My 22!

Well I did it! My longest training run ever; I ran 22 miles this morning. And it felt good!

It wasn't particularly nice in places - like the stretch from Leith to Portobello where I was running uphill against the wind coming in from the sea! But my legs felt pretty good, there wasn't a single moment when they felt that they couldn't go on. The best news of all though is that they still had energy left in them. I reckon I could have run the extra 4.2 miles. I didn't, as I didn't want to overdo it, but I'm pretty sure I could have.

I honestly can't tell you how happy I am! The only thing I'm slightly gutted about is that my GPS didn't save my route for some reason, so my stats aren't shown in as good a format as they usually are.

One of my biggest concerns when I'm running a long run is where I'm going to go to the toilet. Sounds silly but if you're running for nearly four hours, chances are you're going to need to go! Men have no such problems. I always plan my runs around public toilet access. This is a shot of the public toilets at Stockbridge. My only stop today. I can only apologise that I didn't get a nicer shot for you, but I couldn't be bothered to stop and get a nicer one, will you forgive me?

I've been back about an hour and a half now, had some lunch and soaked in a cold bath. Let me tell you, there's nothing comforting about a cold bath. They are good for the muscles though. The last thing you want to do is have a hot bath with inflamed muscles :(

With less than 3 weeks to the marathon, I am now officially in THE TAPER. My next long run will be 26.2 miles at the Lochaber Marathon. Eeeekkkk I can't wait!

Exercise: 22 mile run
March running mileage: 78 miles
2013 running mileage: 305.5 miles