Week 13 - 11/4/09, Saturday

Time of day: 10:05

Distance: 16 miles! Yes that's right 16 miles!

Time: 2:49:10

Weather: Sunny

I was rather nervous at the thought of this long run. The furthest I have ever run. Luckily, one of Matthew's friends invited him for sleepover on Friday night and my mum took James overnight. This meant that Steve was able to cycle with me, which was a great help. He came equipped with 2 1/2 litres of water, a bottle of gatorade and a packet of fruit pastilles.

After a couple of miles into the run I became aware that my trousers were rubbing the top of my thigh. I was worried, if I was aware of it 2 miles into the run, what would it be like after 12. Steve stopped off at the co-op to get some vaseline. (Of course, why didn't I think of that all long distance runner's need vaseline!)

It took him a while to catch up with me, what with me being such a speedy runner, and we finally met up at about 4 miles. At the next available side lane, I nipped into the bushes for a wee and to apply my newly acquired vaseline, whilst Steve stood in a manly way to guard my dignity. A secluded spot, it certainly wasn't! In the amount of time that we were stood there, me with my trousers round my ankles squatting in the bushes and Steve holding aloft a pot of vaseline, at least 3 cars came past, one of whom gave us an encouraging toot of his horn, no doubt completely misunderstanding the reality of the situation.

Chafing sorted, we continued along the main road to Cheltenham. It was an uneventful few miles and we stopped outside a posh food store in Tivoli at 8 miles, before starting the return journey. At this point I was still feeling pretty good.

At 10 miles I started on the fruit pastilles. We lost a couple during the handover from bike to runner.

At 11 miles I was starting to flag. 11 miles is the longest I have run in this training, so I think it was psychological.

12 miles: I stopped for a drink and some more fruit pastilles

13 miles: "Oh my god, I wouldn't even be half way on the day"

14 miles: "I'm never going to do this". Really I just wanted to cry. The thought of having to run another 12 miles on the day seemed inconceivable. Steve was shouting words of encouragement, telling me how well I was doing. It did remind me of labour, when you can appreciate that someone is trying to be helpful, but at the time you just think "you have no idea of how awful I am feeling".

15 miles: Suddenly I felt a bit better. It was like I kind of transcended the pain and just kept putting one foot in front of the other, repeating to myself, like a mantra: "I can always run a mile. A mile is nothing."

16 miles: Home at last. Stopping was almost worse than running. I didn't really know what to do with myself. I walked up the road a bit and then back and then collapsed on the sofa, then had a shower and that was that. The pain was surprisingly short-lived. I did feel a bit stiff for the rest of the day, but generally better than I thought I would.