Diary Of A Road Runner

16k Long Run - Hot and Sunny - 1h 35m 57s

My longest run to date - both in terms of distance and duration. It was a hot and sunny day, and starting out at 12pm, I knew I would need some liquid so took a bottle of gatorade which served me well.

Set off at a benign pace and my lungs and legs appreciated this, didn’t find myself struggling too much but settled into an enjoyable pace and kept going until reached canal, last time I had run along there was when I was at school doing the summer “mini marathon” many years ago!

Had to negotiate some very muddy bits, fortunately I had my trail shoes on and not my brand new white Asics! Had mud all over my legs but felt like a proper runner that way! Kept going at a manageable pace, felt really good - when I reached the long canal tunnel at Romiley, I turned back, as the last time I had been through there I was walking, and needed a flashlight and delicate footing - running through was no go unless I was going to happy spraining an ankle!! Will have to see if there’s another way round for next time, as it kind of curtailed the run. I had done about 6 or 7 k by that point, so had doubled that by the time I’d run all the way back with a few detours and an interesting hill which I found quite easy to my surprise. Had to run around the streets a bit to make it up to my intended 16k, which is more or less 10 miles - first time I have ever covered such a distance (will have to run the extra 100 metres to make it an official 10 miles, but the uphills and mud probably added that anyway!!)

A really enjoyable run, nice to run in hot sunny weather, had to really slow down at the end, but felt throughout I could have gone faster if I had wanted or needed to - but that would have defeated the object of having a long, slow run!

My legs were a bit wobbly when I stopped running - but I had run for over an hour and a half continuously and at a reasonable pace (6mins per kilometre) - feel it will stand me in good stead for the future, and I find the long runs are really good for mental endurance as well as building physical stamina