It’s funny how some days you feel great, full of energy and ready to go. And some days you just don’t.
The Sunday morning run was to be a half marathon at a faster pace, because it was a shorter distance(!). This time, my personal trainer and I decided just to do laps of Regent’s Park – five times around the outer circle (13.1 miles) with a target of 1hr 50minutes. It was a beautiful morning with no rain, clear skies and for a change it wasn’t cold! Perfect conditions.
Unfortunately, my dinner from Saturday night still felt heavy and I just didn’t feel up to the challenge. The first 10km was completed in a reasonably speedy 49 minutes, but then I ran out of energy. The thought of another 11km in 1 hour was definitely not an appealing one.
I really wanted to give up but Christos was in sergeant major mode. By gently encouraging me (ok, then he nagged, cajoled and bullied me) I managed to speed up. It really was a case of putting one foot in front of the other and feeling tired but pushing myself. I crawled along but managed to speed up for the last 2 kilometres. The final time of 1 hour and 50 minutes was 10 minutes faster than my last half marathon but I felt pathetic.
Lessons to be learnt: maybe kebab and rice the night before is not the ideal energy food…well maybe just one helping would have been enough!