Make no mistake, today's 22 mile run was tough. Very tough! This is the 3rd time I've ran this route and this was the slowest time to date (04:30:00). I was lucky enough to have John keeping me company and he was astounded at the 3 major climbs on the route. Speaking of the climbs, "They go on and on" and "They seemed never ending" were quotes from today's run!It took 3 miles to loosen up after an early Sunday morning start. The next 8 miles were as straightforward as ever. The weather even behaved itself. The climb out of Stanhope wasn't too bad, but by this time conditions were quite cold and I had to wear the woolly hat that I'd found at the 10 mile point.
I made the mistake of wearing my backpack from mile 10.5 to 16. That's the last time I'll be doing that! 2.2 litres of water is far too heavy to carry up the major climb on this route.
I was very pleased to reach the 1700 ft summit with relative ease. My road side supporter for the day, Katy, had bought some home made cookies from a nearby farmer's market. Just what the doctor ordered after 16 miles.
The final 6 miles were ran in a bit of discomfort. My groin was quite sore and this stopped me getting any speed up. I nearly collapsed when I reached the finish line. My legs ached so much. Energy levels were high once again.
An hour after the run, I realised that I had a bit of trouble with my feet. I had a nice new shiny blister on my left foot to accompany the 2 I've been running with for the last fortnight. Every time I do this 22 mile route, I seem to pick up a new blister.
Now how on earth am I going to be able to manage to do this exact same gruelling 22 mile run tomorrow. For now, I've got no idea. I guess I'll just keep putting one foot in front of the other and see what happens.
