Run 139 - 30km on my own

I have been worrying about this one all week. It's a long way, 30kms!

As we are expecting guests in this weekend, I had planned that I would run it earlier than my normal Sunday long run day, so that Steve could come with me and I would be able to help him with the guests later. I didn't want to run it next Monday as that meant that there weren't many days in between my long run and the half marathon at the West Coast next Saturday. So I brought it forward to Friday as we had no guests booked in...

Late yesterday afternoon, 4 Germans turned up looking for 2 rooms for the night. Well, what can we do other than offer them the rooms. Can't turn that sort of money down just so that I could have somebody accompany me on my long run! So, I decided that I could do it on my own, by myself, without Steve, I didn't need company, just my ipod and MarathonTalk. Two and a half MarathonTalks as it turned out!

There I was, staggering out of bed in the dark this morning at five o'clock as Steve's alarm went off. I had to wait until just after 6 o'clock to get out though as there was a lot of cloud cover, which made it appear darker than it actually was. I got out as soon as I could see where the roads were! No street lights here to help, and you don't know what's running, crawling, slithering or flying around, so I wasn't going out until I could see!

It was wonderful out there at 6 o'clock. It was only just getting light, there was no wind, the sea was calm and there was the smell of the early morning in the air. I didn't actually see anyone at all for the first hour!

I stayed in the village for most of the run, and ended up doing 3 full circuits of it plus a bit more up to the R43. Two 'comfort' breaks were included in that, and I am glad there are ablution blocks at several points around the village - open! Didn't fancy trying out the bush!

One of the MarathonTalks included an interview with Jeff Galloway, who is known for his run-walk-run programs, so I had a go at that while I was out too. I am desperately trying to stay in one piece so that I at least get to the start line of the London Marathon relatively uninjured, and doing the run 4.5 minutes, walk 30 seconds, really did seem to make a difference. Mind you, once you have covered about 29kms, walking always does seem to be a good option!

Anyway, I got back about 4 hours later to find that Steve had prepared breakfast for the 4 Germans, washed up and cleared away, said 'Goodbye' to them, put the bedding and towels they used on the line and cleaned the rooms. He had also made our bed and cleaned all the windows (because they don't stay clean for more than a day or two here, being so close to the sea) and now he has gone out to do the shopping to feed the next lot of guests later today.

I'm well impressed!

I wonder who really has had the better deal?!