10 Miles on the Old Ardee Road.

Knockabbey Gardens last Summer (not far from my running route today).

Little did I know as I set off for my run today that I would be returning to much political excitement, as the Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) finally pulled the plug on his turbulent time as leader of Fianna Fáil (he is remaining on as Taoiseach until after the General Election next March).  Little did I know either that I would run ten miles (or close to), I figured I would run 6, hoped I would be up for 8, but when I got out there I just kept on keeping on.  The day was foggy and cold as I set off from Pollbrock, up the back lane to Stabannon Church and then out towards the graveyard, past the Norman castle and out the old Ardee road.  There were sheets of ice along the back lane towards the church and this segment of the run includes one or two steep but short climbs - which got the run off to a fresh start.  From then on I was well warmed up and though I dropped the pace a wee bit on the old Ardee road, I reckon I was still hitting the 8.20 mark.  The mind can drift on long runs like these and when you're thinking of life matters you are usually doing fine running-wise.  When the body begins to hurt a bit the mind focuses firmly on the RUN:  'God this hurts, Cripes this is a steep incline, bloody stitch' - every runner knows this I'm sure!  What I do in these instances mostly is to focus on my form and on my breathing and the hurt usually passes soon enough and I can get back to thinking about that weird looking tree, or that funny looking man peering at me from his gate or those things I have to do tomorrow.  With two miles to go for home today I felt pretty strong, and happy enough with training so far this year.  It may be unplanned, but training has a strong purpose now:  build a good base fitness for when the real training starts later in the year.