A Half Kilomathon including an interlude through Hell… 1:26:29

Posted on Apr 22, 2012 under 10-15k, Injuries, Long Runs, Milestones, Season's Best | No Comment

Having not run much this week I was puzzled by some calf tenderness on walking, which was more irksome than painful, but on palpating the calf there was quite a bit of pain, which made me hesitate about setting off. I massage it well to warm it up and figured I would just set off slow and see how I fared, and stop right away if it gave me any trouble.

Oddly, the first couple of steps I felt it, but then it totally disappeared, and I ended up running my longest run in some time with no problems. Well, no problems with running that is! I was getting warmed up by about 4k, and felt into my running by then and so gained the confidence to go on a wide looping route, that might involve a bus ride home if I got stuck (as always had be trusty bus pass!). Went up Windmill Lane and into Reddish, then turned down what I thought was the road towards Levenshulme but didn’ get it quite right, and ended up getting totally lost in a warren of council estates, roads just kept leading to more same-ish looking houses with not a sign of a main road in sight. I followed a set of bus stops which led me to a cul-de-sac, and by now I was cursng when I saw that a potential exit was somebody’s dead end drive way. I asked a woman with a child and she directed me to a little slope which led to the arse end of the world, a nasty little park with some ten year old kids “playing.” Their game was jumping out of the little hut at passers-by, troll-like, and yelling at them. I couldn’t resist a parting shot of “knob!” over my shoulder, which result in a tirade of expletives and that most cardinal of insults, “Are you walking or jogging you F&*cking wanker?!” to which I made some nice hand gestures over my shoulder before jogging along my way.

Eventually I found a road I recognised after wondering if I was going to wander through Limbo for all eternity, and the Garmin said I should get close to home by the time I reached my target of around 8 miles. At 13.1KM I decided I had just about done enough and was feeling really tired (my previous longest run was 10k this year, so didn’t want to pile on too much mileage!). I had my emergency cash with me so stopped near a shop, stopped the Garmin, and got myself some refreshments to stuff my face with on the walk home.

All in all a very good run, which actually seemed to alleviate the tenderness in my leg, so not really sure what that’s about. 13.1KM was a good marker, and if I can get a few more long runs in, together with some tempo runs, it bodes well for Manchester, and at least I know I can cover the distance, so whatever time I do is a bonus and I hope to just enjoy it without niggles or troll-like feral kids leaping out from bus shelters along the route, ha ha!!!!

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