Happily Ever After
Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running
Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.
100 Days And Nine Miles
by Russell Turner - 16:51 on 06 July 2018
One hundred days until t’ Yorkshire Marathon, and after an exhaustive search Matchgirl has finally found our self-catering accommodation for six nights in York – Clifford’s Reach in Blue Bridge: smart enough to meet her demanding expectations and a mere stroll into the city centre. Looking good.
Training continued today, my target to run nine miles without walk breaks – an achievement I realised despite the continuing heatwave. Garmin told me the temperature was only 16ºC; it felt a lot more. The second four miles were all faster than the first four (without me setting out to do that) and the final mile the fastest of all. The psychological effect of turning for home (it was a there-and-back run, not a circuit) and of nearing home (the last mile) clearly played a part.
A bonus was an unexpected running partner – the pine marten that lollopped ahead of me for a few yards before being scared into the undergrowth by an approaching car.
My achievement was slightly spoiled by checking the Garmin’s history to discover that my only other nine-miler, a run-walk, was a couple of minutes quicker. However, that was on a cool day in March when conditions were more favourable. Running for nine miles – and feeling I could have done more – was the real success.
Don’t expect me to run the whole marathon. Run-walk is still my Yorkshire plan, although a fully run half marathon in training would be a good confidence booster. Before that, ten miles is my next target, to be attempted a week on Tuesday because the schedule is interrupted by Paul Simon next week and a trip to Orkney with City Limits at the weekend. It’s a matter of priorities.
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