Having failed to go the full distance the previous weekend, I was once again aiming to go 18 miles. I was originally going to cross the fields and then head north on the Down's link to see how far I could get. Unfortunately a neighbour's fence had fallen across the path, so instead I headed to Itchingfield and then south on the Down's link from Christ's.
Having learnt on Thursday that things go better when I don't look at the watch too often I just went off and ran. The only time I remember looking at the watch was when it was showing a time a little over 10 minutes, leading me to speed up to try and get it down. This quickly lead to it showing sub-6:30, so I forgot about that and just got on with what I was doing. I felt good through out the first 12 miles, and then realising I had less than a 10k and was under goal target pace for the marathon picked me up even more.
Unfortunately this only lasted for a couple of miles, and as I came out of Southwater I started to struggle. This seems to happen quite often at around this point, though whether because it's usually around 15 miles or because of something else in that area. To get through it I broke up the remainder into three sections, one from Southwater to Christ's, the next from Christ's to Itchingfield and then Itchingfield home.
The first two went surprisingly well, and coming off the top of the hill into Itchingfield was a wonderful experience if only because it was easier on the flat than the slope as it took pressure off my hamstrings, which were consistently achy by this stage. Unfortunately the last section never happened.
This is arguably the hardest, from the hill at the bottom of Itchingfield church garden it goes up and over a ridge in woodland and then up a steady climb, and frankly I couldn't be bothered so I stopped behind the church. 17 and a half is close enough right?
Overall I was actually really pleased with the run, I just switched my brain off as much as possible and let my legs do the talking. It turns out they were loud enough, and I was really pleased with the result.
Time: 2 hours 20 minutes
Distance: 17.67 miles
Pace: 07:58 min/mile
Average heart rate: 177 bpm
Map: Here
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