14th March - Time Wounds all Heels

A relatively early start to head off for sunny Morecambe (or Lancaster as it turned out to be) for the Trimpell 20 mile race prevented me from having time to feel nervous. I'd spent the day before preparing: stuffed my face with carbs all day (do rocky roads count?) and bought a bum bag for my gels, new thick socks and pads for my trainers in the hope that the recent pain I'm experiencing in my feet when running will go away.

It didn't.

I have never experienced such a painful run. From about eight miles on, every step felt like the nerves in my feet were being twisted.

Now I know why it's called endurance running.

We started off with a lap of a track from Salt Ayre Leisure Centre, and then headed off onto some cycle tracks. I stuck with Julie for the first 3-4 miles, which kept me at a great pace though I had to admit defeat eventually as I just couldn't keep up. I ran the rest of the race on my own counting down every single mile and desperately trying to keep within 10 minute miles. It was a good job I did those speedy first few miles because I was losing the will to live by about 13 miles, and the miles went down slower and slower. The negative talk set in and, at times, I very nearly walked and even considered dropping out all together.

But I didn't.

And thanks are due to some lifesavers, including Liz Jones who popped up sporadically to take photos and made me smile, the lady whose name I never caught but was training for London who ran with me from mile 16-18 and announced if I stopped or walked she was going to drag me round the final few miles, Nick the marine who ran with me for the last two miles and of course, Julie, Lisa and Jo my greatest supporters and inspiration who all ran the race in some amazing times.

When the pain was over, after the final gruelling two laps of the track (how cruel) we finished off with a lovely swim at Salt Ayre Leisure Centre.

I managed a time of 3 hours 27, which I'm hoping will mean I can complete Paris in a credible time. How I'm ever going to run six miles more than I did today, I just don't know. But I know I will.