16 miles with the fairy

Wow I am on top of the world right now!

Thanks for all the comments regarding my running conundrum. In the end I did the mile run at work, then walked 2 miles to the shops, did some housework and pottered about. Then I was very tired! I figured that altogether I had done 3 miles on my feet, so that was enough to check my legs still worked!

Today it was 16 miles and that was all I dreamt about last night. After porridge (with some maple pb yum) and starting off making some bread for lunch, I was ready. Then I remembered I had not actually planned my route, so had to sort that out! Anyway, I did the 10 mile route from in the week (which is sort of most of a 10k loop, turn around at the 5 mile mark and backtrack), then the last 6 miles were up to the lakes, around the lakes for a bit and then home.

The weather was beautiful. I have no idea how it was for the rest of England, but here there was a heavy frost (which had gone by the time I went out) and there was not a cloud in the sky. Just miles of deep blue beautiful sun filled sky. I was feeling so good too. I didn’t even look at my watch until over 5 miles had gone. Then I was already 1/3 done! I had some shot bloks with me which I took at mile 8, 10 and 12. I also found half a packet of urban fruit (dried mango and pineapple) in the cupboard so I nibbled on that during the second half of my run. That seemed to go alright as well although my tummy was rumbling by the end! I happened to glance at my watch and notice I had done 13.1 miles, so I had a look at the time and I had run that in 2 hours 24 minutes, which is pretty good I think. Seeing as it was feeling like a slow run, that is right in the middle of my 2 half marathon times (2.32 and 2.19)- it gave me confidence that I am still maintaining the level of fitness I built up last year. After that it started getting harder (not sure if that was partly because I allowed myself to think about how far I had run/ how long I had been out for). The last few miles again were harder as I was getting a little stiff again. But not awful- I was glad when I reached home but I did feel like I could have carried on a little bit. The running fairy was well and truly with me today! It took me 3 hours and 4 minutes, a bit of that would be crossing roads I suppose. It has given me more confidence for the 20 miler too (the time limit is 4 hours and I am pretty slow) as I am sure that I could do the last 4 miles in an hour. I keep feeling very emotional this afternoon- this was a jump from the 14 mile run, but finishing it and enjoying it (I am sure a lot was down to the lovely weather) has really given me a little confidence that perhaps I will manage the actual marathon.

Anyway, once home I gulped down a chocolate alpro carton, popped the bread in the oven and rushed for a shower as by then it was about half 1 I think-  a long time since breakfast!

The bread was sooooo good! I have not made cinnamon raisin bread for ages and it is really worth it! I have a mini loaf tin so I made it in that this time. The recipe is on here somewhere but basically I put about 90ml warm water, 1tsp yeast, 1tsp sugar, 1tbs flour and 25g raisins in a cup for a bit to activate the yeast. Then I added this mixture to 150g flour (half white, half wholewheat) and a load of spices- cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, mixed spice, ginger.., kneaded it together and left to rise in the tin. This baked in the oven (180c) for 30-35 minutes.  I had mine with maple pb (plus apple and pear) but Andy had his with pure spread and it would be amazing with cream cheese.

Later on this afternoon I had some lovely Christmas tea yummy!

During my run I listened to marathon talk, and this week they did 2 versions of the show- one with added in sections of music from audiofuel. I put both on my mp3 player in case it was annoying, but actually it was quite funny. The music is sort of like keyboard demo music, and every now and then a man talks “keep your arms relaxed….. this feels easy…. take more breath than you think you need…… you need to drink water on runs longer than an hour….. run to the beat 1,2,3,4”- it reminded me of the Friends episode when Chandler tries to quit smoking by listening to the hypnosis CD, but I think it was also pretty good! Anyone used their other podcasts as I had a look on the site and there are special training ones?

Anyway, they mentioned this site- run for Japan. We all know how much help Japan needs, and this website is raising money by people dedicating one of their runs for Japan (you say how many miles. km you ran), and then donating money (eg 10p/ £1 per mile/ per km you ran). They want to have at least one run per country in the world so if you live somewhere exotic then please dedicate your run. And even if you live somewhere boring (you know what I mean) then still please dedicate one run. Anyway, for more info look here.