Bugger

Today I was going to run 17 miles.

Because of a race I am doing on Sunday, and it being my birthday weekend and we are expecting lots of guests and drinking and the like, I swapped my long run for today.

After last week's glorious and triumphant 15 miler, I was feeling pretty confident that I could do the distance. But today wasn't the day for it.

I knew I shouldn't have done it.

I got up early to eat and do some work, but it was really, really windy outside, so I was going to bale out and postpone till tomorrow.

I shillied and shallyed around for ages - hours in fact - before deciding that I was going to run after all, but by then the food that I had eaten as preparation was wearing off, but it was too late to eat.

I went anyway.

The weather was terrible - sooooo windy it was amazing - and I was getting slower and slower, and I started getting stomach cramps that made it feel like I couldn't breath.

Eventually, after narrowly missing being taken out by a flying estate agents sign that was blown across the road - post and all - about 5m ahead of me, and turning directly into the wind, I stopped. I just couldn't go on any further.

Some of this is phsychological - I know that - you start thinking you can't do it, and eventually that voice gets louder and louder until you are stopped, but some of it was that my stomach was so sore, running was really uncomfortable.

I think it was the combination of wearing my waistbelt with 1.5liters of water in it - pressing on my stomach - and not having eaten anything close enough to the time, not to mention the 'usual' jiggling that goes on with a run of that length.

Whatever the reason, I was really disappointed - I 'only' made it to 8.5 miles, and then had to walk to the nearest bus stop to catch a bus home.

Dreadful :(