18 Miles!

I'm not long back from a great 18 mile run - legs are sore, belly is slightly uncomfortable, fatigue is setting in but ooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhh my God I feel great.  Can you beat that feeling of actually conquering a long distance run?  

Just as I did for my last long run (16 miles a few weeks ago) I just togged from work and ran out of the city towards Bearna.  This evening was a little drizzly and there was a slight wind in my face on the way out, but nothing too drastic.  Strange for me to say this - but I've actually been listening to an ipod on some of my solo runs lately, and for a man who never listened to music while running, well, I'm warming to it.  There was a specific reason for the ipod though - I don't have one of those garmins, so I've been judging my distance by time and checking it back on an ipod related measuring tool after!  I'm normally bang on with time - my pace was 8.30ish so 18 miles would clock in between 2h 35 mins and 2h 40.  And so it was!

Anyway - back to the ipod... I listened to a few Gillian Welch albums, one after the other, when all of a sudden one earphone went kaput, quickly followed by the other (cheap earphones).  It didn't bother me at all though - I'm still a no-earphone man in general.  

I was steady and strong for most of this run, though I did find it more difficult than the previous long run.  The Barcelona marathon is a month and a half away - I've still got a good bit of time to strengthen the legs.  There was nothing left in them by the time I reached my car this evening!