Training, Planning and Running the DW Race

Long weekend away in London to wave the wife and sister off on the Playtex Moonwalk. 26 mile walk at night around London. They both completed it in about 9 hours, and judging from the blisters, muscle fatigue and sleep depravation, it was a tough challenge. My involvement was chauffeur and moral support but it did mean that I had Monday off.

Initially my Monday was booked off as we were going to make a long weekend of it, but as it worked out we came home Sunday. But it did mean that we had a day to put one of the cars through MOT. Rather than get the wife out of bed after covering a marathon distance the night before, I decided to run back from the garage.

6 miles through the heart of town from the garage to home according to google maps. Managed to cover the distance in exactly precisely 50 minutes, which is about what I expected, managing an average speed of (if my maths is correct) 7.2mph.

I don’t think I am a morning runner. I got all manner of stitches most notably in my right shoulder, and my throat filled with a nasty metallic tasting spit, though I am prepared to consider that the spit might be because of the exhaust fumes form the Monday rush hour traffic.

I think now is a good idea to endorse 1000 mile socks about now because they are wicked. 6 mile run = blisters. It is a simple rule that I have come to accept but not with these bad boys. Basically they seem to be two very thin socks magically attached to each other, the friction that would normally cause blisters happens between these two layers and your feet are fine.

I also should endorse warming down about now. My calves were in agony when I finally got home (there is quite a lot of uphill out of town to get to my house), it was the same pain that I managed to create in my legs a week ago that had me hobbling around for the rest of the week. Not this time though, there is a dull throb that lets me know that I ran the distance but I can walk and am considering an evening run tonight too.

Devises to Westminster progress hasn’t been going anywhere really. I am now a member of the BCU though, and am pleased to see that the Shropshire Union Canal is on the list of waterways we can use as a member. With this in mind Nigel is coming round this weekend to help me with repairs to the boat. Nothing major, just some fibreglass work around the cockpit, that sort of thing and then after that we are good to go.