34 days to go :S

The time is edging ever closer. I have spent the last week and a half (since my last post actually) being pretty lazy and finding excuses not to go running. The longer this continues the harder it is to get back on the treadmill so to speak. However, on Sunday I couldn't put it off any longer, knowing that we have little over 3 weeks left of training and only 5 weeks til the actual day. I have done a bit of gym work in that time but not enough to justify the £40 a month it costs me so that is going at the end of the month and running will have to be my new best friend :S

Having spent some of yesterday morning watching the London marathon I had mixed feelings. When I saw the thousands of people lining up and heard some of the stories behind the faces I, like many of you I'm sure, was very inspired and genuinely excited that in 5 short weeks that will be us. However, as I watched the latter stages of the race and saw those same faces filled with pain and self-loathing I'll admit I started to feel a bit nervous.

However I did drag myself out yesterday afternoon. Two laps of a circuit that is just under 9miles. Think I paced it ok, although I was running besides roads and there is always the temptation to run faster lest the car drivers think you're a wuss. Also just about got the fluid intake right which is encouraging. I called via home after the first lap to get more water and then for some reason decided it was easier to just forget that I'd already run 9miles and just pretend my second lap was the only lap. This worked pretty well for the first 5 miles. Then my brain decided to go long term and started thinking about it n terms of the marathon. "If this were race day you'd only have 12 miles to go". Well that's encouraging. But actually, even at 16miles, the thought of doing another 10 wasn't that bad. But then I started to get impatient, as I do, and I just wanted to get home and get finished. The last half a mile was bizarre. I got bored and decided to walk for 30seconds, whereby it felt like my legs belonged to someone else. Then, because my joints and muscles were sore, I upped the pace for a few hundred yards and that felt a lot more comfortable in my natural stride length. But that's not a pace I could maintain for 26miles which is why I've been trying to force myself to go slow, slow, slow! As a reward and a cool down I walked up my road and did have a good stretch when I got in. However, as usual, I didn't stretch before I started and that is something I must address asap as race day we will be stretching first and we need to have practised that. We're still learning!

So yeah, just under 18miles and it took me a good 3.5hours. So positive that I can run for 3.5 hours but a bit behind the pace we'd like to do on race day. And as much as it is daunting to think we have just 5 weeks to do another 8 miles on top of that, it was only 3 weeks ago that we did the half marathon and we have both stepped it up since then.

So the challenge now is to keep on it. I don't have anymore long runs scheduled on my own but three with Tree. So in between I'll be hoping to do between 7 and 10 miles to keep clocking up the miles. It felt this morning like an old lady had possessed my body and I was wishing I lived in a bungalow. But nothing that a bit of swimming/ aqua aerobics won't sort out! Hoping to be back out pounding the streets on Wednesday and maybe over the weekend if I can find a suitable and safe route in a strange town! Gym/ aerobics Tiesday, swim tonight, rest day Thursday.

Time is of the essence, go go go!