Valentines Run ...

Time for a Saturday run, and with the snow finally just about melted and the sun out it was time to hit the streets again. The plan was to run the route which I had run before, of a long and a short loop to total just under six miles. Sunday would be the test where I will try and stretch my personal best and hit nine miles ...

As always the first mile was difficult but once into a rhythm I was pleased that the run felt fine. As I reached the end, I felt perfectly capable of running on, and considered doing so, in fact if I added another long loop on the end I could surpass the nine miles I wanted to do this weekend. But there were three reasons why I did not …

1) I told my wife I would be one hour - she has been a great support during my training and I am wary of creating a "running widow". Of course, my runs will get longer and longer, if not more frequent, but Saturday was Valentine's day, so I did not want to be half-asleep either when it came to our romantic meal. So as this was a Valentines Day run, I'd like to dedicate this entry to Lorna (see the Feb 8 blog for a picture, though not exactly what you would call a close-up!)

2) That wasn't the deal! I only thought about doing it because it felt good but also because it would then mean I could run less on Sunday instead! So I would have been cheating myself. I can't do my final 20 mile training run the week before the marathon in April, and decide to hit 26 so I can just run 20 on the day instead, it doesn't work like that! Different days have different goals and I didn't want to cheat myself

3) I didn't take any water with me! An hour for six miles is fine but an hour and half for nine and maybe I would have found myself in trouble …