Furthest ever run

Sorry for the lack of a blog yesterday, I was just too snowed under to actually get anything non work related done.

So, since my last blog on Friday the injury front has changed a bit. I did manage to get down the gym after work and get though 7km with a bit of a sore knee, but it was generally ok, albeit at a slow pace.

Come Saturday afternoon and following a morning shopping at Borough market (managed to get some Monteith’s larger from NZ, lovely stuff) I hit the road determined to run for longer than I had at the half marathon the week before, although maybe not at quite the same pace.

I also had a new route picked out, running down the Regent’s Canal from Haggerston to Limehouse, then back through the city to Fleet St, up to Kings Cross, then to Angel, Highbury and Islington, Clissold Park, Stoke Newington, Dalston and back to Haggerston, 23km in all, 1.7km more than the half marathon the week before.

I thought running along the canal would be good as there are no traffic lights but the sheer amount of other runners, plus people drinking outside pubs, walking along with prams and on bikes (pedestrians have right of way) made it much more difficult than just running on the pavement. Likewise the tourists at St Paul’s cathedral were an annoyance. Everyone should get out of my way, I am training to run a marathon you know!

I also lost a bit of time quing to buy a drink on my way round as I didn’t really want to carry water. In the end it took me around 10 minutes longer to cover the half marathon distance and then a further 10 minutes to get through the additional 1.7km, so I was defiantly slowing towards the end, although I had not prepared for the run nearly as well as I had for the race the week prior.  In the end I got round in 2 hours, 16 minutes, which is not bad but I need to pick up the pace a little as well as learn how to run longer.

Unsurprisingly I decided to have Sunday off, especially after walking to the football when I noticed that the outside edge of my left foot seemed to hurt a lot.  Indeed, I continued to be in some pain all through yesterday, and thought it might be wise to give myself two days off to recover, although I will be back down the gym again tonight for a slowish run but I have no idea how far I will be able to go.

If you are impressed that I have even managed to get this far then you can sponsor me at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/runningfatbloke, where I am raising money for the Willow Foundation, which provides special days to seriously ill young adults.