It's how you get through the tough ones....

.....And today was most definitely a tough one for me!

I have been having a lot of pre-LSR anxiety, so the day before the run I get butterflies and find it hard to sleep.  Much like I would normally feel before a race.
In order to make myself feel better, I mapped myself out a pavement route of 17 miles, with bail-out options from around 14 miles onwards in case I was having a tough one.  I didn't want to run on the trails as the weather had been terrible and I knew the going would be tough, muddy and would quite probably involve wading through flooding.  I just couldn't face that this weekend, especially as the temperature had plummeted too.

I had a good breakfast and set out feeling positive, and enjoying the prospect of a completely different run to normal, in different trainers (I have a feeling the trail ones are a smidge too small, hence the toenail difficulties last time).

I was ok for the first 8 miles or so, and then I found myself running against a cold headwind.  Which brought with it a few snow flurries.  I pushed on through, allowing myself a couple of extra walk/drink/sugar tablet breaks from what I had planned, however to be honest I still found it tough going.  At around 12 miles my feet and hips began to give me a lot of pain.  My feet in particular had been a little sore, but bearable, however after around 12 miles and with the pain spreading to my hips, it began to get unbearable.  I contemplated quitting, but at this point I saw a Robin hop along in front of me and stop to look at me.  It made me actually sob because I associate robins with my Grandma (my Auntie told me that there is a belief that if you have lost someone close, they visit you in the form of a robin to comfort you) and helped to focus my mind and keep me going.

However, after 14 miles I was literally running past the end of my road, and in a lot of pain.  I managed to shuffle around the block in various loops a couple of times to make the distance up to 15.61 miles but that was as much as I could manage.  So annoyed, one more little loop would have made it 16 miles.  I had the energy in my body and legs, but my hips had totally siezed up and my feet felt like I was running barefoot on cobbles.

Going to take the trainers along to Sweatshop and see what they say, as I have not had those problems before.  A few hours later now and my main issue is significant pain in my left knee (which is not even my dodgy one!) which may require a trip to the physio.

Ho hum!  I have the Reading Half Marathon to look forward to next weekend, so onwards and upwards with any luck!!!