No. Not a crime. Today's the day I'm committing to doing this challenge. It's three months to go and my training is going well. Various long distance hilly, slow and steady jaunts in the bag. The knee is holding up. Back-to-backs and triple back-to-backs planned. 190 miles ticked off in February. Quite frankly, up until now, there was always a grey doubt-cloud hanging over me with my knee. I can't believe how far I've come, both in distance and confidence, from only a few months ago. A few days in Scotland on the Applecross Peninsula. 18 miles over the pass in the rain, making new friends with the animals.... ...to be rewarded with a lovely view of Skye as the rain clears and the run ends. This is why I do it. Another 26 miles back near home, running down memory lane as I do a loop around the Washburn Valley, up and along the Chevin, down to Menston (where I grew up) along the moors to Ilkley, and back to Timble. Su...
The doubts subside and I'm sleeping better and getting excited. Telling more people makes it real. "Why are you doing this?" asks just about anyone* I've already bored with my plan, with a look of pained perplexion on their faces. (*Ultrarunners I know excepted - they just want to know more) So I've been reminding myself that running is actually quite enjoyable. Yes it's hard, and yes there are times that I'd rather be sat relaxing in front of the wood-burning stove/drinking aperol spritz in the summer sun (delete as applicable depending on what time of the year you're reading this). But never after I've done a run - I'm always thankful I did it. And this type of ultra running is slow and it's ok to walk up hills. If you're out of breath you're running too fast. That sounds good, no? The challenge on a really long run is how much you can eat to keep fuelled up. I love food. It's just how my body reacts to it during the r...