Never run that far before

The 25 miles became 28. That's the longest distance I've ever run - yes, I've gone 28 miles before but on both those occasions I was doing a fair portion of walking. This time I ran the entire distance. I even forced myself to dig deep on the ascents of which the total was somewhere in the region of 3,000ft. The climb to the top of Lansdown was a toughie - almost brought me to my knees - but I made it. There's a nice plaque thingy-ma-bob at the trig point telling you all about the Battle of Lansdown Hill in 1643 - but I didn't have time to stop and read so I'll never know who won!

My pace over the first eleven miles was a smidgen too fast - and much too fast at intermittent points. One kilometer was 6s inside 2:55 marathon pace - which was foolish to say the least. Graham enjoyed his run - I think! He was still alive at the end so I'll take that as a sign he enjoyed it - or at the very least did him some good.

I have to admit I was pretty spent after the climb to the top of Lansdown and the run back was hard. I kept myself focused and kept grinding on. I paid for the early pace and slowed towards the end but I was able to push in the last couple of kilometers so the tank wasn't completely empty at the end. Also, the cramping I've suffered before never reared its ugly face and the calfs and achilles all held up rather well.

Now time for some recovery before Rick puts me through the mangle tomorrow......

Thought for the day: A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.