All worth it for a fry up.

Monday 31st December 2012

Running
(10.00 miles / 01:33:12 / 00:09:19 per mile)

The very last run of 2012.  Hard to believe actually and I managed to recreate the same run from exactly the same time last year.
We were staying in the Burrendale Hotel in Newcastle (Co Down) for the annual family New Years Eve celebrations and I had a fantastic run from the hotel.

Much o the disgust of the family I set my alarm for 7AM and got out the door for 7.30 to get the run in early so that we had the rest of the day for family things.

I remembered this run very well from last year and I knew that the first few miles up the road into Castlewellan would be tough as it is a pretty gradual incline all the way up.  This incline combined with my lack of breakfast, windy conditions, effects of wine and cider the night before and it being really dark made the run up the road seem a lot harder than it should have been.  I was beginning to doubt the sanity of my decision.

Once I got up in to the Forest Park and around the lake all doubts disappeared and I really enjoyed he run round the lake as the sun was coming up.  Although dark in the trails around the lake the growing sunlight was incredible over the lake and at the far end I took a seat on a boulder for a moment just to enjoy the sight of the lake with the rising sun and a little fog over the water.  It was lovely and almost spiritual.

(The lake - it started to get a lot brighter and looked nicer than this pretty soon after.)

The benefit of running up for the start of the run was that the last 3 miles back were back down the gradient and in face were the 3 fastest of the run.

Back to the room and the family were getting dressed to head down for breakfast.  A quick shower and I was able to head down with them and enjoy a pretty guilt free fry up knowing that 10 miles were in the bank.

Perhaps the most pleasing thing about this run was that this is the furthest I have run in quite a while and firstly the Achilles held up well and I was pain free, but also that I am able to fairly comfortably knock out a 10 mile run at a steady pace without any real recent base of run training.  I take this as a positive for the rest of my London preparation and it was a great way to wrap up running in 2012, which has been an immense year for me.