Run 117: Furthest ever!

Plan was 22kms today. Been a bit panicky about it for various reasons, but eventually got myself organised after, first, going to do it on Saturday rather than Sunday because of guests, and Steve needed to feed them! Needed to be sure I was going to get up early enough to avoid the heat. Finally, water caused me huge problems. How much would I need? Last week I drank some of Steve's. Would I use the gels at the right time? Last week I took them at 40 minute intervals and felt that it was too much too soon.

Anyway, we (Steve and I) worked out a plan that I would get up at 5 o'clock so that I could be out of the door by 6 latest, and would be back before it got too hot. So, he set his alarm for 5am and I went to bed early! Cats had decided to use the bedroom as a playground so chucked Sid out. Chilli was hiding somewhere, so I shut the door and got back into bed. When it is very windy, and the wind is blowing from a certain direction, it is very hard to sleep, and the bedroom door has to be left open to stop the wind whistling through! So, not a lot of sleep happening. Then Chilli decides she is going to sleep under the sheet with me, (it is too hot at night to sleep with anything more than a sheet at the moment) and Sid comes in to scratch on the edge of the sofa in there!

Sid got chucked out! Chilli was still hiding under the sheet! Let's all try and get a bit more sleep. At some point in the night, Chilli had slipped off the side of the bed under the sheet and had somehow pulled it around her, and stayed there sleeping! It wasn't me pulling the covers off last night!

It was almost a relief when the alarm went off at 5am. I got up (in the dark) and let the dogs out. Don't know where Chilli was - fighting her way out of the sheet, I think. Bowl of Jungle Oats and a glass of sports drink, dressed, and out of the house with 3 bottles of water! I didn't want (and Steve didn't want) me to do my usual route because he couldn't come, so I was going to run around the village one way, out of the village and up the B'bos Road and then around the village the other way, picking up a new bottle of water when I passed by.

So, I deposited 2 of my bottles in the bushes outside the house and off I set. It was light by this point, although the sun wasn't up yet. I set off up Charlie, then Esplanade, then Rotunda, along Central and up to the Main Road and out of the village. I took an energy gel after an hour, along with some water, and managed to get quite sticky. It's very goo-ey stuff and gets everywhere! (That's the reason I decided to take the whole sachet and not half of it as we had previously agreed, Hubs!) I ran up to the bend in the B'bos Road, turned round and worked my way back, intending to get back to the house at about 15km, and pick up another water bottle. The plan worked, and I noticed the curtains were still drawn. Mmm, Hubs still in bed!

I continued on my way, and more or less reversed the route, battling with the strong winds most of the time. There didn't seem to be many places where the wind was actually behind me. I struggled on slowly, not feeling too bad until the last few kilometres, and that was because of the wind more than just feeling tired. I decided to try a few jelly babies on the way down Esplanade - it might help me battle better against the wind. One thing I have learned is that I can't run and eat jelly babies! Even more so with a head wind! Little bits of sticky jelly get everywhere. If Isolde had been looking out of her window at that point, and had seen me walking, it was because I was trying to eat jelly babies!

I watched my Garmin as the distance changed from 21kms to 21.1kms to 21.2kms and, suddenly, I was running further than I have ever run before!

t was good to get back though, and my Steri Stumpie (chocolate milk) was waiting in the fridge. After a shower and some stretching, Steve cooked me egg on toast! Much appreciated. Thank you for that.

I am looking forward to 2 days off running now, and only a short (12km) run next weekend!

22kms - 2hrs 54 mins.

167/120kms this month!