I ended my last update on the morning of my first long run of my Great North Run training and 100 miles in May challenge. What follows is a blow by blow account of that run.
Prior to the run – my calves are tight, I really don’t fancy this run at all.
1 mile in – my calves hurt, why am I out running?
2 miles in – my ankles are also really hurting, I’ve never liked running.
3 miles in – my SPD is starting to kick in again, why did I have those two fruity ciders and agree to this?
4 miles in – I’m just going to finish the run past the cathedral then I’ll ring for a lift home.
5 miles in – should I add the bypass on and do 8?
6 miles in – I’m going to add the bypass on.
7 – 10 miles – a bit of a blur.
I eventually ended my run at 11.5 miles. I was going to run a full 13.1 half marathon but I knew I didn’t have a key and my husband was going out.
I felt pretty smug about this, especially when I saw how many miles ahead of my schedule I was. And then the day progressed and my foot started to swell. And swell, And hurt. I realised my basic error by that evening when I was struggling to walk on it and was beginning to wish I’d stuck to my original plan of 7 miles!
It was also at this point that I let slip to my class that I was in a challenge and was amazed by their response to it. Suddenly, there was a Blue Peter style “totaliser” on my fire exit door, the children spent their play times calculating the total percentage of the challenge that I’d completed and the fraction and how much further I needed to run. They quizzed me repeatedly about how far my friend has run and began an ongoing discussion over the merits of regular shorter runs versus more infrequent longer runs.
I was therefore in a bit of a quandary. I couldn’t stop running as my class were totalising my runs. I managed a 2 mile treadmill the following evening and a very slow 4 mile run the morning after that. Although sore my foot felt better for trying to move it and has got progressively better throughout the week.
I’m still not 100 % whether I’ve been bitten by the running bug or the competitive nature of my challenge. I’m finding myself waking up at 5:30 and rather than trying to go back to sleep for an hour, I’m in my running gear and a mile in before I’ve woken up. I’m still keeping up with the talking book on runs by myself but I do find my running pace is a lot slower than when I’m out with music on.
So as of today I’m 69.4 miles in (I messed up on calculating how far I needed to run at 5:40 this morning!) I’m hoping to get to 75 miles tomorrow which will give me 11 days to run the remaining 25 miles. For the first time I actually feel like I might achieve 100 miles. Possibly not ahead of my co-competitor but still a massive achievement in my books.
About Sarah Williams
I ran quite a bit in my early years, mostly the Nike Run in Durham but the occasional cross country school event. Fast forward a few years and a friend suggested I join her on a short 2.5 mile run. The rest as you say, is history!
