Over The Top?

So despite it being June, the time when base work is effectively put into maintenance mode, I found myself running 20 miles last night... and at a decent lick at that. 2hrs 9mins in fact, and most of that was off road on an out and back route to UBC from Yaletown.

I asked myself why I was doing it as I hit 7 miles, then 8, then 9 on the way out to UBC, knowing full well that every yard I ran forward I'd have to repeat on the way back. But it was almost uncontrollable, the power of freedom being expressed through my legs, this feeling of escapism having been working from 6am until 2pm in my front room, and the knowledge that I was running well and really enjoying myself.

I looked at my garmin stats and it turns out that it's the second longest run of my year, the biggest being 21.5 miles run just before I came out to Vancouver at a time when I still had spring marathon ambitions. Saying that, I was running 2.5 hours on Sundays back home, so longer, but the hilly running around Loughborough was done at a slower pace.

The fact is I think I have an underlying desire for distance. However much I enjoy the 5k and 10k races in the summer, there is one nemesis I need to correct - the marathon. When I cramped up at the 20 mile mark at London in 2006, aged 20, I made a vow that I was coming back to erase my embarrassing 3:07:16 and clock something respectable. Last night I could have jogged a 50 minute 10k on top of my 20 miles and run a sub-3 marathon, easy. It's great to know that any given day I can go out and re-write the record books, so roll on the Royal Victoria Marathon in October when I'll get the chance to do it in anger.