And boy am I happy that I finally got it done. It was the one thing left on my training program before Yeppoon to attend to - and I finally got to tick it off. And it didn't feel as bad as I had anticipated that it would. I wonder if it had anything to do with the fact that the weather was absolutely spot on near PERFECT on Tuesday, well whatever it was it made for a perfect long run day.
It's not like I haven't done a long run before, it's just that it had been a while and with my silly niggles I was wondering if I was going to have to go to Yeppoon without doing one and wing it on the day.
As I set out I just knew I was going to NAIL IT. I could feel it in my bones. THe weather was absolutely perfect and there was nothing about the day that had trasnpired thus far that would make me think otherwise. So with Garmin, FuelBelt and Gels in hand - I set out to do my 1hr 45min run. And let me tell you there is nothing better than the feel of the sun on your body during a Winter's day.
The first 5km felt slightly ordinary - I don't think I averaged much above the 6:30min/km pace. Legs were kind of yelling at me from the previous night's Windtrainer class - thanks Zoe. But as soon as the blood had made it's way through every capillary in my legs - I felt this overwhelming sense of ease and it was as though my legs had decided to just take over the running and allowed my mind to just go along for the ride.
I think I was at the halfway point when I had this idea to see if my best friend Susan was still in town visiting her sister. I thought if she was maybe I could run all the way there and then maybe she could bring me back home seeing as we only live a couple of minutes from eachother. I struck GOLD. Susan was happy with that idea and I was ecstatic. I love doing point to point runs. Running back on myself can be a little disconcerting at times.
So as I made my way to our meeting point and I finally took the time to look at my Garmin I had ran 17.5km in 1hr 42mins - thats a 5:47min/km pace. That's unheard of in Barb's long run world. I wanted to do my own little version of the running man right there on the spot - BUT - it was peak hour traffic in town so thought best not. But inside I was pouncing around like a giddy 2yr old.
All I can say is thank goodness for good friends. Thanks Susan. We then did a spot of grocery shopping in amongst all the funny looks I was getting for my attire - I thought I looked fine but obviously wearing my Zensah calf sleeves in Coles Supermarket is not quite appropriate clothing. It was too funny. The lady at the front standing near the baskets looked at me up and down x2 and finally smiled when I said "Beautiful morning".
So with this run now under my FuelBelt - I can now venture to Yeppoon with my head held high in confidence that I can atleast finish it with a smile. I can't wait.
