and just get on with it, but I think they are indicative of a bigger problem, namely that when fatigue sets in, my knees start to sink inward, changing my foot strike.  They are certainly not a by product of the uniformity that I'm aspiring to in my stride pattern! I have no idea if this is true or not, but it sounds plausible and I even felt confident enough to tweet saying so much in response to a question regarding blisters on UKRunChat - get me!! It's a shame however, because it means that three weeks in, and my work in the gym is not yet done! 

Parkrun was grim this morning, the weather was damp and depressing and the run was hard going. However seventeen seconds quicker than last week (having run three miles further to get there), spurred on by the knowledge that the next finish line I cross will be in Brighton!

So... Day Three Hundred! Who would have thought it! Especially as it means the next milestone day wise, will be our first anniversary! An unexpected donation to my WaterAid fund and I've now raised a little over nineteen hundred pounds in total since starting, and I am so very close to having run five hundred miles! Should have reached that milestone several weeks ago, but I think it is somewhat fitting that (if I don't run this week, which I think may be the plan) I'll hit it during the Brighton Half, somewhere around the Hove Beach Huts to be precise. At which point (thanks for sharing the mantra fellow parkrunner) we'll only have one parkrun left to go!

M - 451

Brighton Half - 8
Liverpool Half - 120

Glasgow Half - 232
Distance covered                10 miles  
Total Distance covered   490.1 miles