Phew...made it - nearly 13 miles...

I decided to do my long run in the gym last night. Plonked myself in front of MTV hits and got going.

Of COURSE, I wanted to go to the loo after 30 mins so had to pause, when I got back the machine had reset itself, just as well I had the forethought to record what I had done. Anyway that was good practice for the race day when I take a break.

Anyway, plodded on again - fell into 1 min 30 secs walking 1 min running 5.3 kmh/7.5 kmh. However, discovered that machines only run for 60 mins...GAAAAAHHHH...so had to record my distance and time, and start AGAIN.

However...after 4.4k more my ankle that had been playing up, finally gave up the ghost so I decided to walk the rest of the hour...

So my dilemma was...should I stop or should I finish the 3.5 hours...I reasoned with myself and if the MTV Hits wasn't blaring and it wasn't a darkened room, I guess my shiatsu colleagues would have thought I had a disturbed spirit. Others would have just thought I had overexercised and gone nuts...

Anyway, I was looking that the clock, 8.30pm...hmmm bugger! Ok, I wrestled with myself - walk, stop, walk, stop...I decided that I agreed with my inner self that I should just walk the hour to complete the time....

Those last 30 mins went SOOOOO slowly and the last 20 mins pulled out all the tricks to get me to the end of 60 mins.....that included listening to Dizzie Rascal's words plus looking closely at the women who were gyrating in Will Smith's video. I'm telling you if I do all this training for the next 10 weeks I'm gonna be able to enter Mastermind with my specialist subject "MTV Hits - urban lyrics" - because that is what seems to be on when I run. Oh, yesterday it was Britney versus JLo. Again lots of gyration and dark makeup around the eyes.

The end finally came...YIPPEEE...I staggered off the treadmill only to find I could bearly walk because I wore the wrong socks - i.e. not double layered....I limped to a mat and sat down and nursed my grazed soles....arrrgh...

The air-con was quite cold so I was able to place my hands on my sore feet to cool them off. AAAAHHHH... anyway 10 mins later, I gingerly crept downstairs to the shower and stood under it thinking....not bad...BUT WHAT AM I GOING TO DO ABOUT THIS ANKLE? Last week I faltered at 7 miles this week at 9 miles...even with Chi Running...

Chris has suggested I skip or use the rebounder to strengthen my ankles - I was looking at that trampoline and I think I will use it....however, I need to ensure that I don't end up with boobs hanging down to my knees - they won't ever give me black eyes but they aren't pimples either...(very inconvenient).

Massage, ibuprofen, legs up the wall, all applied - today I feel great, with very little aching. My shiatsu class was fantastic. Lots of jocularity combined with quite a lot of difficult pressure points to learn. Got a prone position massage which was coool and poor old Geoff only got one leg treated because we had to finish off.

Ok here's the boring running geek stuff.

3k in 30 mins
6.2k in 60 mins
At next 4.4k had to walk after that
5.97 at 60 mins
5.46 in 65 mins

total 20.63k (12.9 miles) in 3 hours 35 mins.

Tomorrow, kayaking I think...and then a "short" 1 hour run...

p.s. my inner self is posted below...