Red Dawn

I am shattered. Slept terribly last night, I woke up at 2.30am and was rather annoyed because I knew I had to be up at 5.30 otherwise I knew I could not fit in a 3 hour run before doing family stuff all day.

The insomnia was made all the more excruciating by getting a text from Charlie saying: 'Got me a sponsor, they are going to cover everything for the mds'. If you are reading this and you have ever tried to raise money for a charity you will know that this simply does not happen. Of course, I am naturally pleased for the great man but I also have to confess to having the odd pang of jealousy for his good fortune. I am happy for you mate, really I am. Honestly!

I managed to get back to sleep and eventually checked the time again at 5.45 ish. Time to go. Quick bit of food, couple of bits into the rucksack and a pint of water down me and I was ready. It felt dank and lonely stepping out into the darkness but I knew that if I waited there would not have been enough time to complete the run. I could hear the milkman coming round the corner as I stepped out the door but there were only a couple of other cars around as I made my way to the edge of town and onto the disused railway that once joined my Town with its neighbour. I had my new bike light in my hand and as I got off the roads and into the countryside I was very pleased I did. It was a pitch black for the first 45 mins of off road running. It was over an hour into my run when I left the trail to get this picture of the sky. It was beautiful.

When running hard in the early morning my body protests violently. For instance; Running my hilly 10k course at 7pm can be done fairly comfortably in around 45 minutes. The same run has never been completed quicker than 55mins when run at 7am and they are 55 painful minutes. If any sports scientists can give me the physiological reason for this I would love to know.

Thankfully I did not experience this phenomenon this morning. The lack of sleep made no noticeable difference even though I estimate I only had around 4 hours. Frankly, for a one off effort this will not effect an otherwise healthy individual and I did not expect it to.

On one occasion I was fortunate enough to have a little bat come with in spitting distance of my head as I was running through the first bit of light and twice I tried in vain to sneak up on dear with whom I was sharing the pathway with. Only a zoom lens would have countered the alertness of these beautiful animals. As it is I have no Bambi snaps for you!

For practical purposes I will record my routine for the 3 hours. As before. I ran for nine minutes and walked for one. These walking breaks began at 14 minutes and at my 44th minute 'slow down' I walked for 2 mins in order to get some fluids down me. I did the same 2 min 'slow down' 45 mins later and a third time 45 minutes after that. In addition to this I walked all hills and today I indulged in a little bit of photography (most of which is rubbish). However, apart from the rubbish pictures, all admin such as; urinating, drinking, altering clothing and fiddling with iPod was done with in the time designated for walking.

I am surprised I have taken to this regime of walking up hills and taking regular walking breaks. Because I like running up hills. You know you are working your self, you know what you have to do and you know they are making you fitter. As for the walking, that is self explanatory. I am a runner not a walker, but even so I have enjoyed this new aspect.

For all my troubles my Garmin device told me that I had covered nearly 2 miles less than last week! I don't really see how this was possible but it may of been, I certainly did not feel like I could of fainted at the 2 hour 50 mark like I had last week. So maybe I did cover a lesser distance during my first hour and a half of running? I will look at the GPS mapping again and try to decide but it does seem unlikely.

My refueling consisted of my usual 'Recovermax' and the less conventional Chocolate fountain and mini donuts followed by a belly load of canapes at a run through for my brothers wedding.

Although getting up early was a bind I was pleased to have the run completed, especially when it rained for the rest of the day!