The best inspiration is not to outdo others, but to outdo ourselves

I had a 20 mile run to do yesterday and for the first time so far in my training, I was feeling really, really nervous about as the time drew nearer. I suspect there were a mixture of reasons for his, not least, simply that 20 miles is a very long way. Also, I've been feeling bunged up for the last few days, nothing seems to be coming of it, I'm certainly not ill, but it was playing on my mind a little too. However, I got myself out of the door and mostly got myself through by only thinking about each block of time as it came, opening my mind to the enormity of it all didn't seem like such a good idea!

I did the usual 9 minute 1 minute pattern, so was never thinking about more than the next 9 minutes, best way to approach it, in nice bite sized chunks. Parts of it seemed pretty hard today, which may just have been due to the snuffles - although I took a decongestant before I set off and that seemed to help to shove the symptoms out of the way while I ran. The hardest bit was still that dreadful hill out of Dewsbury, although there were a couple of others that resulted in some crawling too. The problem with training is the lack of mile markers, you never know whether you are on track or being as slow as it sometimes feels that you are. Thankfully, I discovered that I wasn't actually being slow at all and managed to distance in 3:45:33, which I was actually very pleased with.

I think I was reasonably lucky with the weather too, I knew that it was forecast to snow later in the day - it did, but kindly not until I was home again. For some parts nearer the beginning I was actually quite warm and spent sometime with the hat and gloves off and the jacket slightly unzipped. That all changed as I came into the wind. It was only about 2 degrees anyway, and the wind was not a pleasant addition. At one point my hands were so cold that I simply couldn't get them to do what I wanted them to do at all, not a pleasant sensation. I ended up running with alternate hands in my pockets, I know this isn't a good idea in case you trip, but it did improve the feeling in my fingers! Then, once I was sheltered from the wind again, things felt a little better. I had a story on my ipod and listened to the first 6 and a half chapters, nice to have something different to think about. I enjoyed that and will certainly continue with it next time I'm out during the day. Anyway, time for the stats:

Distance: 310.2 miles

Time: 57:12:00

Calories: 29,651