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Longestdayrun part 2

Juneathon day 24.

8.36 miles

Juneathon running total…  108.7 miles

Most sensible people would have done my two runs this weekend the other way round I thought to myself as I set out this morning on less than fresh legs and remembered that the first mile was uphill!  Yesterday might have been 12 miles but it was FLAT and on smooth traffic free surfaces so I rolled along to my 1980’s anthems.  Today I had hills, trails, roads and traffic, no music and more hills.  The only good part was that OH who accompanied me today on his bike found some of the uphill bits far harder than I did and had to walk! Ha hah ha ha!! Servers him right for telling me he was free wheeling for the previous 3 miles!

But I loved it!

It was a great mix of off-road, on road and ups and downs so never got boring.  I loved it mainly because I could do it, and run 20 miles in 24 hours. I even think I could have managed the 24 in 24 if I’d pushed myself and got a bit more organised.  I was late setting out this morning waiting for my blooming garmin, which had gone flat over night, to charge up .  So I finished today’s run with only 10 mins to go before the noon deadline. I even ran a 8.35 minute mile for mile 8, just shows how great smooth flat tarmac feels after ups and downs and uneven wet grass and mud!

It’s been a great weekend following everyone participating in Longestday run on twitter and dailymile with great achievements from people running from 1 mile to over 60 miles. Next year I know I can run marathon distance or better!

 

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Longestdayrun part 1.

Juneathon day 23

We got to the Isle of Wight with no problems last night after the reported chaos of the day before, even with two cancelled evening ferries. Country to what the news would have us believe, the news the Isle of Wight is open for business and not flooded nor sunk by bad weather! It was water-logged fields which prevented festival goers from entering the mud logged car parks and caused grid lock on the island.. So business as usual and everyone is having a lovely, but muddy time at the festival. Although it was sad to read that some local pupils had missed their gcse exams because of the traffic problems on Friday morning and that the school (next to the festival site) has planned to close on monday.

Anyway, this weekends Juneathon efforts have required a little more planning than normal because of the longest day challenge. The challenge is to run as many miles as you can in 24 hours, between noon Saturday and noon Sunday, or another 24 hour period. I had previously toyed with the idea of trying to run 24 miles (12 and 12) but as my week went on I was rapidly down grading my plans to 10 and 10 then 8 and 8….

I knew that Sunday morning was going to be the hardest to get some miles in as I’m not a morning person and my running options directly outside my door involve busy roads and many hills that are best tackled early not to mention on fresh legs! So I had in the back of my mind to see how my planned 10 miles went today maybe extending it to 12.

I fuelled up after a lie in with a big bowl of cereal and toast and prepared myself for the 12pm kickoff, driving up to the Merstone car park on the Newport to Sandown cycle path.

A really good run. I used today to further experiment with using gels for long marathon runs taking one as I set off and then another at my first turn around point at 5 miles. I’ve definitely found some gels that work for me at last, not having to make any unplanned pit stops nor feeling sick! I only had to stop to cross roads plus twice to re-lace my shoe and adjust my sock which was bunching up under my toes. I was pleasantly surprised how good my legs felt, especially after feeling so pathetic at BMF yesterday and think that the gels certainly contributed to that.

Having a great 1980’s playlist that I’ve not listened to for a while helped and I got a few looks from passing cyclists at one point when I was drumming along to the start of Enola Gay! I got back to my car at 10 miles and still feeling good carried on in the other direction for an extra mile each way to round the run up to 12 and my Juneathon mileage to 100.

12.02 miles

Juneathon running total… 100.34 miles


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No wimping out

Juneathon day 22.

It was blooming cold this morning when I drove the boys to school. Raining and windy, it felt very wintry. I was tempted to not go to BMF and have a short run later in the morning instead, when it had warmed up. This would also save my legs too much hard work so they would be fresh for the weekend. So, after driving home quickly past an amazingly empty Shepherds Bush Green, because of the bus strike, I settled down with a nice cup of coffee to catch up on twitter.

I made the mistake of mentioning that I was going to wimp out of BMF and was promptly reminded by Jogblog that I never wimp and that I had even done BMF in a puddle. I thought about blaming the bus strike for my non-attendance so Jogblog suggested I should run there. Then I remembered that the roads were strangely empty now they were free of buses, and started feeling guilty and then very guilty hearing that Jogblog was off to cycle, gym, body pump, cycle, go to London boozing and cycle home. So I quickly swapped my shorts for knee-length tights, rammed in some contact lenses and raided my younger son’s prize coin collection for change for the parking meter before taking myself off to BMF.

BMF was hard today! And not helped by the late night glass of vino with my brother who came to bag a bed overnight. I really should have stayed on the sofa, but consoled myself, while killing my legs during endless reps of primitive squats and laps around the playing field, that at least my juneathon effort would be done for the day and I had 24 hours to recover before Longestday run.

Completely shattered I staggered home and ate two lunches.

KIller BMF class, 1 hour, at least 3 miles running

Juneathon running totals… 88.32 milles