1st - 3rd September

Day 245 Saturday 1st September 20 miles : miles to date 1631.4

 It was our 17th wedding anniversary today, so what better way than to get up and leave Fi snoozing in bed whilst  shooting off for a twenty miler? I did drop off a cuppa as I slipped out early doors. We went into London later in the morning to watch the stage version of Chariots of Fire and grab a bite, which meant that it was first thing or not at all. Anyway, she was off to a park run not long after so I wasn't feeling too guilty.

 I was down for another twenty, although I changed the planned run slightly following Philip Horan asking to tag along. Phil is training for his first marathon and we are running at slightly different speeds, so we each did ten miles on our own and met at halfway for the next business ten. 

 Having met on time, I thought it would be good to get a few miles in off road so we headed over to the JB/Greensands trail and chewed up the miles. Now Phil is the king of double entendre and I made a number of innocent remarks that led to various phurnaa phurnaa moments. These include mention of the following;-

1. Various sheep in fields

2. meeting at the entrance

3. taking the back route

4. taking the muddy route

5. slipping into the side entrance

6. not enough vaseline

7. having a bite of my chocolate bar

and various others. The innocent chap I am, I only understood two of them. Phil had a great run although did stumm up at around seventeen miles which is not surprising given he only ran eighteen for the first time last week. I kept waffling away and asking him questions to try to take his mind off the last few miles which included a hill at 19.2 that he flew up. 

 I think I needed a longer run where it wasn't just me and a large white rabbit called Harvey, so whilst I was happy to help the big man get his longest run in ever, he also helped me chill out.

Day 246 Sunday 2nd September 4 miles : miles to date 1635.4

 Having trundled around Town after yesterdays long run, I woke up this morning feeling every one of my 16,474 days old. The training schedule is a little tough on the mind at times but it was most definitely the old bones creaking this morning. I opted for a run to the butchers at a slow to steady pace, dreaming of possibly the last bbq of the summer. With five weeks to go to Chester, one last hurrah was called for before the next three weeks of hard training. My legs seem constantly tired at the moment and I could really could do with a day off. With any luck, that wont happen for another 121 days although I am under no illusion that come the 1st January, the family will be wrapping chains around me to stop me going out.

Day 247 Monday 3rd September 3 miles : miles to date 1638.4

 Having made the most of yesterdays bbq, I retired to bed early a little, er, under the weather. Luckily I ended up today having a half day at work and I chilled out for a bit watching the wheelchair basketball on the tube at the paralympics. I know its easy to say that watching the athletes perform at the highest level was inspirational, but it truly was. None of the coverage focuses on the athletes disability other than to explain some times in a factual way about the various classifications. Watching the basketball, I just admired the sheer power and skill of the athletes and made me realise that my tired body was capable of knocking out a few miles despite my self induced lethargy. A straight forward recovery run was duly undertaken before resuming my body is a temple thing, albeit right now it feels more like a dumping ground.