I started off yesterdays 18 miler wearing waterproof's and the full ruck sack which weighed in at 14lbs (15stone 3lbs including me). The miles ticked off running into Ironbridge and then along the Severn way into Jackfield. I had no real problems until the real nasty hill at 8 miles up from the Woodbridge pub. I took this as a chance to eat an energy bar and power walked up it instead. From this point onwards I moved from doing 9. something minute miles to 10. something minute miles.
It was getting dark now, and the original route would have been 19.5 miles so I took a decision to take a short cut across some farm fields thinking I remembered the course from the Shifnal Steeplechase Half. Whether it was the darkness or me not remembering the course I got it wrong. I was getting very wet feet and had no idea where I was. After using my instinct I came out on the main Shifnal - Telford road having cut the desired 1.5 miles off the course. It was a bit scary running down the road - even though I was on the path, some curs left me inches, and some arse decided to flash me as I didn't dip my head tourch!
I was into the last 4 miles and my knee / hip was starting to hurt again. I struggled on picking up the pace in the final mile. I finished the 17.6 miles in 3hrs 5 min, which is an average of 10.32 min miles. Considering there is another 22 to do tonight I am fine with this. I also have the Great South Run on Sunday to think about.
The reason I mentioned the weight was because when I jumped on the scales when I got back I weighed in at 14.11 meaning I had lost 5.5 lbs of sweat during the run, Probably even more considering my shoes were nice and wet from the cross country section. Need to keep an eye on this - I drank 1.5 lts on water on the course.
