Smashing the Pill 10K

Knees are creaking tonight after smashing all previous training distances and going more than seven miles this afternoon.
I have established my very own Pill 10K route, which is in fact more than 11K, and takes in views of the M5 motorway bridge as well as the more picturesque River Avon along the towpath.
With the half pizza from last night providing the slow-release carbohydrate necessary for a long run, as well as the couple of glasses or red wine to help my heart keep beating, I was pleased to rack up the mileage today.
Thinking a lot about why I’m doing this marathon after very sad news this week of a former colleague who died far too young because of cancer, which makes today’s progress even more important.
If I’m lucky I’ll never have to go through that myself, so really the very least I can do is get off my flabby backside and raise some vital funds to help fight this disease.
And once again I find myself slightly baffled at my good progress.
I did have a bit of a crappy start to the week in terms of training with a run on Tuesday night that was just horrible. I could barely move my legs, which may have been a hangover from the five miler on Sunday, and had to keep stopping every few minutes.
It may not have helped that I was in Banbury and didn’t really know where I was going. I also felt very self-conscious about the new day-glo waterproof running top I had on. I say new, Amy bought it for me a year ago. I couldn’t zip it up at the time, because of the belly, so threw it to the bottom of a bag and forgot about it for a year or so. It has now re-emerged and I can, just about, pull up the zip over the slightly-decreasing paunch. It must be said that the definition of 'extra large' when it comes to sportswear manufacturers, is stretched further than the lycra-spun top itself over my gut.
So, wobbling like a luminous Telly Tubby along the paths next to the dual carriageways of Banbury, I wasn’t at my running happiest. Struggling to get past some group of hooded youths I wished I was wearing anything other than the day-glo top turning me into a very slow-moving target. I cranked up the music to block out their derision, if it came.
I just managed half an hour in all, about two miles, but felt so miserable I couldn’t even bring myself to blog about it.
Thursday was again a bit creaky but much better, back on home turf and managed a couple of laps of the small half of The Downs, about three miles in all, which wasn’t the best ever run but kept the momentum going.
An evening of rest on Friday, maybe one or two glasses of wine and a whiskey and soda to relax, and today came out fighting once again.
In total 7.14 miles in 1hr 40mins. Unthinkable when I started this training plan just a month ago.