Thirsty work

When a run comes together and everything goes right it is a fabulous feeling and you are left in no doubt as to why you have chosen this as your hobby - conversely when it doesn't it's rubbish.

Setting off this morning full of excitement and expectation for our new ten mile route, I don't think either of us really paid enough attention to the differing factors about today's run.  Firstly it was considerably warmer than of late, and secondly we weren't running to parkrun and so had to do the whole ten miles in one go, without a fifteen minute break waiting for parkrun to start and the subsequent opportunity to refuel and nip to the loo. Stuffing a few jelly bunnies (left over from Easter) into my back pocket I thought I'd got things covered, HMG did much the same and off we set.

It was a long way, a bush had to suffice for a toilet which was fine, the absence of water however was not.  The warmer I got, the nearer to liquid my sweets became and the stickier my hand got as I tried to prise them out of my pocket. The more sweets we ate the thirstier we got to the point that HMG's vision started to blur. A handily placed cafe appeared like an oasis before us as we neared home and meant we were able to complete the route, but the idea of running on that little bit further just to get to the magic ten miles we decided wasn't worth it today - it would appear that the two novice runners have yet to fully enter into the intermediate category, despite being members of the half marathon club!

It was hard not to feel despondent, but we also know that we have to chalk it up to experience and take it for what it was, a training run, where it is us who were being trained to think smarter and prepare better.

The obvious answer is to take some water with us, but the sound of it sloshing around as we run makes me need the loo all the more, and it's not always as easy as it was this morning to find a conveniently quiet and inconspicuous spot, so there was talk of small bottles and running belts and better hydration on the days preceding run day.  What neither of us seemed prepared to mention was the option of one of those backpack and tube contraptions that are on the market.... thankfully our next few long runs are via parkrun and there'll be water en route at Liverpool so perhaps we can postpone the inevitable for a while longer HMG!

M - 368

Liverpool Half - 35

Glasgow Half - 147
Distance covered                9.6 miles
Total Distance covered   609.3 miles