21.097494 kilometres (or a half marathon) is the furthest distance I have run… that is up until last Saturday (29/08/15) when we successfully ran 27 K.  There were no rouge tree branches, no dead ends just miles of agreeable countryside and the feeling that we are taking an epic adventure – albeit a slow one (3.5 hours in total!).

Every run since the ‘Trouble on Thames Disaster’ has been pleasant, comfortable and importantly pain and niggle free.  Even the 2.2 K run on Tuesday when the heavens opened and I was soaked in an instant was kind of exciting.  I used the rain as an excuse to race the guy in blue running ahead of me.  I got a personal best for fastest 1 K (4:52) and felt awesomely heroic for overtaking an unsuspecting stranger.

So whilst I was a bit nervous about the long run, I also had to trust in the training programme and the running foundation I have built up diligently over the last year.  In any event, I was not going to give up without giving it my best shot.

We decided to take the Thames path again, go as far as 13-14 K and head back.  We quadrupled our liquid supply and tried out a new electrolyte drink recommended from a friend (Japanese Pocari Sweat) as well as taking a bag of energy jelly beans.  I wasn’t risking running out of energy/water again.

I’ll be honest – the run was slow and at some points unbelievably hard to keep going.  The Thames Path is a mixture of surfaces, some tarmac, some pebbles, some grass – variation is good as it keeps you nimble and reduces the pounding your legs take – but it does take more energy and time to navigate.  One wrong footing and you might twist an ankle or end up in a ditch or both.  Additionally, knowing that we needed to run at least 26 K to catch up with the training schedule, I didn’t want to push myself too hard too early in case I ran out of energy.  All this added up to a slow pace – 7:50 min/K – and even that felt enormously draining.

Kilometres 18-22 seemed to be in alternate dimension where time passed infinitely slower and limbs were inexplicably heavier.  Minutes and hedgerows would pass by but the gauge on my GPS watch would report that we’d only gone an additional 300 metres, if that.

We reach, finally, 21.1 K, the point where each additional step is now officially my longest run, the furthest I’ve ever run ever – it was a bit anticlimactic.  There were no fanfares or drum rolls – just miles of countryside between me and lunch.

Surprisingly, the run did get noticeably easier after 22 K.  I can see my pace increased and I know I felt a lot better.  We stopped at 27 K but honestly, I kind of wanted and felt like I could have gone further – Just as well, next week is the Earth’s Trust 10 K and we plan to run 22.2 K BEFORE attempting it.

Week 9: Total mileage for the week was 41.5 K (25.7 miles), total running time was 5:13.