I had a bit more notice this week, for my change of plan.  My husband wanted me to do my long run today rather than tomorrow, so despite the pouring rain off I went.  Despite the rain it wasn't too bad as at least it was mild.  I was doing a different route from my last 20 miler as the pain from that route was still too raw!

Nothing much of excitement to report in the first 7 miles when I had my first gel.  Thankfully this time after the requisite 15 minutes had passed I did not need to rush off to find a loo!  I got to the next village and strangely saw an old lady coming out out of the church carrying what looked like two vinegar bottles.  One was full of brown liquid and the other was full of green liquid - most odd!  I said hello, but she just stared at me with her piercing eyes and carried on.  Maybe she was off to find her broomstick!  I always find that village has a bit of a strange feeling about it, so it wouldn't surprise me if there was some black magic going on behind closed doors!  Talking of wierdness, round the corner there is a manor house with strangely shaped hedges.  I haven't taken much notice of them before but one caught my eye today, it looked rather like Paddington Bear doing a poo!  Surely not?  Hold on, maybe it is meant to be a squirrel!  If they paid someone for that topiary I think they would have every right to get their money back, unless of course it was meant to look like Paddington Bear doing a poo, in which case it was rather good!

On I went, and I soon realised that once again I was doing a run in the wrong direction.  I spent the next 6 miles heading into the wind with more uphill than down!  It was rather dispiriting, but I took my mind off it with various random thoughts.  Firstly I spent a while trying to make an amateurish attempt at interpreting a strange dream I had last night - which involved being chased round a field by a bull, which looked like a horse, and then I was rescued by the Dukes of Hazzard in the General Lee.  It passed a few miles, but I was no nearer to getting to the bottom of my subconscious.  I ended up singing Yankee Doodle went to town (my youngest's favourite) over and over, which passed a few more windy miles.  At least the rain had stopped.  By mile 14 I had another gel and the sun came out so I was feeling a bit chirpier and a bit more sane.  

As some of you may know I am a dog lover, and it has not escaped my notice that dog owners can get a bit of a hard time on here - sometime deserved maybe, but sometime not.  Well to restore the faith in dog owners I passed a very responsible one today.  As I was running up a lane, another runner was coming along the lane with two dogs off the lead.  I was huffing and puffing towards him and I wasn't surprised the dogs looked slightly worried and a bit interested in me.  Their owner stopped, raised his hand, and both dogs stopped and sat like rocks while I passed.  It was quite impressive and their owner was rightly quite proud when I remarked at how well behaved his dogs were.

So on I went, and for a crazy moment I started to think that I might be able to add another couple of miles to the end of this run!  But then I had a Jelly Baby disaster.  With three miles to go I went for more sustenance, pulled out the bag only for them all to fall out of a hole in the bottom.  I managed to catch three, but the rest just lay in the road waiting for a car to come along and squash them.  I could have got on my knees to scrape them up but I wasn't quite that desperate.  By mile 18 I was starting to feel it.  My legs were feeling really tired.  Maybe I should just stick to 20 miles!  I got to the maypole in our village where I could stop, but i was motivated to carry on for another quarter of a mile to get to the shop for some chocolate milk, yum yum!

I walked the remaining quarter of a mile home, slightly gingerly.  I must have looked sore as my neighbour offered me a lift home!  I declined as I didn't want to sieze up on her back seat!  In the end I managed 20.26 miles in 3:28:59 so a pace of 10.18 m/m, a bit slower than what I was aiming for but I am very happy with it.  And no loo stops either - phew!

I spent the afternoon returning to the running shop where I got my new trainers from, for some advice over the pain they have been giving me.  Another man in the shop looked at them and said they are too narrow for my feet and I shouldn't run the marathon in them.  This gives me a problem as I can't fork out for another new pair.  He wanted to exchange them for me as I said they should have been fitted properly in the first place, but another assistant (the one who sold them in the first place) wouldn't let him.  So I have to speak to the manager on Monday.  I really hope they can sort something out, as it doesn't really seem fair when you go to a specialist shop for advice and one shop assistant misses something that another sees straightaway!  Nightmare.

It is probably a bit late now, but good luck to anyone running races tomorrow.

Happy trails xx