Legs 0 Head 1

Today is my second proper long run and was planned to be 2 hours 30. Due to various issues this week;
Asthma playing up
Sore knee after wearing heels
Ongoing sore glute
Bad planning

this is the only run so far since last weeks long run (unless you call 5-10 mins of warm-up jogging with clients). So, it was not going to be easy to get back to it and my head was struggling to get round the idea plus as I walked home from the cinema last night I managed to blister a toe!

Card/protein brekkie eaten I taped up my toe to cover and cushion the blister and set off with 2 hours 30 in mind and new rucksack on back. I've now discovered that although it is comfortable it may chafe my neck after a few hours if I don't have a collar or buff around my neck but at least it's good to know that early on.

As I ran/walked I started thinking of my kit list and it's great to run with the pack on but I've got to try the full kit in it to not just a drink and a waterproof. So that's food bars, map, phone, waterproof, drinks, emergency blanket, bivvy bag.......then my mind wandered as it does when I'm running.....to anything and everything.

I'm beginning to get a bit bored just running around Bristol for these long ones so may have to resort to getting Hubby to drop me off or pick me up from somewhere soon - I will encourage with the offer of coffee and cake or lunch at a pub of course! Or maybe I need to get my mp3 player stuffed in the bag.

At about 1 hour 30 it began to rain slightly and as I was approaching a bridge that I could shelter under I used that cover to strip off my t-shirt and replace it with my waterproof - if you don't take off the shirt you'll just fry in the waterproof shell even if it breathes. I had hummed and harred about this but glad I made the choice to stick on the 'boil in the bag' jacket afterall as within 2 minutes the light rain began rather large hailstones!

Getting near the 2 hour mark my legs felt completely mashed - far more than they would usually do at this stage in a race and I think my mind was wandering a little too much. However, the head talked to the legs and the legs muttered something about being near home and how we could be there in 5 mins but whilst the legs mithered on about pain the head 'accidentally' missed the turn and added another block or two on and 10 more mins!

A grand total of 12.35 miles in 2:20 and some seconds. Believe it or not faster than last week!