What lies beneath...

It's amazing the range of emotions that go through your mind on a long run. I set off later than I'd hoped because of the chores that I needed to get out of the way. The plan had been to go for a long run, rest for an hour and then head out with Bigman for an hour on the bikes. Because I was late Bigman called to say he was just about to head out as I turned the key in the door. I was pretty knackered so it was probably a wise call to give it a miss.

Anyway back to the run. I'm convinced that you can run as far as you tell your brain you are going to run. If you set out to run 16 miles, like I did today, the last mile is the toughest. Equally if I'd set out on a 5 mile run the final mile would have been equally challenging. Therefore a significant element of any performance must be what is going on in your mind.

I started well, realising after a mile I'd forgotten my water - donkey! So I spent the first few miles considering my options. I'm a camel and don't need huge quantities of water but knew I needed to pick up some en route. I went up to Comrie and then on to Blairhall, down to the bike track and headed back up to Dunfermline. 5 miles back up the track. At some point I decided that I would do 10 miles on the track, then head back up to Blairhall then home. Great plan but no water stops.

I ran well doing equal times for the first and second 8 miles which pleased me. The water problem begun to worry me at 13 miles and I made the decision to stop in the pub in Comrie and the guys in the pub were really great and I stopped for a few second chat as I sunk a pint (of water!)

So I'm happy that I'm in shape and this was borne out by the scales - 13st9pds

I think the last time I was that I was in school......