Sunday, Week 11 of 15

Run: "20 Miles, Slow"
Time Taken: 173 minutes
Total Mileage So Far: 378 miles

Week 11:

Total Weekly Mileage: 39 miles
Time running: 5 hrs 20 min

Finally got back out to run again. Cold had almost cleared up, and I couldn't tell about the knee until I got back running on it.

Lovely morning. Felt like the first day of spring with white fluffy clouds in a blue sky. Having lost an hour with the clocks going forward, I wasn't out until 8am, but was soon going along nicely with not a twinge from my left knee.

Made it down into the centre of the city in 1hr 25 mins, and still felt really good. Even early on a Sunday morning there's loads of building work going on at the moment. A huge new office block called Bridgewater Place is going up, and there are supposedly more to come. It'll look like New York (from a distance, if you squint).

Ran back along the canal. One thing that amazes me is that no-one in the large number of new canalside apartments ever eats their breakfast outside. Surely that's the whole point of the overpriced apartments with their little balconies. They all have chairs on them, but even last year when I was running on hot summer mornings there was never anyone out there. I'd love to sit there with a coffee and the Observer - if I were living that single metro lifestyle. Perhaps they all go away at weekends.

Got to 2 hours 15 minutes still cruising and wondering if this could be my fastest ever. Then it all fell apart. Really struggled over the last two miles, and the last mile up the hill to the village took nearly 10 minutes! I therefore finished disappointed (for the fourth run in a row) and worried that in 4 weeks time I will be running further and hopefully faster. I just hope it was down to the last remants of my cold.

Next week's 22 mile run (the last one before the taper!) will tell me.