Half-way there

Well, slightly more than half-way - I've completed 9 weeks of training, and the race is in 7 weeks time. A good week, for the first time I felt that I was running, instead of just shuffling quickly! Again, I exceeded the planned distance by 3 miles, this time without the benefit of a free session at Fitness First. The Thursday run was especially encouraging, taking in about 5 miles of the Silkin way, and doing it in 43 minutes - just a little slower than the 42 minutes that I predicted to the Action Heart 5 organisers when I put in my entry. And, if Delamere is anything to go by, my competitive instincts will chop a few more minutes off!
Of course, Sunday is Long Run Day, and the (revised) plan was to run to the foot of the Wrekin, which is about 10 miles, again. The reason for the revised plan is that last Sunday I came home rather muddy, and my wife suggested that NOT getting muddy would be a good idea. So come up with a route that, unlike that current state of the Ironbridge course, isn't too muddy. OK, www.runfinder.co.uk/ shows a route to the foot of the Wrekin that takes in some back roads, so I can go that way, and come back the normal way through Little Wenlock. Now, last night's weather forecast was talking about temperatures that were pretty low, but then just look out for that wind-chill factor! Thermal vest on, and I'm trotting along quite happily, sun beating down out of a clear sky, and not feeling too cold at all. Turn off down Dog-in-the-lane to start the "back roads" section of the route, and it quickly (well, as quickly as anything does at 6 mph!) turned into an almost unused lane leading to a farm, where it was obvious that visitors are infrequent, and probably unwelcome - certainly the dogs didn't seem too welcoming. I've passed a sign indicating that this was no through road, but I'm on foot, so I'm guessing that it's only impassable to wheeled vehicles. After about a mile of decent track after the farm, I come across a couple of large rocks in the way, that would clearly prove a problem for a car, even an off-roader, but us runners are more agile than that. Unfortunately, there appears to be a stream rising at that point, and the track that continues after the rocks is more stream than track. Bearing the muddiness injunction in mind, I give it up after a cursory attempt, and return the way that I'd come. Having failed to reach my destination, I added in another loop to make up the mileage, and started on the return leg. NOW the sun had gone in, and I'm heading across Lightmoor straight into an Easterly wind that may not be direct from the Urals, but there's precious little shelter up there - the clue is in the name! - and it's going through my jogging bottoms as if they weren't there.
I go past a couple of little boys, whom I can hear, as I head off, mimicking my breathing. You run 10 miles and then take the mick, little so-and-sos!
All along, I've felt as if I haven't been really hitting it as hard as in earlier sessions this week, and I'm already making excuses to myself about how I haven't really recovered from last Sunday, and the other session were hard, so it's not surprising that it's a poor performance, and, surprise, surprise, I get back in just under the 2 hours - 10 minutes longer than last Sunday's time for 10 miles. Then I go onto Runfinder, and plot the actual route that I followed. Bigger surprise, it's over 11 miles! Over a mile more, and only 10 minutes longer! Further AND faster than last week!