Last week's long run this week

Failing to do last Friday's long run left me with unfinished business and I wanted to try it again. Plus, the incentive is that if I can get my long run out the way on a Friday then that opens up the possibilities of the weekend. So the plan was as last week; go to work 8.30 - 12.30, get home, eat, drink and then run down that road to North Berwick. No socialising, no big curly babies, no distractions, just me and an indulgent playlist plucked from the 70s and 80s featuring Joy Division and New Order, The Sisters of Mercy, The Cure and various other bits and bobs. Peter really can't stand this streak in my musical vocabulary so I thought I might as well take advantage of the fact he is broken and absent. Also, I needed something that was going to keep me awake.

The forecast was for a relentless South-Westerly wind (hence the route choice) and for unforgiving steel grey skies. As luck would have it the cloudy sky was broken up with sunshine and it was actually quite nice, though blowy. Peter decided to cycle down the road and then go and test his plantar fasciitis out on the dunes at Aberlady bay while I plugged on down the road, pursued by a big gothic bat. I saw him briefly just before Prestonpans. All was going well for me and I was turning out a good pace. (A 20mph wind at your back doesn't hurt!) By the shop at Aberlady at 15 miles I was nearly a spent force and stocked up on tablet and a bottle of Mountain Dew. With a ton of sugar and a horse's dose of caffeine in my system I was able to motor on. Just before the 20 mile mark at Dirleton, Peter appeared again. I was sore by now, and tired, and it was starting to get dark. It felt like a very long day. He hadn't had an encouraging run, rusted up with nearly 3 weeks of inaction and his foot still hurting. He'd enjoyed getting out in the air again and had found a dead owl which he told me all about. The news from the bay is that the toads are out on their annual humpathon.

My leg muscles were sending angry messages to my brain which were getting turned into irritability at the junction of my mouth so P. cycled on and met me at the station. Job done. Slower than when I went out with the club but faster than last time I did that run. I can probably get another 3 long runs in before Lochaber, which should probably do, especially if I can keep the pressure up and try to push them. It is nice not training for further than a marathon and running as far as you can at any old pace. I am enjoying the relative boundaried-ness of marathon training. Well, when I say marathon training, at the minute I mean long runs and a hodge podge of any old other runs, whatever I feel like doing and races. Might go out a small one today as I notice I only ran 3 times last week.