Saturday's 20 miler...

...had to be just that and no less!

I planned on running in the fantastic Phoenix Park this afternoon. I had a 5 mile circuit, I'd have to run 4 laps of that to make up 20 miles. 20 miles... it's an awful long way and I couldn't stop thinking about it all morning. The more I thought about it the less I wanted to do it but the hour cameth, I got my stuff together and hit the road.

I got to the park a little before 2pm, changed in my running gear and I was on my way by 2.05. I decided that I'd set my my pace to 9.30 minutes per mile and try to maintain that for the duration of the run. Last weekend for the Dublin 1/2 marathon I tried to start on and maintain a 9 minute mile pace but at 10 miles I was exhausted.

After the usual first few miles of breathing issues, stitches and muscle spasms timed for maximum comedic effect I settled into a comfortable rhythm. As I was running alone I had my ipod with with me, something I hadn't done for a long time. After spending the entire previous evening wrestling with iTunes, iPods and... I, I finally transferred enough music to get me around 20 miles.

The first 5 miles were comfortable enough (after several comedy moment during the first few miles of course). The music matched my mood and pace perfectly; upbeat without getting too excited with the odd dodgy note.

Before I knew it I was approaching the car and my first water and gel stop. It was a dead stop! I had to get the key out, open the boot, get the water bottle, open the gel pack, etc. It took a few minutes to get going again and then a few more to get back into a rhythm. The next 5 were a little harder but I was keeping up with my 9.30 pace. As I rounded the last corner before the long straight run to the car I felt it get a little harder to run, a few seconds later George Harrison guitar introduced "My Sweet Lord"... what timing! That got me up to my second water and gel stop.

After another 2 or 3 minute stop it took me a little longer to get back into my rhythm. Feeling tired but good I ran my third lap without much difficulty until I reached the that corner again and it felt as if someone had turned up the gravity. This run back to the car was tough and I fought the overwhelming desire to walk.

This was my final water and gel stop. This one turned out to be the longest, I was getting very tired. It took a huge effort to get those tired legs moving. My pace had slowed right down, I felt tired and heavy but the was the last lap and I convinced myself that it was all in my head... you see no matter how far I run the last stretch is always the hardest. So I struggled on and made reasonable progress. I glanced at my watch and my pace had plummeted, I was 10 minutes behind... but so tired!!

Two miles into my last lap I was really fighting. I was running downhill, one of my precious recovery downhills, when I noticed a small car driving slowly towards me with a line of 5 or 6 card behind it. As I approached the car I noticed the passenger waving to me. I was tempted to ignore her and actually took a few steps past the car when my conscience kicked in and I had to stop, after all there could be something wrong. As I walked back up the hill to the car I took my ear phones out only to be greeted with "... do you know the way to the Zoological Gardens...".

This was the emergency! I must have looked a state; dripping with sweat and a bright red face... but they wanted to direction to the Zoological Gardens. She must have picked her victim carefully; there were walkers, sign posts, one single road... and she picked me. I told her that she should keep driving along this, the only road available, and when you reach the next junction there will be a number of signposts, and one of which will point in the direction of the Zoological Gardens. After than it's a case of pointing the car in the right direction.

Yes, I had stropped out! Even the smallest things had started to annoy me. I was on the last lap, I was exhausted and ready to finish but there was another 2 miles to go. That unplanned stop threw me completely off my stride. I knew it entirely in my head and it took another mile before I settled down, by this time I was turning the last corner and on the final straight! This was tough, very tough and with less than 1/2 a mile to run I gave in and walked. I probably could have carried on but at that moment my body won the battle. I walked about 150 metres, up to the next junction, and then push myself back into a run.

When I made it back to the car my Garmin had registered 19.75 miles, I couldn't believe it, I had to keep going to make up 20 miles. It didn't take long and once I had clocked 20.02 miles I stooped the watch, stopped running, turned around and slowly walked back to the car.

I had no idea what my time was, my watch was in virtual partner mode. After much fiddling and pressing of buttons I got to the time/distance menu. I had run the 20.02 miles in 3:37:58, not bad considering how utterly exhausted I felt. I had run an average pace of 10:53; slower that I had hoped but not disappointing.

Based on these figures it's reasonable to assume that I would run a marathon in 4:50, a lot slower than Cork! More work required then!

Here's a link to my route and stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/954150