Look out for me . . . 8308

I had a little nervous moment when my registration pack arrived because my number seems very low, I also discovered that I am starting at the Blue start which I always thought was for elite runners and celebrities.  I worried that I had filled something in wrong and I had somehow got mixed up with the elite!.  I had to read pages of the magazine that came with it before I was satisfied that there was a 'Mass' start at all 3 area's.  I was gutted though to discover that Jan is starting at the Red start.  We knew that we would probably separate along the way and that there was little chance of us finishing together but I had hoped we could do the loo queue and all those nervous moments together.  We are even at 2 different tube stops.  Anyway, I have to get over that and get on with it.

This week we acquired a running machine from a neighbour, we've set it up at the end of the lounge looking out of the patio doors, the lounge now looks a total mess but I need to use it and if it's out of sight I fear I won't.  I thought that it would be good to do the shorter, week day runs on the machine because it's not as hard as concrete and it is flat.  I felt that by doing this I could save my knee just a bit.  I had done 5 miles outside this week, I just had another 5 and an 8 to do.  Well, it was fantastic, I started off at 5 miles an hour but it felt slow so I upped it to 6, in the end I was up to 6.7 miles an hour, I even pushed it to 7 miles an hour for a sprint finish.  I had sliced my PB from 66 mins for 5 miles to an amazing 50 minutes.  I went to bed amazed at the difference running outside on the road makes to running on a machine.  The 8 miles produced equally stunning results and I began to worry that I might be held back by people in tu-tu's because I was clearly an 'athlete'  I felt indestructible but wished I had been able to benefit from this since October, I could be challenging for a top spot.

On Friday evening I needed a bit of light reading before bed and decided I would read the 'running machine manual' . . . as you do!.  It was at this point that my bubble burst, the machine measured kilometres not miles!. A few quick calculations confirmed that not only had I not done the miles I needed but those I had done were my slowest - ever!.  It never ceases to amaze me - just how daft I can be.

Anyway, Saturday night saw me mapping 20 miles, it was all or nothing - last chance saloon so to speak!.  Jan decided to go to the gym and go flat out on a bike as she is still struggling to run with her foot.  I left the house very scared, it is scary looking into 20 miles, knowing that by taking on the challenge, failure is just not an option because if you fail having taken it on then there is only one reason for that failure - and that's you, and with 2 weeks to go where would that leave me?.  I decided to think of it as my farewell tour.  I would say goodbye to all the roads that I have been running down over the last few months.

We had a wonderful moment a couple of miles in when 2 large deer crossed the road in front of us, almost within touching distance.  As one darted off into the field the other stood at the side of the road and watched us go by, he had such a calmness about him, it was as though he knew what I was doing and why.  It felt quite spiritual and was somehow very uplifting, something that would never have happened if we'de gone down that road in a car.  I think that moment gifted me a couple of miles it was so lovely.

I had no problems with my knee, in fact no real pain anywhere.  13 miles in I was feeling quite good, from that point the fatigue came in waves.  With three miles to go I was totally exhausted.  I had to go past the front door and do a short circuit before I had finished, it was less than a mile, Andrew went in 'to get the door open' (Manchester United were on the TV!!!).  I got back onto the main road and everything started getting very weird, I saw Andrew cycling towards me, I looked down, looked up again and he had gone - I had seen him so clearly but he wasn't there at all.  As I stopped running at the front of the house I lost the use of my legs, it was as though they were someone else's.  I did the bendy leg walk for a couple of steps but then managed to get back in control of them.  Then I got the mesh in front of my eyes.  I felt absolutely drained, very sick but pleased that I had reached my penultimate goal, just one more left now.