Oh boy, what a toughie

Day 232 Sunday 19th August 20 miles : miles to date 1536.8

 Now that was a tough run. Having eschewed the SMC for a bit of lonesome road work, I set off with my new running buddy Billy Nomates. I had plumped for a lay in, so was always going to be faced with having to make up an imaginary friend to help the miles go by today. The only problem was Billy ran faster than me and left me in the first mile, so I fell back onto the i-pod long play music thingy machine and turned up the sound, or rather I pumped up the volume as one of the artiste's suggested.

 As for the run, I was intending to do a twenty two miler in two forty five, which is seven thirty mile pace. I had to run before dinner, so was forced to go out at around 3pm, when it was around 26 or 27 degrees. I dislike having to take a water bottle as it's uncomfortable but of course did so. I found the pace quite easily and in truth had to stop myself from running faster. Within a few miles, my throat was dry and I had to take a sip which was not a good sign. Never the less, in the first hour I kept a very steady pace, going through eight miles around forty seconds ahead of target. By mile ten, my water had run out and I was forced into a change of route heading over to the Forest Centre where I know there is an outside tap. When I got there, I did pause the watch and drank quite a lot, as well as drenching myself with the water. When I was running I could tell I was over heating and I was parched, but I wasn't soaking wet. That was due to the sweat just evaporating straight away.

 Despite the water stop, the heat was really getting to me and when Foreigners Cold as Ice came on the player, I did chuckle to myself at the contradiction. I  struggled for the next few miles and when I ran out of water again at mile sixteen, I knew I was in trouble. By eighteen I was on my last legs, feeling light headed and cooked, so I made another detour and headed over to the water ski lake I knew Fi and Megan where and just about managed to limp in for twenty miles in just under two thirty one, slowing very badly in the last two miles. I just could not have made twenty two in that heat and I am a bit gutted that I missed the target. I sat in the lake water in my kit for ten minutes, although it wasn't exactly ice cold. Ho hum, on balance a good week but it would have been much better if I had made today's target. Still, its nice to be sitting still for once, which has a lot more going for it than people realise.