My legs hurt. Going up stairs requires lots of swearing (one swear word per step – just think of Father Jack and you will get the picture). Coming down is worse. I hope Jan will buy me a Stannah Stairlift for my birthday.
Today I ran further than I have ever ran. Last week I ran further than I had ever run, but only by a bit. 47.5k (29½ miles) out beyond the familiar Wall Hill Road to Corley Moor, way north of the M6, almost to Filongley. I went down Didgly Lane which appears on street maps but not on Ordnance Survey maps. No wonder; it is collapsed and inundated with water and mud. Down Newtown Lane to the back of Daw Mill Colliery, where most of the coal mined in Britain comes from. To Shustoke; down past Maxstoke Castle; visible from the road and the end of a long straight drive; almost to the River Blythe. The rivers out here flow north into the Trent and eventually the North Sea, unlike our Coventry rivers which join the Avon, then the Severn and flow into the Bristol Channel. New lanes; Arnolds Lane goes on for 2k but eventually brings me to Maxstoke with its Abbey and Church. Down Packington Lane past the Forest of Arden Hotel and Country Club to Butlers End. Someone has stolen the grills from the storm drains along this road. I am told they have been gone for a month. They are replaced by traffic cones with signs on telling everyone what has happened. I join Kinwalsey Lane at its start and find it is 4k long, snaking up to what must be one of the highest points in North Warwickshire where there are two enormous communications masts. Then back to familiar territory: Harvest Hill Lane.
That is the last big training run before the big one.
Next week I am tapering my training so will just do about 16k. On April 18th I must do a third as much again as I did today. Then my legs will really hurt.
47.5k at 6:29 mins/k
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