That's about all I have the energy to write, but if one run deserves more description than that, it's the one we managed tonight.
There were 6 of us on the run - James, Kieran, Stuart, Jono and for the first time, Gary (who often runs with us on Saturdays at Parkrun).
We were planning to do 10.5 miles, as we're building up to the Silverstone Half Marathon on 11th March, by adding 1/2 mile a week to the long run. We hadn't pre-mapped a route, so I suggested one that I thought could work and we set off.
The first 3 miles were fairly uneventful, we got into our running and other than briefly stopping when James got a bad stitch after 2K or so, which fairly quickly passed, not a lot happened.
I'd told the group that I wanted to get a #MagicMile split in (I haven't mentioned it before, but #MagicMile is your fastest individual mile in January, and I hadn't really gone for it for a full mile this month) and decided that mile from the top of Woodborough Rd near Sainsbury's Local, down into town would be the best one (as it's pretty much all downhill!).
Stuart and I set off together for the fast mile as we reached mile 3 and were soon running at well under 6 minutes per mile (my fastest ever mile on the flat is 6:40), as we reached halfway (where the gradient flattens for a bit), I checked and we were still at around 5:40 pace. As we got down to the final section which was actually a bit uphill, I was frantically checking the distance as I was running out of steam, but we made it to the 4 mile point and I checked RunKeeper's split to see it say 5 minutes 34 seconds!
Stuart and I looped back up the hill to meet the others, and I think that messed RunKeeper up a bit, as the distance jumped, and I when I checked it later, the GPS traces were all over the place. I edited the route on the PC just before writing this, and after I fixed it, the #MagicMile time was changed to 5:50 - which is still very, very fast for me, and I was totally shattered by the end of it!
The next mile or so was fairly uneventful, except that Kieran and I both started to feel like we needed a bathroom break, and Jono started to feel his knee playing up (he'd hurt it on our long run 2 weeks ago and it has been really troubling him since). I also began to feel pains from my ankles / Achilles, which I guessed was down to not being used to my new shoes (New Balance 1080s) that I picked up for a song yesterday in the Sweatshop Sale when Sarah was getting hers.
We dropped Jono off at his house after about 6.5 miles as he couldn't face going any further (definitely a sensible choice), and headed down Mansfield Rd into Arnold. The pace began to slow as Kieran was really struggling with aches and pains, and as we began the final climb up Coppice Road, I was really feeling it too - my knees started hurting (which never happens), as well as both calves and my right Achilles in particular. Half way up Coppice Road we stopped to cross a road, and I made a big decision - I was taking the shoes off!
The feeling when I removed them was great and I ran the last kilometre or so with them in my hands - feeling just like Barefoot Ted in Born to Run - free, natural, and so much better than with the shoes on, and some of the aches disappeared almost immediately!
When we reached home, RunKeeper suggested we'd run 11.6 miles, but after correcting the bit of the run that was wrong, I think it was more like 11.2 for me, a bit further for Stuart, and about 10.7 for the boys and Gary (who didn't run the extra up and the hill). For all of us (other than Stuart) it was definitely the longest run ever, and for Gary, it was well over twice as far as he'd ever run before - and that was before he then rode his bike 4 miles home!
After the run I was shattered, and only managed a nominal 1:30 #Plankaday, but didn't worry about that, as I was, and still am buzzing from how well everyone did tonight.
And with that, it's time to sign off - just one more #Janathon run and blog to go!
Summary so far:
Running: 196.91 miles
Walking: 31.34 miles
Cycling: 84.12 miles
Swimming: 0.25 miles
Total: 312.62 miles
Running streak: 69 days (started 23/11/2011)
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