12th May 2007

5 Mile Training Run

12th May 2007

Conditions: Sunny / Raining

Notes: Having decided to drive to my friend’s house and run from there to new see some new scenery my friends decided to join me. They would be joining me, but not running, however on bikes.
We set off from Ste’s house and headed down towards Langley Mill, through country paths and alleyways. The run there was steady with lots of twists and turns. After around one mile the path we were on led out at the Canal in Langley Mill. From there we turned onto the Canal path and headed towards MFN in Ilkeston.
The run along here was not too hard, however it was very straight which tends to bore me. I was also puddle dodging the whole way which got a little annoying.
After around a mile and a half on the path we reached MFN and saw an awesome Bikers meet. It was like jumping into a Mad Max film. We stopped briefly to observe but soon enough we were off again towards the huge climb up to Ilkeston Road near the American Adventure. We climbed over a bridge and once over it I began the climb up the hill. The first part was long and steady and I ran this too quickly. Come the second and more difficult part I was very tired and had to stop to walk part of it. Once at the top however I was back on track and running again for the return part of the run.
Once on Ilkeston road it was around another two miles to home. It helped having my friends there and I started imagining them there in Edinburgh in fifteen days time. The course approached the last tough hill on entering Marlpool but as with all the final hills on runs, I breezed up it as I knew it was the final push of the run.
On the penultimate street the rain started coming down hard, but this was very refreshing so I was glad of it. We turned the last corner and I decided to treat this like a race and kicked it along the stretch of grass leading to Ste’s street. I felt like I was running very fast and Ste told me that he had to keep upping the gears on his bike to keep up with me.
In closing I really enjoyed this run and having my friends there too helped which reminds me how having eight of my friends and thousands of supporters in Edinburgh cheering, will carry me through those tough parts of the race. My only worry at the moment is my ongoing hamstring problem but I strongly believe that come race day my mental approach will put this to the back of my mind and I will hardly notice it.

Run Time: 42.05

Days to Edinburgh Marathon: 15



"Run hard, be strong, think big!"